Debian Servers

It is maintained by its users.

• If something needs to be fixed or improved, Debian just do it.

Unparalleled support

• Mail sent to the mailing lists often gets answers within 15 minutes (or less), for free, and by the people who developed it. Compare that to typical phone support: hours spent on the phone, for money, only to get someone who doesn't know the system well enough to even understand your question.

You wouldn't be alone in your choice

• A wide range of organisations and individuals use Debian.

The best packaging system in the world

• Tired of old files from software three versions old cluttering your system? Or installing a piece of software only to find it causes your system to crash because of software conflicts? Dpkg, Debian's endured packaging system, takes care of these issues for you.

Easy installation

• If you have heard that Debian is difficult to install, then you haven't tried Debian lately. Debian are constantly improving the installation process. You can do the installation directly from CD, DVD, Blu-ray, USB stick or even over the network.

Incredible amounts of software

• Debian comes with over 51000 different pieces of software. Every bit of it is free. If you have proprietary software that runs under GNU/Linux or GNU/kFreeBSD, you can still use it - in fact, there may even be an installer in Debian that will automatically install and set up everything for you.

Packages well integrated

• Debian surpasses all other distributions in how well its packages are integrated. Since all software is packaged by a coherent group, not only can all packages be found at a single site, but you can be assured that we have already worked out all issues regarding complicated dependencies.

Source code

• If you are a software developer, you will appreciate the fact that there are hundreds of development tools and languages, plus millions of lines of source code in the base system. All of the software in the main distribution meets the criteria of the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). This means that you can freely use this code to study from, or to incorporate into new free software projects. There are also plenty of tools and code suitable for use in proprietary projects.

Easy upgrades

• Due to our packaging system, upgrading to a new version of Debian is a snap. Just run apt-get update ; apt-get dist-upgrade (or aptitude update; aptitude dist-upgrade in newer releases) and you can upgrade from a CD in a matter of minutes or point apt at one of the over 300 Debian mirrors and upgrade over the net.

Multiple architectures and kernels

• Currently Debian supports an impressive number of CPU architectures: alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, and sparc. It also runs on GNU Hurd and FreeBSD kernels besides Linux, and with the debootstrap utility you will be hard-pressed to find a device that can't run Debian.

Bug tracking system

• Debian's bug tracking system is publicly available. We don't try to hide the fact that software doesn't always work the way users want. Users are encouraged to submit bug reports and are notified when and why the bug was closed. This system allows Debian to respond to problems quickly and honestly.

Stability

• There are many cases of machines that run for over a year without rebooting. Even then, they are only rebooted due to a power failure or a hardware upgrade. Compare that to other systems that crash multiple times a day.

Fast and easy on memory

• Other operating systems may be as fast in one or two areas, but being based on GNU/Linux or GNU/kFreeBSD, Debian is lean and mean. Windows software run from GNU/Linux using an emulator sometimes runs faster than when run in the native environment.

Good system security

• Debian and the free software community are very responsive to make sure that fixes of security problems get into the distribution quickly. Usually, fixed packages are uploaded within a few days. The availability of source code allows the security in Debian to be evaluated in an open setting which prevents poor security models from being implemented. Also, most free software projects have peer-review systems, which prevents potential security problems from being introduced in essential systems in the first place.

Security software

• Unknown to many, anything sent over the net can be read by any machine between you and the receiver. Debian has packages of the famous GPG (and PGP) software which allows mail to be sent privately between users. In addition, ssh allows you to create secure connections to other machines which have ssh installed.