which Distributionto choose

They can all do that but I suggest ubuntu 10.04 since it's the most popular here.

Ubuntu works great, but not immediately after a new release. It might be just personal opinion on my part, but Ubuntu feels too unstable at this point. (Look at the number of Ubuntu 10.04 related trouble threads on these forums! And they call it an LTS!?)

If you're okay with slightly older versions of Apache and PHP 5.2, try Ubuntu 9.10. Although it's an older version, it keeps getting security updates for a while. You can upgrade to 10.04 after about six months, after the first major update (service pack lol) comes out.

Debian is also fantastic. Ubuntu is based on Debian, so most tutorials about Ubuntu also work with Debian. I've never had any problems with Debian. The current version (5.0) is totally rock solid, and I know that I won't have any problems whatsoever when I upgrade to the next version.

Debian are much more cautious than Ubuntu about what they release – the best choice for servers. Ubuntu seem to have dropped the ball somewhat with Lucid/10.04 by changing stuff and releasing it without sufficient testing -- driven by their commitment to a regular release cycle rather than 'ship it when it's ready'.

+1 for Debian.

You want stability for a server and not having to deal with the latest bugs and security fixes as well as new releases to fix untested software.

+1 for Debian

Gonna have to throw in a vote for CentOS.

@shahzad429:

i am new into linode.

i just want simple server where i can host my website

which have PHP MySql Apache

please help me which Distribution to choose
You've asked a very "religious" question; different people prefer different distributions.

Virtually any linux distribution will be able to run a LAMP stack, but…

Long term stable releases, such as "CentOS" or "Ubuntu LTS" or even "Debian stable" are likely to cause you the least amount of work in the long term… but the downside of these is that they're typically behind the curve in latest software releases, so if you need a specific version of PHP or MySQL then you might find that these distributions are not suitable.

Only you can determine if any of these long term distributions are suitable for your needs, but I'd definitely look at them first.

(CentOS user, here).

I started with Ubuntu 9.04, moved to 9.10 then 10.04 and for some reason things are working fine. I must be doing something wrong.

CentOS, and install virtualmin GPL for a control panel:

http://www.virtualmin.com/download.html#gpl

CentOS is a good choice for a VPS, leave ubuntu to desktop computers. :)

http://www.linode.com/about/

Distro stats are on this page on the right hand side. :)

I would say Debian is a safe choice. Personally i decided to go wild and try out Ubuntu. So far so good (knockonwood). Yet to upgrade to 10,04 though.

EDIT:

Since it say i registered today, i feel i should add that i became a Linode user in November '09 and have used Ubuntu since i fired up the VPS.

Can't understand how ubuntu can be chosen to be a server distro.

A site/service that needs the power of a vps instead of a normal host generally is an important site where down time can produce loss of money or some bad else, how can you give a critical job like that to a distro that can make your system down simply by upgrading some packet?

Ubuntu is a great distro for desktop but imho it make no sense to use it for a production vps.

Just my two cent.

I would wonder how many people have a Linode for something other than a production server. I haven't done it yet, but having an account, it would be trivial to set one up for short term use simply for a Linux test box.

@sblantipodi:

Can't understand how ubuntu can be chosen to be a server distro.
Distribution preferences vary, but I don't see that it's that hard to consider Ubuntu.

I use Ubuntu for most of my production (and test) Linodes. I use the LTS server version. Very stable, slow update cycle and 5 year support cycle. Perfectly good choice to me.

I have used a test Linode to experiment with various other distributions, but always seem to find something I like about Ubuntu. In my comparison with Debian 5 when it first came out, for example, amongst a myriad of little things, in the end a key element that brought me back to Ubuntu was a preference for how the backports repositories are managed, for those selected items that I wish to track more closely (for example, PostgreSQL). And maybe a little tickle in the back of my mind wondering if Debian 5 would end up being as out of date as Debian 4 over time. But I certainly could be using Debian instead and likely doing fine.

I do expect to give the current 10.04 LTS some time to stabilize (as I would even with, say, a new Debian stable release) before thinking about upgrading to it, but there's plenty of time for that to happen. There's still about 3 years left before I have to start worrying about 8.04 not being actively updated with bug fixes and security updates.

> A site/service that needs the power of a vps instead of a normal host generally is an important site where down time can produce loss of money or some bad else, how can you give a critical job like that to a distro that can make your system down simply by upgrading some packet?
An upgrade with any distribution technically carries that risk, so I'd expect folks to have tested any upgrades on a development box before upgrading a production system. I know I run parallel production/development boxes for testing both the system as well as my own application. Nothing hits the production box without first having run on the development box.

I don't believe that package updates to the LTS are inherently any riskier than with other distributions. Not to mention that a lot of the desktop-related complexities that introduce issues for Ubuntu desktop users tracking very recent releases have no relevance to a Linode server, so you don't even risk those problems in the first place.

Along the original question lines, I should point out that Linode makes distribution experimentation amazingly simple. For a while I had one of my Linodes bouncing back and forth all over the place with distributions. I had a common disk image for files I was testing, and just set up various distributions that all shared that image, so I could experiment with setting up my application stack under each distribution.

– David

@sblantipodi:

Can't understand how ubuntu can be chosen to be a server distro.

A site/service that needs the power of a vps instead of a normal host generally is an important site where down time can produce loss of money or some bad else, how can you give a critical job like that to a distro that can make your system down simply by upgrading some packet

I'm trying desperately not to flame, so I'll just say that anyone taking this user seriously should read its posting history and the level of questions being asked before giving any credence to its distribution preferences.