Morning,

>> For security reasons we want to save the databases in a
>> partition with the
>> Linux OS on them.
>>
>> ...
>>
>> Which distribution of Linux would be the best for that case?

If this is for a production system, rather than a "home" database, then
I would advise a specific server based Linux install rather than, say,
something like Ubuntu which is more a desktop install (although I think
there is a server based Ubuntu as well).

Obviously, whether or not you wish to pay for support has to be
considered.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is available and you pay for support - which
means, for patches etc as well as normal support like "how do I?"

Centos is a version of RHEL, but without the costs. I may be wrong here,
but I think there has been some "ructions" in the Centos camp recently
and there may be a fork, or similar. You get patches etc for free.

Scientific Linux is another RHEL clone, supported by, amongst others,
CERN. That's good enough for me, and I run it as my server OS of choice.
Again, patches etc are free.

When you consider these patches, bear in mind that if you pay for
support you get them as and when they are ready. If you don't pay, you
get them as and when Red Hat release them publicly and your distro
maintainers do whatever they have to do to modify them for their own
release. You pay your money and take your choice etc.

Other's to consider are:

Suse Linux Enterprise Server - I have to use this at work. I really
don't like it much. It's generally based on OpenSuse but is usually a
release or two behind. It has ways of working that I simply don't like.
I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something! (Probably me!)
You get 60 days free support from Novell when you download this one,
after that, nothing - unless you pay your subscription.

Oracle Enterprise Linux - yet another RHEL clone. You pay for this one
too - if you want support. Otherwise, you install it and that's that -
although there are "public" repositories for updates to various programs
- these don't get you security or performance patches etc. I've used
this, I prefer Scientific Linux instead.

And so on. Have a look at DistroWatch.com or
http://www.serverwatch.com/trends/article.php/3900711/The-Top-10-Linux-S
erver-Distributions.htm (which is a wee bit dated - August 2010) and
does mention Ubuntu as a server distro.

Ok, I checked! There's Ubuntu Server details here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/business/server/overview


Any of the "desktop" editions of Linux will run Firebird happily, but
they also install screen savers and so on that you really don't need or
want on a server. In addition, you will need to consider a patching
strategy for any distro if you are running a production system. Don't
just patch because a patch is available - test it on your test system
first before applying to production.

Have fun.


Cheers,
Norm.

Norman Dunbar
Contract Senior Oracle DBA
Capgemini Database Team (EA)
Internal : 7 28 2051
External : 0113 231 2051


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