What is the best OS to use on my server? I plan on hosting web, shoutcast, and various game servers.?

Question

The server is very powerful. 8gb ram (8 X 1gb sticks) 2X dual core AMD Opterons, and a 300gb SCSI hard drive. I plan on running a DNS server, apache/php/sql/etc. for web hosting, and several game servers, such as Counter-Strike: Source, Natural Selection 2 (when it's released), Quake 4, Garry's Mod, and many others. I am having a little trouble trying to determine which OS to use, and I plan on hosting for other people so maybe Virtual Servers hosted on it. I have Ubuntu on it, but have been recommended CentOS and FreeBSD.

Answer 1

The most services built in: Linux

The cheapest: Linux

The most up-time: Linux

Easiest to expand to a cluster: Linux

Easiest to expand to bigger boxes (including mainframe): Linux



So, overall, I'd say Linux.

Answer 2

CentOS with cPanel/WHM is a tried and true configuration which has worked for my servers for many years. cPanel and WHM will help you manage your Apache build, PHP modules and SQL databases. Good firewall management software like csf/lfd, which is free, will help to keep your system secure and allows you to open any ports you need for your services.

Answer 3

Whatever OS can run all your game servers. Of all your requirements, that's the most restrictive.