Every notebook or desktop or server is run by an Operating System - the low-level software which interacts with the computer hardware, including peripherals such as a mouse and a printer, along with any apps that are currently installed on the system. Any program input using a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is processed by sending an Application Program Interface (API) request to the OS. On a web server, every single application runs within the parameters defined by the OS as well - priority, physical memory, processing time, etcetera. This is valid for both standard 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 different Operating Systems, referred to as guest OS and host OS, which means that you can set up a different software environment on the very same machine.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Web Hosting
The dedicated server solutions that we offer come with as many as three different Operating Systems to choose from. They are all Linux release - Ubuntu, CentOS and Debian, and not only do they have no license fees, but they are also known as the most reliable and safe OSs. We supply three different ones since each one of them is backed by a different community. The packages that you could add on your web server are different and this could matter in case you need to install some piece of software with particular requirements for the hosting environment. In this light, the hosting Control Panel that you can select for the dedicated server also depends on the OS that you'll choose. You can pick any of the three Operating Systems during the order process, but if necessary, we can always install the server once again with a different one upon your request. As an optional service that you may add to the plan at any time, we can update the OS on a regular basis in order to keep it as secure as possible.