>My current vote as much as I dislike saying it is for Debian 10. Unless you need Cloud linux then Alma is best.<
I may have to try something before Windows and Plesk.
Debian 11
1. A very long support window with Long Term Support (LTS) until the end of life of its versions.
2. It is also very conservative on upgrading Linux Kernel versions and packages. This only makes your server more stable without any surprises.
3. Provides smooth upgrades: Debian is well known for its easy and smooth upgrades within a release cycle but also to the next major release. In the real world you I don't want to be ripping and replacing every year or two, which FreeBSD was forcing me into. However, does any of this work with DirectAdmin?
AlmaLinux 8.x
1. Probably what DA will be developed in.
2. AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL 8.
3. $1M in annual sponsorship from CloudLinux Inc
4. AlmaLinux has a product called ELevate to bring people from CENTOS 7, but whether that continues on to new releases, I don't know. However, does any of this work with DirectAdmin?
Benchmarks
- The ones I used are at
phoronix.com.
- It seems all around, Intel's Clear Linux is the one to beat, but is bleeding edge and its unique package doesn't sound so hot. AlmaLinux 8.4 does very well too, and always finishes with CentOS 8.x, which makes sense because they are the same. Most interesting is AlmaLinux does very well with Apache while Debian does not but they are nearly tied on NGINX. AlmaLinux also does very well with PostgreSQL, but MySQL is what I use. Debian beats AlmaLinux in PHP. Many I didn't mention because they were either mostly irrelevant to hosting or the difference insignificant.
Other
- I haven't had to use Linux in 15 years. I don't want to learn more than one.
- It appears there are two that matter, RH-based and Debian-based, each with different package management systems. Which one does a better job keeping me out of DLL Hell? LOL!