VPS Operating System

[chrisburton]

Currently I’m running Centos 6 (x64). Any time I have trouble doing something and people ask what I’m on, they usually respond with disgust that I’m using Centos.

Should I switch to something like Debian or Ubuntu? Jamy (forum mod) once recommended Ubuntu. Thoughts? What is easier to work with?

[__]

They’re all good choices. If someone is “disgusted” with CentOS, it’s a personal thing. Maybe they just don’t have enough experience with it. It’s certainly not ill-suited to being a web server.

CentOS is a “flavor” of (derived from) Red Hat, while Ubuntu is a “flavor” of Debian. CentOS aims to be “enterprise grade,” and focuses efforts more on people who already know their way around linux servers. You’ll find more accessible and/or beginner-oriented support around the Ubuntu community.

Should you switch? If it’s convenient, and you don’t like CentOS, sure. Or, if there are software packages that you want to use that are only available on Debian/Ubuntu, sure. All in all, however, none of them are a “bad” choice.

[chrisburton]

Thanks @traq.

I just have a difficult time getting used to the command line. For example, today and for the past week I’ve tried uninstalling/removing Dropbox from my VPS because it is not syncing my root index.php file however, it seems to sync everything else. The problem is, is that I cannot find a decent tutorial on how to go about this. I also noticed that my Dropbox is in multiple folders (e.g. /chrisburton/Dropbox, /root/Dropbox and another location). It should really only be in one place if I’m not mistaken. I’m thinking I just need to backup my files and completely start over as I believe I really screwed things up. It’s getting to be really frustrating if you can’t already tell.

[nixnerd]

@chrisburton… you’re talking to two people who know Linux well. So does @alenabdula if I’m not mistaken. So, here’s the the deal:

Like traq said, CentOS is meant to be a free version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux(RHEL), which is the commercial arm of the Fedora Project. Actually, it’s the other way around. Fedora is more the experimental beta version of Red Hat.

Then you have Debian, which has spawned more “child distros” than any other. Ubuntu, along with tens, if not hundreds of other distros, owe their way of doing things to Debian.

Look at this photo:

http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.07/gldt1107.png

That’s the family tree. You can CLEARLY see that many people think Debian is worth copying… or improving depending on how you look at it! But, there’s no doubt it’s ubiquitous in the Linux world. If you learn it, you will be FINE going to many other distros and feeling right at home.

But, you’ll find that each distro does things a bit differently and stores things in different places. So, I’m not really concerned with your Dropbox directory in two places… it is a little weird that the other place is in /root. It could be that you used sudo when you shouldn’t have… but I doubt it.

You’ll also find that the default localhost location is different on most distros. I actually think that Fedora and CentOS have a pretty sane structure when it comes to directories… but that’s because it looks a lot like what I use.

I myself do not use Debian but I probably will on some machine at some point and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it when I do.

Ok, now onto the terminal. There are few things that Linux nerds love more than the terminal. It is perhaps the most powerful piece of technology ever created and I’m NOT being facetious about that. I love the terminal and any opportunity I have to use the terminal… I will take it. Sometimes you don’t have a choice and GUI is your only option.

I HIGHLY recommend getting good with the terminal and bash scripting or python scripting via bash. It’s real powerful. One cool thing is that ANYTHING on a Linux system can be automated. Literally anything.

Here are two good resources but nothing replaces practice:

http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/

http://linuxcommand.org/

Your experience is common. I used Ubuntu for a few years and never wanted to touch the terminal. I hated it. And I had a purple terminal. What? Green on black please. Then, I switched to Fedora and by virtue of becoming a better coder, I got into it a bit more. Then, to be cool or whatever, I attempted to install Arch Linux on my only computer at the time… the one I made money from. If you don’t like the terminal, you’re going to be out of luck with Arch, Gentoo or Slackware. So, I just kinda had to learn fast. That’s when I fell in love with both Arch and the terminal.

Keep at it. Install your system on your VPS like 10 times. Play around, break things, reconfigure stuff and play around. You’ll be awesome in no time!

I would probably advise going with Debian for two reasons:

1. You are now studying comp sci and will probably be proficient with C at some point. If that is the case, you’ll probably want to write some code for the Linux environment. Debian makes that easy because of their community and market share. Also, Ubuntu, Crunch Bang, Mint and many others will be almost the same. Also, Debian is the de facto operating system in most of the ARM computing world. So, if you ever want to get into Raspberry Pi or whatever, Debian is probably the way to go.

2. Debian is HIGHLY respected, even among the snobbiest of Linux users. The reason is because it shuts up and does its job. It’s not cutting edge… but It’s very stable and rarely crashes or breaks. I’ve heard of completely neglected Debian servers with uptime measured in years. It’s a real safe pick for a server.

[nixnerd]

Oh, one more thing, whether you use Arch or not, this is probably the best general Linux documentation you’ll find:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/

I think @traq will second that.

[nixnerd]

All in all, however, none of them are a “bad” choice.

Oh… I second this. Google “Arch Linux Server” and see the venom that comes up. People talk day and night about how much Arch “sucks” for a server and how you’d have to be “SOOOOOOO STUPID” to use it. I currently run Arch on my VPS and I love the sh*t out of it. It’s simple and fast… what more do I need? Plus, my dev environment is exactly like my deploy environment.

It’s a personal choice but NO ONE can knock Debian’s stability. It’s just irrefutable. And… Debian is pretty lightweight and has a decent package manager.

[chrisburton]

@Joe_Temp

It could be that you used sudo when you shouldn’t have… but I doubt it.

Haha. That’s exactly what I did.

You are now studying comp sci and will probably be proficient with C at some point.

C++ to be specific.

It’s a personal choice

I know Facebook uses a highly customized version of Centos but ultimately does it matter what you’re using? I mean, would one have benefits (e.g. speed/performance) over the other? Eventually I want to be at the point in which I can customize my server’s performance comfortably. I really appreciate your write-up and the links you provided. That will get me started for a while.

It’s a personal choice but NO ONE can knock Debian’s stability

With regards to Centos, I’ve never had downtime other than when my hosting provider had to reboot my VPS due to patching a security vulnerability.

[nixnerd]

C++ to be specific.

I did know that will be your first language in school… but it seems like at some point you’ll probably at least touch C.

ultimately does it matter what you’re using?

Not really. At a certain point, server performance is about MUCH more than the OS. At that point, it’s about cluster architecture, the hardware used and the software stack. All Linux distros are fast. At a certain point, you’re splitting hairs. However, some are faster than others… probably not noticeable to one-man outfits like us.

Eventually I want to be at the point in which I can customize my server’s performance comfortably

Then, I recommend going outside your comfort zone. Try Debian dude. You’ll be lost and that’s a good thing. Only then, will you be able to spot similarities and differences between both systems. I feel confident on pretty much any *nix machine you sit me at. I pretty much know what’s going on and how to fix things because I’ve broken them A LOT! Ha ha ha.

With regards to Centos, I’ve never had downtime

It’s highly unlikely that you would for what you’re using it for… ESPECIALLY if it’s a managed VPS, which I’m guessing yours is not… but still. Uptime becomes much more important in things like embedded Linux projects.

You’re in the North East and you’re going to school for CS. Adafruit is huge up there. There will come a point where you mess around with Arduinos, Beaglebones, RasPis and the like. Uptime will be a big deal if you decide to start working with those. I recommend you do. They’re awesome.

[Alen]

The problem is, is that I cannot find a decent tutorial on how to go about this.

How did you install it? CLI or compiled? What installer did you use? Yum?

If you simply remove all traces of Dropbox using command line then just reinstall it via Yum, should be just fine.

I also noticed that my Dropbox is in multiple folders (e.g. /chrisburton/Dropbox, /root/Dropbox and another location). It should really only be in one place if I’m not mistaken.

One is for the actual program and the other is most likely shared folder that it is configured to watch.

I like Ubuntu. Whip up a quick $5/m VPS at Digital Ocean and play :)

[nixnerd]

Whip up a quick $5/m VPS at Digital Ocean and play :)

This.

[chrisburton]

@AlenAbdula

How did you install it? CLI or compiled?

command line

What installer did you use? Yum?

Yes, I used Yum.

If you simply remove all traces of Dropbox using command line then just reinstall it via Yum, should be just fine.

That’s the issue. I’m not at the point that I can do that with the command line. I would essentially just have to go in via Coda or something and start deleting manually.

One is for the actual program and the other is most likely shared folder that it is configured to watch.

I see. The developer I hired to do this for me via remote desktop, I should have had him walk me through the steps rather than just watch him. I could have learned a few things. Also, I’m not exactly sure what all DB installed. I think the best bet would be to just reinstall Centos. Or…say I deleted everything but I missed a few files, when I try to reinstall DB, will it overwrite the file(s) that are already installed or skip them?

I like Ubuntu. Whip up a quick $5/m VPS at Digital Ocean and play :)

@Joe_Temp has recommended that as well but I already have a VPS to play with. I can use it to install Ubuntu or Debian, whatever I choose. The primary objective for my post was to go in deeper of basically why individuals were speaking negatively about Centos. Facebook uses it, how could it be so bad? You know? I wasn’t sure if it had major security issues or if people have ran into major problems trying to accomplish certain basic tasks, does it have limitations compared to other distros, etc. Anyway, that’s all been answered now.

[Alen]

The primary objective for my post was to go in deeper of basically why individuals were speaking negatively about Centos.

There’s nothing wrong with using Centos, ignore these people. It’s just a flavor of Linux. That’s all.

If you want to whip up a simple local VM setup, download/install:

• Oracle VM VirtualBox, download
• Vagrant, download
• Create empty folder somewhere on the system, Copy this, and name it Vagrantfile (no extension).
• Navigate to that folder via command line and type vagrant up your system will start provisioning. Once done you’ll have clean install of Centos.
• Then just use vagrant ssh to log into the server.

so,

cd ~/Desktop
mkdir -p centos
cd centos/
wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/alenabdula/a9c2f79da23057106098/raw/2888ca9a904809823002744e21e35e7a4a6b9c2c/CentosVagrantfile.rb
mv CentosVagrantfile.rb Vagrantfile
vagrant up – start VM
vagrant ssh – SSH into VM
sudo yum update
sudo yum install python
exit
vagrant halt – stops VM
vagrant destroy – destroys VM!!!

Digital Ocean has great resources for installing just about anything…
Initial Server Setup (CentOS 6), LAMP Stack on CentOS 6

[Alen]

If you need to backup files from your VPS. Navigate to the folders you wants to back up, compress them, place them in publicly accessible folder and just download them.

To zip the files

tar -zcvf enter-name-of-backup.tar.gz /path/to/folder/to/compress

tar -zcvf myDropboxBackup.tar.gz /home/chrisburton/Dropbox

Now you can move the file to your servers public folder, ex…

mv myDropboxBackup.tar.gz /var/www/html

Then just download it. To extract the files.

tar -zxvf myDropboxBackup.tar.gz

Hope that helps.

-Alen

[Alen]

Admins one of my posts got eaten.

[nixnerd]

@chrisburton, people hate CentOS because its not sexy or en vogue like other distros. They just want to be cool. I personally don’t like yum as a package manager though.

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