this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You will need a pretty light distro since you only have 2GB of Ram. Normally I would recommend containerized workloads, but 2GB RAM are just a bit too small.
Your distro choice should also be made based on the frequency of maintainance and package availability.
In the server space you have some contenders.
Release based distros: Ubuntu is your beginner friendly go to recommended distro. Very well documented and with automatic security updates. In my opinion its okay but a tad bloated. Ubuntu has yearly release cycles but the LTS versions have longer support so you don't have to upgrade your whole distro. Ubuntu uses apt package management.
Debian would be the next normal choice. Also apt based with almost yearly releases. No bloat, but also no auto features. You are more on your own. Similar to Ubuntu.
Fedora server is also a more beginner friendly got it all distro with better modularity and very recent packaging. Fedora uses dnf. Be aware that fedora has tight release cycles on which you have to upgrade every time. Fedora has virtually only a small grace period between releases.
Centos/AlmaLinux/RockyLinux are all RedHat Linux clones without the enterprise support but with the same packages. Rock solid distro used in the enterprise server industry. Very well documented and known. Due to enterprise world also a bit outdated. But I found packages that are newer here than in the Debian repos. Those distros also use dnf/yum.
OpenSuse Leap is also a Good distro. I can't say much to it because I didn't use it so much. Opensuse is well known and has a good knowledge base. There is also opensuse Tumbleweed wich is a rolling release distribution.
Rolling releases: Rolling releases are distros wich don't have real release cycles but are more or less "rolling" no big upgrades needed but more of a once a mont maintenance type distro.
There is centos, archlinux, nixos, opensuse Leap and probably a lot more. Nixos is pretty special and I don't really recommend it so much for beginners.
Last category auto updating, immutable micro distros wich are mostly used for container hosts. This distros are made for only hosting containers. You have to take care of the right storage setup and be aware of all the special quirks it comes with. Best ones are Fedora CoreOS, Flarcar Linux and Opensuse MicroOS. Those are "low maintaince" but only if you really know what you are doing. Steep learning curve and non standard procedures.
Hope this helps a bit.
Feel free to correct me :)
This part is inaccurate. Fedora releases every 6 months, like Ubuntu interim releases, but supports them for 18 months. Additionally, Fedora supports skipping a single release. So, for example, you could run Fedora 35, skip 36, and upgrade straight to 37. While not supported as long as the Ubuntu LTS, Fedora is supported for longer and more flexible than the Ubuntu interim releases.
Yes that's correct. But I see 18 months maintaine windows for a complete distro upgrade is fairly often. Ubuntu Interim is in my opinion not really suited for server applications due to the small support windows.
Rocky Linux9 security EOL is in 8 years for the other end. In that context fedora is a lot more "short lived".
"There is also opensuse Leap wich is a rolling release distribution."
Leap is not a rolling release. Tumbleweed is the rolling release.
Thanks for pointing out, corrected it right away.
My server is 2 GB, and for self hosted stuff it's good enough. Granted, I use Gentoo, but I wouldn't expect debian would be much higher unless you're running something.
I run postgres and a file server on mine. I've previously ran NextCloud. It was a liiittle slow, but I think I was CPU bound (raspberry pi).
Tbh all modern mainstream distros are lightweight I give you that. But there are always exceptions. Something like PopOS (I know not a server distro) can hog a lot of resources, so those are not suited.