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<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Operating Systems - Full Stack Python</title>

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<span class="logo-title"><a href="/">Full Stack Python</a></span>

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<h1>Operating Systems</h1>

<p>An operating system runs on the server or virtual server and controls access

to computing resources. The operating system also includes a way to install

programs necessary for running your Python web application.</p>

<h2>Why are operating systems necessary?</h2>

<p>An operating system makes many of the computing tasks we take for granted easy.

For example, the operating system enables writing to files,

communicating over a network and running multiple programs at once.

Otherwise you'd need to control the CPU, memory, network, graphics card,

and many other components with your own low-level implementation.</p>

<p>Without using an existing operating system like Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows,

you'd be forced to write a new operating system as part of your web

application. It would be impossible to write features for your Python

web application because you'd be too busy hunting down a memory leak in

your assembly code, if you even were able to get that far.</p>

<p>Fortunately, the open source community provides Linux to the Python world

as a rock solid free operating system for running our applications.</p>

<h2>Recommended operating systems</h2>

<p>The only recommended operating system for production Python web stack

deployments is Linux. There are several Linux distributions commonly used

for running production servers. Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) releases,

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and CentOS are all viable options. </p>

<p>Mac OS X is fine for development activities. Windows and Mac

OS X are not appropriate for production deployments unless there is a

major reason why you must use them in lieu of Linux.</p>

<h3>Ubuntu</h3>

<p>Ubuntu is a Linux distribution packaged by the

<a href="http://www.canonical.com/">Canonical Ltd</a> company. Ubuntu uses the

Debian distribution as a base for packages, including the

<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/Apt">aptitude package manager</a>. For desktop versions

of Ubuntu, GNOME (until the 11.04 release) or Unity (11.10 through current)

is bundled with the distribution to provide a user interface.</p>

<p>Ubuntu <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS">Long Term Support</a> (LTS) releases

are the recommended versions to use for deployments. LTS versions receive

five years of post-release updates from Canonical. Every two years, Canonical

creates a new LTS release, which allows for an easy upgrade path as well

as flexibility in skipping every other LTS release if necessary. As of

November 2014,

<a href="http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/">14.04 Trusty Tahr</a>

is the latest Ubuntu LTS release.</p>

<h4>Ubuntu Python Packages</h4>

<p>There are several

<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/serverguide/aptitude.html">Aptitude</a>

packages found on Linux servers running a Python stack. These packages are: </p>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/python-dev">python-dev</a> for header

files and static library for Python</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/python-virtualenv">python-virtualenv</a>

for creating and managing Python

<a href="http://www.virtualenv.org/en/latest/">virtualenvs</a> to isolate library

dependencies</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h3>Red Hat and CentOS</h3>

<p><a href="http://www.redhat.com/products/enterprise-linux/">Red Hat Enterprise Linux</a>

(RHEL) and <a href="http://www.centos.org/">Community ENTerprise Operating System</a>

(CentOS) are the same distribution. The primary difference between the two

is that CentOS is an open source, liberally licensed free derivative of RHEL.</p>

<p>RHEL and CentOS use a different package manager and command-line interface

from Debian-based Linux distributions: RPM Package Manager (RPM) and the

Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM). RPM has a specific .rpm file format

to handle the packaging and installation of libraries and applications. YUM

provides a command-line interface for interacting with the RPM system.</p>

<h2>Operating System Resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.linux.org/threads/selecting-a-linux-distribution.4087/">What is a Linux distribution and how do I choose the right one?</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Lifehacker's <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5889950/how-to-find-the-perfect-linux-distribution-for-you">guide to choosing a Linux distro</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/choosing-a-linux-distribution">Choosing a Linux Distribution</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://plusbryan.com/my-first-5-minutes-on-a-server-or-essential-security-for-linux-servers">First 5 Minutes on a Server</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Digital Ocean has a detailed

<a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-set-up-ubuntu-cloud-servers-for-python-web-applications">walkthrough for setting up Python web applications on Ubuntu</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://0xax.gitbooks.io/linux-insides/content/index.html">linux-internals</a> is

a series of posts about how Linux works under the covers, starting from the

low level booting process.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Operating systems learning checklist</h2>

Choose either a Debian-based Linux distribution such as Ubuntu or a

Fedora-based distribution like CentOS.</p>

Harden the security through a few basic steps. Install basic security

packages such as <a href="http://www.fail2ban.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page">fail2ban</a>

or its equivalent. Create a new user account with sudo privileges and disable

root logins. Disable password-only logins and use a public-private keypair

instead. Read more about hardening systems in the resources listed below.</p>

Install Python-specific packages to prepare the environment for running a

Python application. Which packages you'll need to install depends on the

distribution you've selected.</p>

Read up on <a href="/web-servers.html">web servers</a> as installing one will be the

next step in the deployment process.</p>

<h3>What topic do you need to learn to keep going?</h3>

I'll install Linux as my OS. What web server should I use?

</p>

</div>

</a>

How should I install Python libraries on the new OS?

</p>

</div>

Forget servers. Tell me about the platform-as-a-service option.

</p>

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<h4>Interested in major updates to this site or an alert when a complete Full Stack Python book with detailed example code is released? Sign up here and you'll an occasional email only when there's big news to report.</h4>

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<h3 class="panel-head"><a href="/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fff;">Table of Contents</a></h3>

</div>

<a href="/introduction.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Introduction</a>

<a href="/why-use-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Why Use Python?</a>

<a href="/development-environments.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Development Environments</a>

<a href="/best-python-resources.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Best Python Resources</a>

<a href="/web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/django.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Django</a>

<a href="/flask.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Flask</a>

<a href="/bottle.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Bottle</a>

<a href="/pyramid.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Pyramid</a>

<a href="/morepath.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Morepath</a>

<a href="/other-web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Other Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/web-design.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Design</a>

<a href="/cascading-style-sheets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Cascading Style Sheets</a>

<a href="/javascript.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">JavaScript</a>

<a href="/websockets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">WebSockets</a>

<a href="/web-application-security.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Application Security</a>

<a href="/databases.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Databases</a>

<a href="/no-sql-datastore.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">NoSQL Data Stores</a>

<a href="/application-programming-interfaces.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Application Programming Interfaces</a>

<a href="/api-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">API Integration</a>

<a href="/api-creation.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">API Creation</a>

<a href="/deployment.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Deployment</a>

<a href="/servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Servers</a>

<a href="/platform-as-a-service.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Platform-as-a-service</a>

<a href="/operating-systems.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item active">Operating Systems</a>

<a href="/web-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Servers</a>

<a href="/wsgi-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">WSGI Servers</a>

<a href="/source-control.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Source Control</a>

<a href="/application-dependencies.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Application Dependencies</a>

<a href="/static-content.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Static Content</a>

<a href="/task-queues.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Task Queues</a>

<a href="/configuration-management.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Configuration Management</a>

<a href="/continuous-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Continuous Integration</a>

<a href="/logging.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Logging</a>

<a href="/monitoring.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Monitoring</a>

<a href="/web-analytics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Analytics</a>

<a href="/docker.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Docker</a>

<a href="/caching.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Caching</a>

<a href="/code-metrics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Code Metrics</a>

<a href="/what-full-stack-means.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">What "Full Stack" Means</a>

<a href="/change-log.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Change Log</a>

<a href="/future-directions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Future Directions</a>

<a href="/about-author.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">About the Author</a>

</div>

<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-head">Operating Systems</h3></div>

Need more detailed tutorials and walkthroughs than you see here?

<a href="/email.html">Sign up for an email alert when that content is created.</a>

<hr/>

<a href="/">Full Stack Python</a> is an open book that explains

concepts in plain language and provides the most helpful resources

on those topics.

<hr/>

<a href="http://twitter.com/mattmakai">Matt Makai</a> built

this site with appreciated assistance from

<a href="https://github.com/makaimc/fullstackpython.github.com/pulls">pull requests</a>.

</div>

</div></div>

<hr/>

<a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/" class="underline">Matt Makai</a>

2015

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