An Operating System is the fundamental software which manages a computer. It takes care of how the hardware behaves, the communication with peripherals including a monitor, a printer or a keyboard, the allocation of memory between your applications, plus the prioritization of applications when several run at once. Every program which is installed on a computer system functions by sending requests to the OS for various services using an application program interface (API). The interaction with the OS can be performed using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or a command line. In the web hosting world, the OS is what controls a web server along with all the software installed on it, which includes not only website scripts, but also any other application for instance a VOIP or a game server. When there're virtual machines created, they work with a guest OS that is run on the server host OS.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Hosting
If you decide to get one of our dedicated servers, you'll find three Operating Systems on the registration page since we want to give you a broader choice regarding the system environment on your server as different apps can have particular requirements. CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian include different modules developed by their huge support communities, so you can select any of these OSs and enjoy a reliable and secure web hosting service. Depending on your selection, you'll also have different Control Panels to choose from. Of course, we can always change the Operating System if the one you've selected in the beginning doesn't meet the requirements of the software that you'd like to run. We can also upgrade the OS on a regular basis in order to keep it as risk-free as possible with our Managed Services upgrade package.