How do you select a Linux server distro for a company?

[merciana]

[MODERATOR EDIT: Please don't piggyback new questions on existing threads. I've split this off for you and re-titled it. Also - it was posted in an inappropriate forum. I've moved it for you as well. -Paul]

How do you determine the best Linux server distro is for a company? Or are they all mostly the same? I'm a networking student, and I have you deside what Server OS is the best. Although, I am unsure what to look for expectly when it comes to linux. Any pointers?
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market samurai ~ marketsamurai ~ marketsamurai.com

[ppietro]

How do you determine the best Linux server distro is for a company? Or are they all mostly the same? I'm a networking student, and I have you deside what Server OS is the best. Although, I am unsure what to look for expectly when it comes to linux. Any pointers?

It depends on the company.

To start, you should read this post I wrote:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3684&p=16307#p16307

If your company fits this model - stability is paramount, latest version not necessary, brick & mortar support - then you'll want to consider one of the Enterprise Linuxes.

Enterprise Linuxes include Red Hat Enterprise & SuSE Enterprise (for Intel x86/x86_64 processors) and Yellow Dog Enterprise (for PowerPC processors).

If you need that stability, and you have budgetary constraints, CentOS or Scientific Linux are viable alternatives. They are both re-built versions from the GPL Red Hat Enterprise source code - which you're legally allowed to do - but are provided for free. Of course, since they're free, they don't have the support structure of Red Hat Enterprise or SuSE Linux Enterprise.

Notice I don't mention Gentoo, Fedora or Debian here. Generally, these Linux distributions are not considered Enterprise worthy. That's not to say you can't use them for Enterprise applications - but the lack of brick & mortar support is something most corporations aren't comfortable with.

Of the Debian based Linuxes, only Ubuntu is moving in an Enterprise direction. According to this article:
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7320696260.html
they're not quite there yet. Although this page looks like they might be ready:
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisub ... veredition

Cheers,
Paul