Each PC or web server is run by an Operating System - the low-level software which interacts with the computer hardware, including peripheral devices such as a mouse or a printer, together with any applications that are currently installed on your system. Any program input through a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is processed by sending an Application Program Interface (API) request to the Operating System. On a server, each and every app runs within the parameters specified by the OS as well - priority, physical memory, processing time, etc. This goes for both standard Internet site scripts and server-side software such as a media server. In case a virtual server is set up on a physical one, there can be two separate Operating Systems, referred to as guest OS and host OS, so you can set up a different software environment on the same machine.
Multiple OS in VPS Web Hosting
If you choose one of our virtual private server solutions, you'll have 3 different Operating Systems to pick from - CentOS, Debian and Ubuntu. They are all Linux releases and we offer them instead of offering just a single OS, since the apps that you might want to run on the server may have specific requirements for the software environment. Each of the three has certain pros in terms of the available plans that you could afterwards install, but what is common between them is the fact that they're very secure and reliable and have large communities that support them. The hosting Control Panel alternatives for the VPS accounts depend on your Operating System choice, so as to give you more flexibility. In case you order the virtual server with one OS and you need another one later, our technical support team can easily reinstall the VPS with the new one in just a few minutes. We also offer the option to maintain the Operating System on your server up-to-date weekly.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers Hosting
We offer three Operating Systems with our dedicated server packages - CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian. They're all different Linux distributions and we offer them not only because they are cost-free and they will not increase the price of your new web hosting server, but also because they are very secure and stable. Each of them is backed up by a vast community of developers, so you'll be given the option to choose from a large number software packages that you can install on your server in case the application that you would like to employ has certain requirements. The Operating System will also determine what web hosting Control Panel you can use since the Control Panels that we offer run on specific OSs only and since we want to give you as much freedom as possible, we offer multiple OSs and multiple Control Panels. If you get a server with a given Operating System, we can change it upon request if it turns out that you need another one. We can also keep the OS updated on a weekly basis as part of our optional Managed Services upgrade.