Stability and security

Regular releases and frequent security updates?

Ensuring maximum uptime is of paramount importance in a production server. Ideally you want a distribution with a strong foundation, a large repository of packages and a steady, thoroughly vetted stream of updates and bug fixes. It’s also important for the distribution to invest resources in hosting an efficient system of bug reporting and fixing.

Although it has spent a considerable part of its existence following a ship-when-ready schedule, Debian now strives for a new release every two years. It also continually pushes out updates and patches to ensure the system remains secure.

Nethserver and Clearos are both built with Centos as the base, which is itself based on RHEL. A new release of Centos is made available within 48-72 hours of upstream RHEL release. The latest Centos release, version 7, will receive updates until 2024. In addition to the Centos project, Nethserver also receives in-house updates, as well as updates from Fedora’s Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository.

Clearos offers a rolling release, which means that you don’t have to opt for a fresh install with every major release. Instead, users must continuously install incoming updates. If you want only quality-tested and vetted software, and updates and security fixes, in your Clearos setup, you must opt for the Business or the Home edition.

Major releases of Zentyal are pushed every two years following upstream releases of Ubuntu Server LTS, with minor releases, featuring new feature additions, coming in between. As with Clearos, the free edition features only community updates, and you need the commercial variant if you want verified updates.