An Operating System is the basic software that manages a PC. It controls how your hardware functions, the communication with peripheral devices like a monitor, a printer or a keyboard, the allocation of memory between applications, along with the prioritization of apps when several run at the same time. Each program that's installed on a computer operates by sending requests to the OS for various services via an application program interface (API). The communication with the OS can be achieved via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or a command line. In the hosting field, the Operating System is what controls a web server together with all the software installed on it, which includes not only website scripts, but, in addition any other application such as a VOIP or a game server. When there're virtual machines created, they work with a guest OS which runs on the server host OS.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers
We offer three Operating Systems with our dedicated server packages - CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian. They're all different Linux distributions and we offer them not only because they're completely free and they will not increase the price of your new web server, but also because they are exceptionally stable and secure. Each one of them is backed up by a vast community of developers, so you'll be given the option to choose from many hundreds of software packages that you can install on your server in case the app that you intend to employ has specific requirements. The Operating System will also determine what internet hosting Control Panel you can use as the Control Panels that we offer are compatible with specific OSs only and since we want to provide you with as much freedom as possible, we offer multiple OSs and multiple Control Panels. If you get a server with a given Operating System, we will change it upon request in the event that it turns out that you need alternative one. We can also keep the OS updated weekly as a part of our additional Managed Services upgrade.