An Operating System is the software that communicates with the hardware of a PC and works as the intermediary between apps and the hardware, which includes peripherals such as a printer, a computer mouse or a keyboard. When you run an app, it sends requests to the OS through an API (Application Program Interface) and the communication is done through a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Similar to a personal computer, web hosting servers also feature an Operating System that serves as a host for all of the software installed on them, including script apps or server-side software such as a flash server, a VOIP server, and many others. A virtual machine can be created on a physical one, so you could install a guest OS on it and have a different system environment in contrast to the physical server host OS.
Multiple OS in VPS Servers
In case you decide to buy one of our VPS server plans, you will be able to pick one of the three Linux distributions that we provide for the Operating System of the servers - CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian. They are among the most widely used and most reliable server OSs available on the market and we offer them so that you have a choice for the software environment of your machine in case that you need to install some application with particular requirements regarding the packages that need to be present on the hosting server. We also offer three web hosting Control Panels and which one of them you may use will depend on the OS that you've picked. We leave the option to replace the server Operating System open, so when you want to use an application that requires an OS different from the one you already have, we can always re-install the VPS. We can also keep the OS up-to-date on a weekly basis by installing all the security updates that may be available.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers
If you decide to buy one of our dedicated servers, you will find three Operating Systems on the registration page because we want to give you a broader choice regarding the system environment on your server as different apps could have specific requirements. CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian contain different modules developed by their huge support communities, so you can select each of these OSs and take advantage of a stable and secure hosting service. Based on your decision, you will also have different Control Panels to choose from. Of course, we can always replace the Operating System in case the one you've selected in the beginning does not meet the requirements of the software which you want to run. We can also update the OS on a regular basis in order to keep it as risk-free as possible using our Managed Services upgrade package.