Owing to the free open source nature of the operating system, Linux inspires its developers to develop and re distribute it at will. As such there are several distributors of Linux, some popular being Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint and OpenSuse. However, if you are undertaking Linux admin training then as a new developer you are often at a loss when it comes to which distro to choose.
Here are some of the basic tips to select the right Linux distro.
- Matter and Design of the distro: The basic difference between the various distros of Linux is its configuration, that is, the same application is made to run in a series of different ways in the different distros. While some distributions are comparatively easier to work with some others have customised configuration tools. In this respect Fedora and especially Ubuntu is extremely preferred and popular.
- Familiarity: The most primary aspect to selecting a Linux distro at the initial stage of your Linux admin training is familiarity. Choose a distro that you are comfortable with and stick to it because the advantage of working with a particular distro over the years is far more than choosing the right distro. For example, if you are undertaking an RHCE certification course then the distro you will be using is RHEL and sticking to it will definitely help you in the long run.
- Stability: While choosing the right distro, stability of the distro is of vital importance. For a production server, the choice of the distro should undoubtedly be one of the most reliable ones. Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu and RHEL are all pretty old and secure distros of Linux on which you can blindly rely on. However, often the stable distros fail to meet the server software requirements and under such circumstances switching to newer releases is preferred over choosing the stable distros with recent packages.
- Simplicity and efficiency: The application stack of your desktop should be homogenous since this increases the efficiency and obviously is simpler to deal with. This is to say that your application servers should run on the same distro as your database servers.
- Server Requirements: Finally there is the overriding need of server requirements that need to be considered before you choose a distro for yourself. This pretty much limits your option to a few distros and at times you may have to customise the existing ones. This is where you need professionals with Linux admin training.
It is recommended to get comfortable with various different Linux distros, so that you are prepared to use each of these distros as and when the situation demands.