Linux

A Linux-based operating system (OS) is an open-source software alternative to Microsoft Windows Server. The most popular reasons to choose a Linux distribution over Windows Server include superior security, privacy, performance on older hardware, greater customisation, and lower cost.

There are multiple different distributions of Linux OS available, each with their own license agreements, support structure and pros and cons. There are many Linux distributions because the core Linux kernel is open-source, allowing anyone to take it, add their favourite software, tools, and desktop environments, and package it for specific needs. Common enterprise-Linux distributions include:

- CentOS

- Debian

- Fedora

- Red Hat

- SUSE

- Ubuntu

While Linux can used for any type of server, it is particularly suited for building servers and clusters aimed at high performance computing (HPC), big data analytics, deep learning, machine learning and AI.