While the field is rapidly changing, I’m going to suggest that one of the most important areas we as network engineers can focus on is Linux. In this series of posts we will try to make a smooth introduction to Linux for network engineers that have zero to very little knowledge of Linux. The monetary linux network engineer investment will be of minimal cost to you since you will only need to spend $60 (at most) to buy a Raspberry Pi (this includes the board, power supply, SD card, enclosure). If you happen to have an old laptop collecting dust, you can install Linux on that and avoid buying any additional hardware.
- Things have changed now all the latest release uses DNF as its default package manager.
- This helps it isolate individual apps and can even run complete distros with minimal overhead.
- BlendOS is an immutable Linux distribution that, as the developer says, is “a seamless blend of all Linux distributions” and it does a great job of almost achieving that very thing.
- In some aspects, the Ubuntu Server edition is just as popular as the desktop version.
Speaking to its namesake — the world’s fastest penguin — Gentoo’s modular and portable design allows for optimizing machine-specific Linux systems. Fedora’s latest versions come with enterprise-grade security and quality assurance to give users immediate confidence without extensive prior configuration. Fedora works for application software and next-generation servers and includes modern sysadmin tools like cockpit, dnf, and systemd for init systems. The MATE desktop environment is popular with Windows XP veterans and comes with tweak tools already installed for easy customisation. Most distributions install packages, including the kernel and other core operating system components, in a predetermined configuration. In the 1990s Linux distributions were installed using sets of floppies but this has been abandoned by all major distributions.
thoughts on “11 Best Linux Distributions for Power Users”
TecMint is the fastest growing and most trusted community site for any kind of Linux Articles, Guides and Books on the web. The world of Linux distributions follows two philosophies regarding software and updates. First, some OSes, like Ubuntu or Debian, will version lock applications.
- If you have a decent dual-core machine with 1 GB of RAM and 10 GB of hard disk space, you can run it without any problem.
- There are a few free options if you are comfortable with working on the cloud.
- I’ve been very happy with Ubuntu the last couple of years, Kubuntu to be exact.
- There’s also a handy tool, called Hello, that is packed full of useful hints, tips, and web links to get you started with the distro.
For example, if you want to do a lot of programming, Pop OS might be proper for you. Because Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distros, it is also well documented. Ubuntu is a Linux distro you don’t need to worry about finding help with. Pop OS is based on Ubuntu, so its applications and application repositories are version-locked. Because Pop OS is based on Ubuntu, it has access to the entire Ubuntu repository. We check which programs, tools, and apps are included as standard and consider how well niche-specific distros solve the problems they set out to address.
Linux distro FAQs
BlendOS is an immutable Linux distribution that, as the developer says, is “a seamless blend of all Linux distributions” and it does a great job of almost achieving that very thing. Tpcdump is a great utility to troubleshoot network and application issues. For example, at remote sites that are connected with IPSec tunnels back to the main site, many times I was able to figure out why some traffic would make it through the tunnel and some wouldn’t. The cause was that some traffic that used the entire IP payload without accounting for the IPSec header had the DF bit set.
This month, Simply NUC, Inc unveiled their newest Mini PC, the Emerald 2 NUC. This advanced model is designed to be compatible with a range of Intel’s 13th Gen processors, coupled with Intel Iris Xe Graphics, enabling support for multiple 4K displays. Additionally, the Emerald 2 boasts a capability of supporting up to 64GB DDR4 and massive storage support for a variety of computing applications. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding. A Linux distro, or distribution to use its full name, is an operating system built around the Linux kernel. Unlike Windows or Mac OS, a Linux operating system consists of many open-source components produced and managed by different organizations.
What is a Linux distro?
The Main Server itself has no GUI but there’s a simple web-based management tool gives you full control over your network and allows you to administer hundreds of individual user accounts. Technically, however, OPNsense isn’t a Linux distro and is in fact powered by HardenedBSD, which is a security-oriented fork of FreeBSD. OPNsense is actually derived from the efforts of two mature open source projects, namely pfSense, and m0n0wall. Thanks to its inline intrusion prevention system, OPNsense is one of the best firewall distros around. Furthermore, it doesn’t just provide a stateful firewall, but several other network services as well. While you can carry and use virtually all Linux distros from a USB drive, Porteus is one of the few that’s been designed specifically for this use case.
Here’s our complete list of the best weird and wonderful niche Linux distros. That said, the best thing about the distro is that you don’t need to be familiar with its containerized approach to be able to use it. There are also some very helpful guides on the main website on how to set up and configure your EasyOS installation.
Network Engineers and Linux
The CentOS Project is a community-driven free operating system that aims at delivering a robust and reliable open source ecosystem. Based on RHEL, CentOS is a perfect alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux since it is free to download and install. Support for applications that require GNU compatibility is available through a virtual machine called Crostini and referred to by Google as Linux support, see Chromebook § Integration with Linux.
CentOS, a widely popular Linux distribution known for its stability and reliability, underwent a significant transformation with the announcement of CentOS Stream. Traditionally, CentOS was a downstream, binary-compatible release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), offering a free, community-supported alternative to RHEL. It is Python-based and based on the ports’ collections concept, which are sets of patches and makefiles provided for by BSD-based distros such as OpenBSD and NetBSD. What that means is that if you execute a command, you will receive immediately the prompt back and also the output of the command you typed.