Best OS for Dedicated Server

[Dcolewizard]

Hi guys!
I tried researching this but could only find outdated information for july of last year so I am wondering which is better for dedicated server hosting. Windows or Linux? If Linux which os? I am leaning more toward CentOs but will be open to suggestions.

[Krux]

honestly, it really comes down to resource usage, and any system built to handle a dedicated server for the purpose will handle it well regardless of OS. but if your that worried about min/max...just use an OS that uses as little resources as possible on its own. which i beleive is usually gonna be linux, but dont think that means using windows is a terrible idea, because it isnt.

[Dcolewizard]

Originally posted by Krux:

honestly, it really comes down to resource usage, and any system built to handle a dedicated server will handle it well regardless of OS. but if your that worried about min/max...just use an OS that uses as little resources as possible on its own.

I know windows 7 uses quite a bit of resources itself to run just the OS. I am just trying to squeeze as much performance as I can without the OS hogging it all.

[Krux]

Originally posted by Dcolewizard:

Originally posted by Krux:

honestly, it really comes down to resource usage, and any system built to handle a dedicated server will handle it well regardless of OS. but if your that worried about min/max...just use an OS that uses as little resources as possible on its own.

I know windows 7 uses quite a bit of resources itself to run just the OS. I am just trying to squeeze as much performance as I can without the OS hogging it all.

well when comparing, linux uses the least i beleive, but the differences are not to the point where its going to make a huge difference, if any. Linux is used a ton in networking, but more for functionality.

[Desertworld]

in my opinion Windows Server is way more comfortable for an ark server. you have the ark server mananger that updates the server automatically, you can adjust any rates and settings as you want and you can add mods to your server just by writing the mod-ID (a short number) into the ark server manager and save it.

Another helpful tool is the mod-updater (which you can find here on this forum) which basically checks your mod-IDs you just wrote and downloads, updates and installs any mods you want from the steam workshop. hosting a server can't be much easier.

On linux you have just some basic tools but i haven't found tools like that yet.

[Munchies]

Depends on the server specs. I use my old gaming PC for a server at home and I was getting about 10 FPS more than right now when I have rented a server from Host Havoc ...

If your server is not powerfull then go for linux - however the support for linux sometimes lacks - see Battleye update for reference.

If your server is like mine - an old gaming PC with i7 - 4790k, 16 BG DDR3 RAM you will have no problems with any OS ...

Also it depends on how much other servers you are hosting.

In my case I used to have 2x Killing Floor 2 servers alongside with Arma 2 DayZ and ARK and I had to stop all other servers in order to have stable FPS in ARK. If you have multiple servers then go for linux since it's way better in resource managing ...

[Harl Blabberhoof]

I'll have to agree with Krux. There is not a "better" or "worse" operating system for a dedicated Ark server. It all depends on the resources you have at your disposal - hardware, bandwidth, money and experience.
As far as I know Linux is a bit less ressource hungry than Windows (well, Windows 2012 server you can also install without an GUI, as well as you can install every Linux with a GUI to swallow up server power), but if you've got enough hardware and money (Commercial license is needed for Windows) and are "at home" with Windows, why not use that?
I myself am at home at the command line, so I enjoy my Linux servers; distribution-wise: Use whatever you feel is good for you, it's your system, so you gotta feel at home and comfortable, not somebody else.
CentOS is a fine distribution (we use it at work because it's quite near to the commercial RedHat, so we could switch over for support at any time we need to), personally I prefer Debian.

I know, you didn't want to hear that, but really it's something you gotta decide for yourself - it'll be your system, your responsability (you gotta secure that thing as well, there are lots of people out there only waiting for a new system to abuse).

[Dcolewizard]

Originally posted by Harl Blabberhoof:

I'll have to agree with Krux. There is not a "better" or "worse" operating system for a dedicated Ark server. It all depends on the resources you have at your disposal - hardware, bandwidth, money and experience.
As far as I know Linux is a bit less ressource hungry than Windows (well, Windows 2012 server you can also install without an GUI, as well as you can install every Linux with a GUI to swallow up server power), but if you've got enough hardware and money (Commercial license is needed for Windows) and are "at home" with Windows, why not use that?
I myself am at home at the command line, so I enjoy my Linux servers; distribution-wise: Use whatever you feel is good for you, it's your system, so you gotta feel at home and comfortable, not somebody else.
CentOS is a fine distribution (we use it at work because it's quite near to the commercial RedHat, so we could switch over for support at any time we need to), personally I prefer Debian.

I know, you didn't want to hear that, but really it's something you gotta decide for yourself - it'll be your system, your responsability (you gotta secure that thing as well, there are lots of people out there only waiting for a new system to abuse).

Thanks for your valuable input. I know the linux side is a little behind so I probably will go with a stripped down version of windows 7.

[Harl Blabberhoof]

Originally posted by Dcolewizard:

I know the linux side is a little behind [...]

Erm?? Did I miss something? As far as I know there is just the BattleEye-feature missing for the Linux servers, everything else works on both sides.
If you're referring to the Server Manager - okay, that thing was developed for Windows and never in earnest migrated to linux (it's third party anyway). There is some kind of ark server manager also for linux, but I had some major workarounds to apply for getting it (mostly) to work. Mod support is still a pain in the butt, but if you're planning on a vanilla server (with maybe adjusted rates), there is really no difference between the windows and linux version.

But as I said before: It's your server, it's your choice.

[Dcolewizard]

Originally posted by Harl Blabberhoof:

Originally posted by Dcolewizard:

I know the linux side is a little behind [...]

Erm?? Did I miss something? As far as I know there is just the BattleEye-feature missing for the Linux servers, everything else works on both sides.
If you're referring to the Server Manager - okay, that thing was developed for Windows and never in earnest migrated to linux (it's third party anyway). There is some kind of ark server manager also for linux, but I had some major workarounds to apply for getting it (mostly) to work. Mod support is still a pain in the butt, but if you're planning on a vanilla server (with maybe adjusted rates), there is really no difference between the windows and linux version.

But as I said before: It's your server, it's your choice.

I was planning on using the Valhalla map mod as my friends have already nearly memorized the map and are looking for a new scenery