An Operating System is the software which communicates with the hardware of a computer system and serves as the intermediary between apps and the hardware, including peripheral devices such as a printer, a computer mouse or a keyboard. When you run an application, it transmits requests to the OS using an API (Application Program Interface) and the communication is done via a command line or a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Similar to a personal computer, web hosting servers also use an Operating System that serves as a host for the software installed on them, including script applications or server-side software such as a flash server, a VOIP server, and many others. A virtual machine can be generated 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 Operating System.
Multiple OS in Dedicated Servers
If you decide to acquire one of our dedicated servers, you shall find three Operating Systems on the registration page since we want to give you a larger choice regarding the system environment on the server as different applications may have specific 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 stable and secure Internet hosting service. Depending on your decision, you'll also have different Control Panels to choose from. Needless to say, we can always change the Operating System if the one you've selected at first does not meet the requirements of the software that you would like to run. We can also upgrade your OS routinely to keep it as risk-free as possible using our Managed Services upgrade package.