INFO-3182- Operating systems - Linux

Module 1b – Picking the Linux Distribution

Introduction

There are many factors that affect decisions related to the selection and installation of a Linux system.
These factors include: the Linux distribution to be used, the services that will run on the system, an
organization’s policies and procedures, staff skill sets, legal requirements, industry standards, and costs.

This document examines these factors and how they relate to one another.

All Linux Distributions are the Same, right?

Wrong, there are many different distributions of Linux, some designed for very specific purposes. Listed
below are some Linux distributions and their uses.

• Ubuntu is available for use as:

o ISO images for physical or virtual machine installation
 For installing the full operating system for server and graphical desktop systems.
 Download from the Ubuntu web site.
o Container images
 Pre-built images that are as small as possible to support containerized
applications.
 Do not contain the operating system kernel, containers use the kernel of the
host on which they run.
 Available from container registries.
o Cloud images
 Pre-built images that are intended for the deployment of cloud instances
(virtual machines in a cloud).
 Can be downloaded from the Ubuntu web site.
 Many public cloud providers have images available for their subscribers to use.
• Alpine Linux (a very small, limited functionality distribution)
o ISO images for embedded systems
 Pre-built images that are as small as possible to support embedded systems.
 Available from the Alpine Linux web site.
o Container images
 Pre-built images that are as small as possible to support containerized
applications.

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 Do not contain the operating system kernel, containers use the kernel of the
host on which they run.
 Available from container registries.
• Raspberry PI OS (formerly Raspian)
o Linux distribution specifically designed for use on the Raspberry PI hardware.
o Usually comes pre-installed on the hardware (on an SD card).
o To create your own installation, download the Raspberry PI imager from the Raspberry
PI web site and use it to create a new installation on an SD card.

Most Linux distributions today support multiple hardware technologies (e. g. Intel X86_64, AMD, ARM)
but not all distributions support the same hardware technologies.

Which Linux distributions does the software to be used run on with full
support?

A wide variety of software is included in almost all Linux distributions and is fully supported by the
distribution and the developers. This common software does not usually present any support issues to
users of the various distributions of Linux.

Many third-party software developers, on the other hand, write their software with a specific, limited
set of operating systems as the target platforms. This allows them to take advantage of operating
system specific functionality and allows them to optimize their application’s code. It also permits them
to focus their support services to a limited number of platforms.

While this is a good idea for developers, it places limits on the choices their customers have when it
comes to selecting a Linux distribution to use. This may force customers to select a different application
that meets their needs if they must use a specific Linux distribution for some reason.

Where is the system to be hosted?

Initially, most people will think that the location of a system does not matter, provided it is accessible to
the users, meets all legal requirements, and adheres to industry standards. While these are important
items, there are some others, including the costs of buying and using the system (e. g. fixed
purchase/rental costs, variable subscription costs heating/cooling, electricity, maintenance), physical
security, and system configuration.

For on-premises physical systems acting as servers or a hypervisor for virtual machines, the hardware
needs to be secured in a data centre or locked cabinet following the manufacturers guidelines and other
standards for heating, cooling, airflow, etc. When physical systems are in a colocation facility, proper

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cages and/or locked cabinets must be used to secure the physical hardware. Desktops, laptops, and
other similar devices must be secured as appropriate for the environment in which they are used.

Physical security for a cloud environment is the responsibility of the cloud provider and has the same
requirements as protecting any other physical systems, although it may be more complex than in other
environments. An area of shared responsibility for security between the cloud provider and subscribers
are the cloud management tools; the cloud provider is responsible for ensuring that the tools function
in a secure way, while subscribers must ensure that their users are properly configured and use the tools
correctly.

Containerized environments depend mostly on the underlying container runtime environment and host
operating system for security, except that the application developers need to make the application itself
as secure as possible.

If a traditional physical or virtual machine is to be used, any Linux distribution that meets all other
requirements to support the application to be run can be used. In special and infrequent cases, it may
be necessary to add device drivers during the installation process. This is usually true whether the
system is to be located on-premises or at a co-location facility. Remote administration of systems,
especially servers, will normally be used, but local administration may also be used for on-premises
systems.

Cloud instances almost always require special drivers for the specific cloud provider being used. As
noted earlier, most public cloud providers have pre-built images available for their subscribers to use,
these images have all the special device drivers already installed. Remote administration of systems
must be used.

Linux-based containerized applications need to be run on a compatible Linux system (physical, virtual or
cloud instance). The system on which they run will require any special device drivers needed by the
application. Direct access to the Linux administration tools inside a container is almost never needed in a
production environment, and during development such access can be gained via the container
development/runtime environment without special configuration.

Are there any special security requirements and which Linux

distributions support those requirements?

All Linux distributions support file and directory permissions, firewalls, and other common security
functionality. These are powerful security tools and when used properly, they provide a reasonable level
of system security. Customization of these features is always necessary to ensure that basic system
security is in place.

Data encryption on disk is often a security requirement in a modern Information Technology

environment. Most Linux distributions support several ways of performing data encryption. When
selecting a distribution to use, always check to see if the distribution supports the type of encryption

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needed. The most common type is part of the Logical Volume Manager software (discussed in this
course).

For environments (e. g. government, banking, military contractors) requiring higher levels of security,
there are more tools available. Some Linux distributions have tools of this sort installed and enabled
using a pre-defined initial configuration (e. g. SELinux on CentOS Stream, Apparmor on Ubuntu). When
selecting a Linux system for use in one of these high-security environments, a Linux distribution that
supports the correct tool must be chosen. Additional configuration of these tools may be necessary as
the pre-defined configuration may not be suitable in every case.

Another consideration for some high security environments is disk drive configurations. Some industry
standards require that different types of data be stored on different disk partitions (and sometimes
drives).

What Linux administration experience do the staff members who will

look after the system have?

There are similarities among all operating systems when it comes to system administration tasks.
However, every operating system has its own way of doing similar tasks. This is true even between
different distributions of Linux. For example, desktop and server installations of CentOS Stream both use
the Network Manager service to configure networking, desktops have a GUI tool and a command line
tool. The same command line tool is used by server installations. Ubuntu, on the other hand, by default
uses network Manager for desktop systems with a GUI management tool and a service called networkd
with a text configuration file on server systems.

This means that system administrators skilled in managing one Linux distribution may not immediately
be able to work as efficiently with a different distribution. If an organization wants their Linux
administrators to work efficiently with all Linux systems as soon as they are installed, a limited set of
distributions must be chosen for use by the organization.

What direct costs are there related to the use of various Linux
distributions?

Initially all Linux distributions were completely free of cost and open source. Unfortunately, this has
changed over time.

The Linux kernel itself is still free and open source.

Many Linux distributions, for example Debian, are still totally free and open source, although they may
ask you to donate to the non-profit organization that funds them.

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Other distributions, such as Ubuntu, are free and open source, but have different lengths of time for
which software updates are provided, the longer periods must be paid for. Canonical, the owner of
Ubuntu, also provides paid consulting services.

RedHat, now part of IBM, has changed its free and open-source status several times over the years. As
of 2023, their Fedora and Centos stream distributions are both free and open source. These two
distributions are both part of the development chain for RedHat enterprise Linux and have limited
support lifetimes. RedHat enterprise Linux requires an annual subscription fee and access to its source
code is restricted.

Conclusion

Choosing the proper Linux distribution for a specific purpose can be a complex task. Perform due
diligence when choosing, otherwise technical problems will delay initial setup, cause service
interruptions and waste a lot of time and money. An improper choice may also result in failure to meet
legal requirements and industry standards.

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