October 24, 2006 | Posted By : Isabel Wang at 1:56 PM PERMALINK | Blog Comments (8)

Oracle Loves Ubuntu (Maybe), But Dedicated Server Providers Don't (Except Hostway)

ZDNet reports that Larry Ellison might announce some sort of pre-configured Linux distribution during this week's Oracle OpenWorld. Network World says Oracle's version of Linux will likely be based on Ubuntu.

Oracle's goal is to give enterprise customers a complete software stack; Ellison told the Financial Times in April that he's missing an OS. Ars Technica points out that while Ubuntu is new to enterprise IT, it (unlike Red Hat, after its acquisiton of JBoss) has no conflict of interest with Oracle.

(red = Ubuntu, blue = Red Hat, graph = search volume)

Oracle's backing would certainly enhance Ubuntu's exposure, but it's getting plenty of attention on its own. So my question is, why hasn't there been more Ubuntu uptake among dedicated server providers? I did a quick OS survey, and it's only available at Hostway:

Hostway offers Fedora, FreeBSD, CentOS, RHE, Ubuntu
--
APlus.Net offers Fedora and FreeBSD
DedicatedNow offers CentOS and FreeBSD
EV1Servers offers FreeBSD and RHE
FastServers offers CentOS, FreeBSD, Gentoo, RHE and SUSE
GoDaddy offers Fedora and RHE
LayeredTech offers CentOS, Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, RHE
LiquidWeb offers CentOS
Server4You offers CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHE
ServerBeach offers CentOS and RHE
SoftLayer offers CentOS and RHE
Superb Internet offers Fedora and FreeBSD
ThePlanet offers CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD and RHE
ValueWeb offers Fedora

PS - Check out Scott Yang's (whose comment I did not delete!) argument for giving Ubuntu a try:

I guess CentOS providers a stable platform, well supported by control panel vendors, long term continuous updates - these make them great OS to install on production boxes, run regular yum update and never need to be touched it again.

However it won't excite a developer with its list of old packages. Python 2.3? PHP 4.3? Apache 2.0.52? Anyone still develops for these things? But they are part of CentOS 4.4 released 2 months ago. I've seen many cases where an in-house developed software failed to run after uploaded to the shared hosting environment, because ISP is running one of those rock-solid enterprise Linux distribution that is just way too old. Feeling familiar?

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Oracle Announces Half Price Red Hat Linux Support (October 25, 2006)

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My knowledge is a bit limited (I'm only played with Ubuntu Desktop, which is a lovely OS!), but I believe one difference is configuration out of the box. Even though Ubuntu is available as a LAMP install, it requires a great deal more configuration than others. From casual observation within community discussions here and there (particularly on WHT), I believe CentOS has a slight edge as the favorite general Web Hosting distro, with RHE coming up second. It seems your quick survey seems to reflect this (with a generous FreeBSD following as well).

# Posted By Paul Hirsch | 10/24/06 11:34 PM

I was surprised about the strong support for Fedora as well. And where has Debian gone? When I worked at EV1, a lot of customers had requested that. But it seems there isn't a large enough user base to push it into widespread availability?

# Posted By Isabel Wang | 10/25/06 7:57 AM

Ubuntu is more of a desktop OS. It is based on Debian. We support Debian at iWeb and Debian is a very good Hosting OS for a dedicated server.

# Posted By Martin Leclair | 10/25/06 9:27 AM

If you're reading this, you should check out Martin's blog post on QuickSynergy + OSX + Kubuntu + Windows. One mouse/keyboard set for three operating systems on three different computers! You can even copy and paste between them.

http://www.martinleclair.com/2006/archives/synergy...

But back to Ubuntu... According to Canonical Ltd founder Mark Shuttleworth's blog, "the two things Debian developers absolutely agree on are the uncompromising emphasis on free software and the joy of Sid. It’s forward looking, it requires exceptional skill and up to date technical knowledge to participate, and it’s not subject to the tradeoffs that are inevitable with releases, architectures, deliverables, documentation and so on. By contrast with Debian’s Plateau, Ubuntu is a cluster of peaks. By narrowing the focus and allowing the KDE, Gnome and server communities to leverage the base of Debian without treading on one another’s toes, we can create a K2, and a Kangchenjunga and a Lhotse... drawing together people with specific goals to raise the bar and deliver specific releases that meet ambitious, but narrow, goals."

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/56

So assuming Mark's success in implementing his vision, it seems that Ubuntu server has the potential of becoming a stabler platform than Debian?

# Posted By Isabel Wang | 10/25/06 11:23 AM

Isabel, based you your suggestion earlier this summer, I did end up finding a larger host who's pushing Ubuntu hosting - albeit VPS, not quite "dedicated" per se.
Spry, who comes from a very long history in the market (Compuserve/Spry) is doing Ubuntu VPS services through their VPSLink subsidiary. Cameron is in an "opportunities in open source" session and also the VPS talk later in the week and uses OpenVZ rather than a commercial VPS product.
http://www.vpslink.com/ubuntu-vps/

# Posted By Jon Price | 10/26/06 11:23 AM

William Toll from Intermedia.NET was just telling me about the VPS panel at ISPCON. It's on 3:15PM on Thursday, Nov 9. Check it out if you sell VPSes - or are planning to!

http://www.ispcon.com/conference/sessionsbyday.php...

Cameron's open source panel is at 11:30AM on Tuesday, Nov 7.

http://www.ispcon.com/conference/sessionsbyday.php...

It's at the same time as Paul Stapleton's "Deal or no Deal" M&A session though. Tough choice! :)

http://www.ispcon.com/conference/sessionsbyday.php...

# Posted By Isabel Wang | 10/26/06 1:10 PM

Ubuntu has offered a "server" installation geared specifically towards the needs of those who require the system be run as a server. As someone already mentioned, Ubuntu is based on Debian and why more hosts don't offer/support it, I don't know. Debian/Ubuntu's package management system apt is by far one of the best tools for fleetwide server updating.

# Posted By colson | 10/26/06 10:04 PM

There are many VPS providers that offer Ubuntu Server edition, which is not nearly as popular as the workstation edition but is catching up fast.

http://www.vpsville.ca/ubuntu-vps

# Posted By igor | 2/15/08 9:27 AM

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