If you decide to use a Linux OS host on your virtual private server, you will be delighted to know that you have a variety of options to choose from. Of course, it is essential that you take a look at all of the different options that are available ad get to know the advantages and disadvantages of each individual distribution before making your choice. To make things easier for you, we will list the most popular options here to help get you started.

CentOS VPS

CentOS is a Linux distribution that is primarily free and community supported. This operating system is centered around Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A CentOS VPS offers enterprise quality software for free, enabling users to experience top quality VPS services at a low cost. Users will just have to pay for their hosting plans.

The CentOS operating system has numerous advantages over other Linux VPS operating systems. For one, the CentOS operating system is one hundred percent free. Second, you can contact developers to report bugs and discuss various problems with them that you are having and need help with, and they will always respond to you. You also have a large user community to consult with, in case you may be stuck on various things or just want to see what things you can do with this OS. In addition, you have a plethora of support options that are available to you that you can use for free. Finally, there are always QAed errata packages that are being tested and built at a quick pace.

Debian VPS

Debian VPS is another free open source platform that is of top quality, designed by the GNU Project. This particular Linux VPS software is highly flexible, it will enable you to have complete control over your environment, and it is very easy to set up and configure. In addition, Debian enables you to have high amounts of traffic on your servers without compromising your performance in the least bit. You can host a large number of sites and do a number of tasks without causing trouble with load times. If you are a developer, you will love Debian in that this VPS allows for optimal flexibility in that you can develop a number of applications to customize your VPS environment.

Debian Linux is also backed by outstanding support. You can find a whole lot of free support via IRC, user lists, and forums, and you can even talk with the developers themselves. And last but not least, it is ideally suited for a VPS Hosting environment. 

Red Hat (RHEL)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is is one hundred percent stable and performs very well. As a matter of fact, it is more stable and performs better than Microsoft`s Windows operating systems. A Red Hat Linux VPS provides support for a wide array of applications, and it also supports a number of hypervisors, hardware architectures, and clouds. The latest version, Red Hat 6, offers greater flexibility than past versions. Version 6 also allows for users to have a greater amount of control over their virtual private server environments. A large number of businesses trust in Red Hat for the fact that this is a very reliable VPS.

While there are a number of advantages of using Red Hat, there are some disadvantages. For one, it seems difficult to find a lot of information, and there is a cost for using it. You have to obtain a subscription either from Red Hat themselves or from one of their venders.