Operating Systems
Overview of Linux distributions and Microsoft Windows for server, container, and AI/GPU workloads, including support lifecycle, EOL dates, and comparison.
Distribution overview
| Distribution |
Family |
Package manager |
Init |
Security |
Reference platform |
| Ubuntu LTS |
Debian |
apt (deb) |
systemd |
AppArmor |
NVIDIA DGX, widest AI/GPU support |
| Debian |
Debian |
apt (deb) |
systemd |
AppArmor |
General-purpose server, stability |
| RHEL |
Red Hat |
dnf (rpm) |
systemd |
SELinux |
Enterprise standard, SAP, Oracle DB |
| Rocky Linux |
Red Hat |
dnf (rpm) |
systemd |
SELinux |
RHEL binary compatible (free) |
| AlmaLinux |
Red Hat |
dnf (rpm) |
systemd |
SELinux |
RHEL binary compatible (free) |
| SLES |
SUSE |
zypper (rpm) |
systemd |
AppArmor |
HPC, SAP, mainframe |
| OpenSUSE Leap |
SUSE |
zypper (rpm) |
systemd |
AppArmor |
Desktop, development |
| OpenSUSE Tumbleweed |
SUSE |
zypper (rpm) |
systemd |
AppArmor |
Rolling release, bleeding edge |
| Fedora |
Red Hat |
dnf (rpm) |
systemd |
SELinux |
Desktop, technology preview |
| Arch Linux |
Independent |
pacman |
systemd |
— |
Rolling, power users |
| Alpine Linux |
Independent |
apk |
OpenRC |
— |
Container image, embedded |
| Flatcar Container Linux |
Independent |
— (image-based) |
systemd |
— |
K8s worker node, minimal footprint |
| Bottlerocket |
Independent |
— (image-based) |
systemd |
— |
AWS K8s, minimal footprint |
Support lifecycle and EOL dates
Standard: base support (bug fixes, security). LTS/ELS: extended support (security only).
ESM = Ubuntu Extended Security Maintenance, EUS = RHEL Extended Update Support, LTSS = SUSE Long Term Service Pack Support.
Ubuntu LTS
| Version |
Release |
Standard support |
ESM / Ubuntu Pro |
Note |
| 20.04 LTS (Focal) |
2020-04 |
End 2025-04 |
End 2030-04 |
Last release with Python 2 |
| 22.04 LTS (Jammy) |
2022-04 |
End 2027-04 |
End 2032-04 |
NVIDIA DGX standard |
| 24.04 LTS (Noble) |
2024-04 |
End 2029-04 |
End 2034-04 |
Latest GPU/CUDA support |
| 26.04 LTS (planned) |
2026-04 |
End 2031-04 |
End 2036-04 |
— |
RHEL
| Version |
Release |
Full support |
Maintenance support |
Extended life cycle |
| 7 |
2014-06 |
End 2019-08 |
End 2024-06 |
End 2028-06 (ELS) |
| 8 |
2019-05 |
End 2024-05 |
End 2029-05 |
End 2034-06 (ELS) |
| 9 |
2022-05 |
End 2027-05 |
End 2032-05 |
End 2037-06 (ELS) |
| 10 (planned) |
2025 |
End 2029 |
End 2034 |
— |
Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux
| Version |
Release |
Support until |
RHEL compatible |
Note |
| 8 |
2021-06 |
2029-05 |
Yes (since RHEL 8.4) |
Alma/Rocky |
| 9 |
2022-07 |
2032-05 |
Yes (since RHEL 9.0) |
Alma/Rocky |
Debian
| Version |
Release |
Full support |
LTS support |
ELTS (paid) |
| 11 (Bullseye) |
2021-08 |
2024-08 |
End 2026-08 |
End 2028-08 |
| 12 (Bookworm) |
2023-06 |
2026-06 |
End 2028-06 |
End 2030-06 |
| 13 (Trixie) |
2025 (expected) |
~3 years post-release |
~5 years post-release |
— |
SLES
| Version |
Release |
General support |
LTSS |
Note |
| 15 SP3 |
2021-06 |
End 2024-12 |
End 2027-12 |
— |
| 15 SP4 |
2022-06 |
End 2025-12 |
End 2028-12 |
— |
| 15 SP5 |
2023-06 |
End 2026-12 |
End 2029-12 |
Current SP |
| 15 SP6 |
2024-10 |
End 2027-12 |
End 2030-12 |
— |
Fedora
| Version |
Release |
EOL |
Note |
| 38 |
2023-04 |
2024-05 |
— |
| 39 |
2023-11 |
2024-12 |
— |
| 40 |
2024-04 |
2025-05 |
— |
| 41 |
2024-11 |
2025-12 |
— |
Fedora releases a new version every ~6 months, EOL ~13 months after release. Serves as upstream for RHEL.
Alpine Linux
| Version |
Release |
EOL |
| 3.18 |
2023-05 |
2025-05 |
| 3.19 |
2023-12 |
2025-12 |
| 3.20 |
2024-05 |
2026-05 |
| 3.21 |
2024-12 |
2026-12 |
Kernel version per distribution
| Distribution |
Kernel (default) |
Kernel (HWE/enhanced) |
Note |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
5.15 (GA) |
6.5+ (HWE) |
HWE from 22.04.2 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
6.8 |
— |
— |
| RHEL 8 |
4.18 |
— |
Backported features |
| RHEL 9 |
5.14 |
— |
Backported features |
| RHEL 10 |
6.11+ (expected) |
— |
— |
| Rocky/Alma 8 |
4.18 |
— |
Same as RHEL 8 |
| Rocky/Alma 9 |
5.14 |
— |
Same as RHEL 9 |
| Debian 11 |
5.10 |
6.1 (backports) |
— |
| Debian 12 |
6.1 |
— |
— |
| SLES 15 SP5 |
5.14 |
— |
— |
| SLES 15 SP6 |
6.4 |
— |
— |
| Fedora 40 |
6.8+ |
— |
Rolling upstream |
| Alpine 3.20 |
6.6 |
— |
— |
Use case comparison
| Use case |
Recommended distribution |
Rationale |
| AI/GPU cluster (DGX) |
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / DGX OS |
NVIDIA standard, CUDA, MLNX_OFED |
| Enterprise K8s (OpenShift) |
RHEL 9 / RHCOS |
Red Hat support, GPU Operator |
| Vanilla K8s (on-prem) |
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS + Flatcar (workers) |
Community support, minimal worker image |
| HPC cluster (Slurm) |
Rocky Linux 9 / Ubuntu 22.04 |
EL ecosystem + Lustre, or Ubuntu |
| Traditional enterprise DB (Oracle, SAP) |
RHEL 9 / SLES 15 |
Vendor certification |
| Container host |
Ubuntu 22.04 / Alpine |
Broad image compatibility / min size |
| Development / desktop |
Fedora / Ubuntu 24.04 / OpenSUSE Tumbleweed |
Latest packages, HW support |
| Embedded / IoT |
Debian / Alpine / Yocto |
Minimal footprint, stability |
| Edge inference |
Ubuntu (ARM) / NVIDIA JetPack |
Jetson, GPU support |
| Mainframe (IBM z/Arch) |
SLES 15 / RHEL 9 |
IBM certification |
Package management comparison
| Feature |
apt (Debian/Ubuntu) |
dnf (RHEL/Rocky/Alma/Fedora) |
zypper (SUSE) |
pacman (Arch) |
apk (Alpine) |
| Package format |
.deb |
.rpm |
.rpm |
.pkg.tar.zst |
.apk |
| Repo management |
/etc/apt/sources.list |
/etc/yum.repos.d/ |
/etc/zypp/repos.d/ |
/etc/pacman.conf |
/etc/apk/repositories |
| Lock file |
— (apt-mark hold) |
— (exclude) |
— (lock) |
— (IgnorePkg) |
— |
| Transactional update |
No |
Yes (dnf history) |
Yes (zypper history) |
No |
No |
| Rollback |
No (manual) |
Yes (dnf history rollback) |
Yes (snapper + zypper) |
No |
No |
| Delta updates |
Yes (apt-xapian) |
Yes (deltarpm) |
Yes (zsync) |
No |
No |
| Version (as of 2025) |
apt 2.7+ |
dnf 4.18+ |
zypper 1.14+ |
pacman 6.1+ |
apk 2.14+ |
Security model comparison
| Feature |
SELinux (RHEL derivatives) |
AppArmor (Ubuntu/Debian/SUSE) |
| Type |
Mandatory Access Control (MAC) |
Mandatory Access Control (MAC) |
| Labeling |
Context-based (user:role:type) |
Path-based (profile per executable) |
| Configuration |
Policy (modules, booleans) |
Profiles (text, in /etc/apparmor.d/) |
| Modes |
Enforcing / Permissive / Disabled |
Enforce / Complain / Disabled |
| Learning curve |
Steep (complex policies) |
Moderate (simpler profiles) |
| Default in |
RHEL, Rocky, Alma, Fedora |
Ubuntu, Debian, SLES, OpenSUSE |
| Use case |
Enterprise multi-tenant, regulated |
General-purpose server, app containment |
| Container integration |
SELinux labels on container |
AppArmor profile on container |
Additional layers:
- seccomp — syscall filtering (default in containerd, Docker)
- Capabilities — Linux capabilities (drop all except required)
- cgroups v2 — resource isolation (CPU, memory, IO, PID)
- User namespaces — rootless containers (Podman, Docker rootless)
Recommended migration path for EOL distributions
| From |
To |
Recommended approach |
| Ubuntu 20.04 (EOL 2025) |
Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 |
do-release-upgrade or fresh install |
| RHEL 7 (EOL 2024) |
RHEL 8 or 9 |
leapp upgrade, or fresh install |
| Rocky/Alma 8 |
Rocky/Alma 9 |
dnf upgrade --releasever=9 |
| Debian 11 (EOL LTS 2026) |
Debian 12 |
apt full-upgrade + new sources.list |
| SLES 15 SP4 (EOL 2025) |
SLES 15 SP6 |
zypper migration |
| Fedora 40 (EOL 2025) |
Fedora 42+ |
dnf system-upgrade |
Microsoft Windows
Windows Server — editions
| Edition |
Price (approx) |
Core limits |
VM rights |
Use case |
| Datacenter |
~$6,155 (2025) |
Unlimited |
Unlimited Windows VMs per host |
Virtualization, SDDC, S2D, HCI |
| Standard |
~$1,069 (2025) |
2 CPU, unlimited cores |
2 Windows VMs + Hyper-V host |
General server, AD, file server |
| Essentials |
~$501 (2025) |
1 CPU, max 10 users |
— |
Small business (≤25 users) |
| Azure Edition |
Pay-as-you-go |
Per Azure VM |
Per Azure |
Azure-only, hotpatching |
Licensing: Windows Server Standard and Datacenter are licensed per core (min 16 core/server + 8 core/VM).
Windows Server — support lifecycle
Mainstream: regular updates (bug fixes, security, features). Extended: security updates only (free).
ESU: Extended Security Updates (paid tier, ~$45–300/core/year).
| Version |
Release |
Mainstream support |
Extended support |
ESU |
Note |
| 2012 R2 |
2013-11 |
2018-10 |
2023-10 |
End 2026-10 (year 3) |
ESU paid, final year |
| 2016 |
2016-10 |
2022-01 |
2027-01 |
— |
Last with Desktop Experience |
| 2019 |
2019-01 |
2024-01 |
2029-01 |
— |
Last with Nano Server (1803 only) |
| 2022 |
2021-09 |
2026-10 |
2031-10 |
— |
Current, TPM 2.0, Credential Guard |
| 2025 |
2024-11 |
2029-10 |
2034-10 |
— |
Hotpatching, PowerShell 7, SMB over QUIC |
Windows Server — version vs edition feature grid
| Version |
Hyper-V |
Storage Spaces Direct |
Software-defined networking |
Containers |
GPU DDA / vGPU |
WSL2 |
| 2016 Standard |
Yes |
No (DC only) |
No (DC only) |
Windows only |
Yes |
No |
| 2016 Datacenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows |
Yes |
No |
| 2019 Standard |
Yes |
No |
No |
Windows |
Yes |
No |
| 2019 Datacenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows |
Yes |
No |
| 2022 Standard |
Yes |
No |
No |
Windows + Linux |
Yes |
No |
| 2022 Datacenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows + Linux (2022.2+) |
Yes |
No |
| 2025 Datacenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows + Linux |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Desktop — support lifecycle
E = Enterprise, Pro = Professional, Home = Consumer
LTSC = Long Term Servicing Channel (stable, no feature updates)
| Version |
Release |
EOL (Home/Pro) |
EOL (Enterprise) |
LTSC EOL |
Note |
| 10 21H2 |
2021-11 |
— |
2024-06 |
— |
|
| 10 22H2 |
2022-10 |
2025-10 |
2025-10 |
— |
Final Windows 10 |
| 10 LTSC 2021 |
2021-11 |
— |
— |
2032-01 |
IoT Enterprise LTSC |
| 11 22H2 |
2022-09 |
2024-10 |
2025-10 |
— |
|
| 11 23H2 |
2023-10 |
2025-11 |
2026-11 |
— |
|
| 11 24H2 |
2024-10 |
2026-10 |
2027-10 |
— |
First with Recall, Copilot+ |
| 11 LTSC 2024 |
2024-10 |
— |
— |
2029-10 |
Enterprise LTSC |
Windows 10 support ended 2025-10-14 — last version with classic Control Panel.
Windows vs Linux — comparison
| Feature |
Windows Server |
RHEL / Ubuntu |
| License (server) |
$500–6,000 (per core) + CAL |
$0–800 (per node subscription) |
| License (desktop) |
$100–200 (OEM/retail) |
Free |
| Support cost |
Included in license (SA/ESU) |
$200–1,300/node/year (RHEL) |
| Package management |
MSI, AppX, winget, NuGet |
APT, DNF, Zypper |
| Package count |
~10,000 (chocolatey) |
~60,000+ (Ubuntu repo) |
| Desktop GUI |
Windows Shell (mandatory) |
Optional (GNOME, KDE, XFCE…) |
| Server GUI |
Windows Shell (core-only since 2022) |
CLI-only (standard) |
| Kernel |
NT hybrid kernel (kernel-mode Win32) |
Monolithic Linux kernel |
| Device support |
OEM driver model (WHQL) |
Open source + vendor drivers |
| Container types |
Windows + Linux (WSL2) |
Linux (Docker, Podman, containerd) |
| Container registry |
Docker Hub, ACR, Nexus |
Docker Hub, Quay, GHCR, Nexus… |
| Container image size |
~4–8 GB (Windows Server Core) |
~100 MB – 1 GB (Alpine/Ubuntu) |
| GPU passthrough |
DDA (Discrete Device Assignment) |
GPU Direct, VFIO, SR-IOV |
| AI/ML support |
WSL2 (CUDA), Azure ML |
Native CUDA, ROCm, oneAPI |
| CUDA support |
Yes (via WSL2 or Docker) |
Native (nvidia-container-toolkit) |
| Orchestration |
AD / GPO / SCCM / WAC |
Ansible, Puppet, Salt, Foreman |
| RBAC/AAA |
Active Directory (+ Kerberos) |
LDAP, FreeIPA, SSSD, AD |
| Remote management |
RDP, WinRM, PowerShell Remoting |
SSH, Cockpit, Webmin |
| Filesystem |
NTFS, ReFS, CSVFS |
ext4, XFS, Btrfs, ZFS |
| Max file system size |
256 TB (NTFS), 1.2 YB (ReFS) |
1 EB (XFS), 16 EB (ZFS) |
| Hypervisor |
Hyper-V (Type 1) |
KVM (Type 2-like), Xen |
| Dynamic memory |
Hyper-V Dynamic Memory |
KSM, virtio-balloon (KVM) |
| Live migration |
Hyper-V Live Migration |
KVM Live Migration, vMotion |
Windows specific features
| Feature |
Description |
Linux alternative |
| Active Directory |
Identity, auth, GPO, DNS, DHCP |
FreeIPA, Samba AD DC, 389-ds, SSSD |
| Group Policy |
Central desktop/server configuration |
Ansible, Puppet, Salt (agent-based) |
| Hyper-V + S2D |
Hyper-converged storage and virtualization (HCI) |
Proxmox Ceph / oVirt + Gluster |
| Failover Clustering |
Cluster-aware apps (SQL, File Server) |
Pacemaker + Corosync + DRBD |
| IIS |
Web server, ASP.NET host |
Nginx, Apache (.NET host possible) |
| PowerShell |
Scripting, Desired State Configuration |
Bash, Python, Ansible |
| Windows Admin Center |
GUI management |
Cockpit, Webmin |
| BitLocker |
Full disk encryption |
LUKS + cryptsetup |
| Windows Defender |
Antivirus + EDR |
ClamAV, Wazuh, Osquery |
| SQL Server |
Relational database |
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB |
Recommended OS per use case (including Windows)
| Use case |
OS |
Rationale |
| Active Directory / GPO / hybrid ID |
Windows Server 2022/2025 |
AD is Windows-only |
| SQL Server (failover cluster) |
Windows Server Datacenter + SQL EE |
Always On FCI, ReFS |
| Exchange / SharePoint |
Windows Server 2022 |
Windows-only |
| Enterprise desktop management |
Windows 11 Enterprise + Intune/SCCM |
GPO, AD, enterprise MDM |
| .NET / ASP.NET apps |
Windows Server / Linux (.NET Core) |
.NET 6+ runs on Linux |
| HCI (Microsoft stack) |
Windows Server Datacenter + S2D + Hyper-V |
Azure Stack HCI |
| Virtualization (mixed workload) |
Windows Server Datacenter (Hyper-V) |
Linux + Windows VMs under one |
| AI/GPU inference |
Linux (Ubuntu) + CUDA |
NVIDIA optimal; WSL2 alternative |
| Container orchestration (Windows nodes) |
Windows Server 2022/2025 + containerd |
Windows Pods in AKS on-prem |
| Tier 2 apps / web / API |
Ubuntu or RHEL (Linux) |
Lower TCO, smaller footprint |
Windows Server migration paths
| From |
To |
Recommended approach |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 (EOL 2023) |
Windows Server 2022/2025 |
In-place upgrade or fresh + migration |
| Windows Server 2016 (EOL 2027) |
Windows Server 2022/2025 |
In-place upgrade or fresh |
| Windows Server 2019 |
Windows Server 2022/2025 |
In-place upgrade (Setup.exe /auto upgrade) |
| Windows Server 2022 |
Windows Server 2025 |
In-place upgrade or fresh |
| Windows Server → Cloud |
Azure VM / Azure Stack HCI |
Azure Migrate, Storage Migration Service |
| Windows Server → Linux |
Ubuntu / RHEL (re-platform) |
Migrate app to .NET Core or alternative |
Windows — API and operational limits
| Limit |
Windows Server |
Windows Desktop |
| Max RAM |
24 TB (2025 Datacenter) |
2 TB (Pro/Enterprise), 128 GB (Home) |
| Max CPU sockets |
64 (Datacenter), 2 (Standard) |
2 |
| Max CPU cores |
Unlimited |
128 (Pro), 64 (Home) |
| Max file size (NTFS) |
256 TB |
256 TB |
| Max file size (ReFS) |
18.4 EB (2025) |
— |
| Max volume size (NTFS) |
256 TB |
256 TB |
| Max volume size (ReFS) |
1.2 YB (theoretical) |
— |
| Max dedup volume |
64 TB (Data Deduplication) |
— |
| Max cluster nodes |
64 (Failover Cluster) |
— |
| Max VM per host |
Unlimited (Datacenter) |
— |
| VM memory per VM |
12 TB (2022+) |
— |
| VM vCPU per VM |
240 (2022+) |
— |
| Concurrent RDP |
2 (admin), 200+ (RDS CAL) |
1 (Home), more (RDP host) |
| PowerShell Remoting |
Unlimited (WinRM) |
Yes (WinRM) |
Related
Sources
Links, books, and standards: sources/infrastructure/sources.en.md
Last revision: 2026-06-18
