Each PC or web server is run by an Operating System - the low-level program which communicates with the computer hardware, including peripherals such as a mouse or a printer, as well as any apps that are currently installed on your system. Any program input using a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is processed by sending an Application Program Interface (API) request to the Operating System. On a server, every single application runs within the parameters defined by the OS as well - priority, physical memory, processing time, and so on. This goes for both standard website scripts and server-side software such as a media server. If a virtual server is created on a physical one, there can be two different Operating Systems, called guest OS and host OS, so you can set up a different software environment on a single machine.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers
The dedicated server plans that we offer come with as many as three different Operating Systems to choose from. They are all Linux release - Ubuntu, CentOS and Debian, and not only do they have no license charges, but they are also considered to be among the most stable and safe OSs. We provide three different ones since each one of them is backed by a separate community. The packages that you can add on your hosting server are different and this could matter if you want to install some piece of software with specific requirements regarding the hosting environment. In this light, the hosting Control Panel that you can select for the dedicated server also depends on the Operating System that you'll pick. You may choose any of the three Operating Systems during the order process, yet if needed, we can always install the server anew with another one upon your request. As an optional service that you could add to the package at any time, we can update the OS regularly in order to keep it as secure as possible.