An Operating System is the software that communicates with the hardware of a PC and serves as the intermediary between applications and the hardware, which includes peripheral devices such as a printer, a mouse or a keyboard. When you run software, it sends requests to the OS using an API (Application Program Interface) and the contact is done through a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Just like a personal computer, web hosting servers also have an Operating System that acts as a host for the software installed on them, including script applications or server-side software such as a flash server, a VOIP server, etcetera. A virtual machine can be created on a physical one, so you'll be able to install a guest OS on it and have a different system environment compared to the physical server host Operating System.
Multiple OS in VPS Servers
If you choose to buy one of our VPS server packages, you'll be able to select one of the three Linux releases that we provide for the Operating System of the servers - CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian. They are among the most popular and most stable server OSs available and we offer them so that you have a choice for the software environment of your machine in case that you would like to install some app with specific requirements with regards to the packages that need to be present on the server. We also offer three web hosting Control Panels and which one of them you'll be able to use will depend on the OS that you have selected. We leave the chance to replace the server Operating System open, so when you want to use software that requires an OS different from the one that's already present, we can always re-install the VPS. In addition, we can keep the OS up-to-date weekly by installing all of the security updates which may be available.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers
If you decide to acquire one of our dedicated servers, you shall find three Operating Systems on the order page as we want to give you a wider choice regarding the system environment on your machine as different applications may have particular requirements. CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian come with different modules developed by their huge support communities, so you can select any of these OSs and enjoy a reliable and secure Internet hosting service. Depending on your selection, you'll also have different Control Panels to choose from. Needless to say, we can always replace the Operating System in case the one you've selected in the beginning doesn't meet the requirements of the software which you would like to run. We can also update the OS routinely in order to keep it as risk-free as possible using our Managed Services upgrade package.