Fedora | Dedicated Server Distributions- ServerMania

FEDORA SERVERS

Created in 2002 at the University of Hawaii, Fedora LInux s a community project positioned upstream from Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(RHEL) and sponsored by Red Hat.

Intended as a testing and development ground for innovative new features and bleeding edge technology, Fedora has traditionally
been the distribution popular with tech enthusiasts and early adopters.

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Rapid Development Cycle

Easy Updates between versions

Security-Enhanced Linux by default

RPM Package Support

OS of choice for Linus Torvalds

Key features

BUILT IN INNOVATION

Renowned as one of the most innovative Linux distributions, Fedora shares the RPM package manager (originally Red Hat Package Manager) with RHEL, CentOS, ArchLinux and & Scientific Linux.

In contrast to RHEL or CentOS, Fedora provides a short release lifecycle - offering server administrators and desktop users with frequent upgrades. This provides the latest technology on a regular basis without needing to wait years for the next major upgrade.

QUICK AND EASY SETUP

Fedora is available in many different flavors, so setting up Fedora based on the needs of your exact project is fast and easy. These flavors are loaded with software designed for a large list of tasks including gaming, security, design, robotics, and scientific computing

WIDE COMPATIBILITY AND SUPPORT

The community supporting Fedora has a key mission to make Linux better for administrators, end-users, and the upstream software communities that interact with Fedora. This ensures that any user of Fedora has access to a wide range of expertise available to tackle any challenge they may face. As of February 2016, Fedora has an estimated 1.2 million users, including Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.

IDEAL USES

As Fedora is situated as an upstream project for RHEL and a platform for many of the latest technologies in Linux, it is best suited for use by experienced Linux users and as a development and testing platform for new features which may be incorporated into Red Hat and CentOS in the future.

Fedora Atomic Host Edition has become popular amongst Kubernetes and Docker users, providing a fast and cutting edge container hosting environment with minimal system overhead.

FEDORA STRENGHTS & WEAKNESSES

Strenghts

Excellent virtualization support:

Fedora community developers are major contributors to areas such as kernel and hypervisor development, resulting in Fedora being a leader in virtualization and container technologies.

Community:

Whilst Fedora is sponsored and funded by Red Hat it is almost entirely controlled by the community and one of the easiest distributions for newcomers to get involved in. This means that community contributions are encouraged and bugs are fixed quickly.

Security:

SELinux is installed and active by default in Fedora. This provides fine grained control to security features found in the kernel, file and networking resources. SELinux was originally developed by the NSA who partnered with Red Hat to develop and integrate this security feature. SELinux is now used by Red Hat, CentOS, Fedora and other Linux operating systems.

Cutting edge technology:

With twice a year releases and a focus on the latest developments in Linux, Fedora normally receives the most up to date versions of applications and software packages long before other Linux distributions. Fedora is a perfect desktop and server environment for developers and users who need to test the latest software before it is released downstream.

Weaknesses

Short release cycle:

Due to its ‘move fast’ philosophy, new versions of Fedora are quickly outdated and lose support and updates. Fedora may therefore not be suited to enterprises or organizations who need long term support and security updates for software.

No commercial support or certification:

Fedora does not have official commercial support available - enterprises or large organizations are better suited to using RHEL or Ubuntu.

No proprietary software pre-installed:

Fedora only provides free and open-source software. Installing support for popular media formats or closed-source hardware drivers often require additional steps.

Reputation for instability:

Fedora has in the past released updates which have not been thoroughly tested due to its rapid development cycle. Users looking for a completely stable experience are advised to wait before updating, or choose Red Hat instead.

Frequently asked questions

+How much does Fedora cost?

Fedora is a free and open-source operating system with no costs association with installation or updates.

+Which versions of Fedora do you offer?

We offer the latest stable version of Fedora. You also have the opportunity to install a specific version of Fedora using our IPMI interface.

+What is the release cycle of Fedora?

Fedora is released in three major versions, Workstation, Server and Atomic Host Edition. Each version is released twice a year.

Workstation is aimed at being a user-friendly desktop and laptop OS for home, office and professional users. Server is intended for running on dedicated or virtual machines without a desktop GUI. Atomic Host Edition is a bare bones system, designed to use minimal resources, whilst running container based workloads.

It is possible to customize each edition to a specific requirement set using the package manager, such as by adding a GUI to the Server edition, or Hypervisor packages to the Workstation edition.

+Is Fedora a good desktop Linux distribution?

Fedora is available as a desktop Linux distribution, and it handles this task well for users that are versed in Linux.

+Where did Fedora Linux get its name?

Fedora gets its name from the Red Hat logo in which Shadowman, the man in the logo, wears a red fedora hat.

+What is Fedora development philosorhy?

Fedora is dedicated to the ‘Four Foundations’ or ‘Four F’s’ - Freedom, Friends, Features, and First.

Software and content freedom is a primary community goal and Fedora only provides software that is 100% legally distributable. The community is welcoming and friendly to any newcomers regardless of technical skill level and aims to provide excellent and feature full software first using a rapid release cycle.

+Is Fedora Linux good for gaming?

Fedora isn’t specifically designed for gaming, but Steam can be installed on Fedora for users wanting to play games. There is also a Fedora Games spin, which includes some open-source games.