Debian 11 Latest (Debian 11) with support by ProComputers

As a DevOps engineer, my main use case for Debian  is that it is my daily driver.

I use Debian  in my daily work most of the time for tasks such as installing daemons and servers like Nginx, hosting databases, and creating other workloads.

In addition to my main use case for Debian, I also perform system hardening.

The best features Debian offers are stability and the documentation.

Debian's stability helps me in my daily work because my work relies on stability; I'm trying to deploy production workloads, and Debian offers that stability for me. In addition to the documentation, I can find any part under Debian documentation versus other Linux distros, so it gives me comfort to go through all options.

Debian has positively impacted my organization because it is one of the oldest Linux or GNU/Linux distros, which I believe has the biggest community compared to other Linux distros, so we have a lot of brains.

I believe Debian can be improved by adding more containerization features out of the box, and it should make some updates when it comes to the UI.

In addition to the needed improvements, I think if Debian had a memory-based distribution, similar to Alpine, that would be great, as we could get benefits in terms of memory or embedded systems.

I think Debian needs improvements, especially with GCP, in terms of cloud deployment and integration.

I have been working in my current field for more than nine years.

Debian is stable.

Scalability is good since Debian is totally open source.

Customer support is good.

Before switching to Debian, I used Red Hat-based distributions because I am a Red Hat Certified System Administrator and Red Hat Certified System Engineer, and some projects required technical support and licensing for security concerns.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is quite favorable; since Debian is totally free, it is one of my first options.

I have purchased Debian a lot of times through the AWS  marketplace before.

I have seen a return on investment; specifically, the cost is around zero because there is no need for a license, and since my whole team uses Debian, we are fine with the number of employees needed.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is quite favorable; since Debian is totally free, it is one of my first options.

Before choosing Debian, I evaluated other options such as Ubuntu  and Red Hat-based distributions.

My advice for others looking into using Debian is to read the documentation and take advantage of the big community to ask questions.

Currently, my company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer, but we are looking for this.

I gave this product a rating of nine out of ten.

My main use case for Debian  at work and personally is for software that is only supported by Linux, and I primarily use Debian  for anything Linux related because it's the most supported option. It's very easy to set up, and very easy to install software on it. We use it for testing scripts, Linux scripts, or bash scripting, and for integrations that are not supported by Windows. Cybersecurity solutions like pen testing tools all rely on it. Sometimes we use Kali Linux , but we use Debian particularly because it's available on AWS , while Kali Linux  is not available there. When we want to create a Linux-based virtual machine, especially on the cloud like AWS , we always go for Debian.

I have used Debian extensively to automate tasks on the cloud like Terraform , where I would use one Debian virtual machine as a command and control center for managing other Debian-based Linux machines. Additionally, I integrate it with Ansible  for further automation.

The best features Debian offers include compatibility and the wide range of software available on it, along with flexibility. The commands and most tutorials or documentation online for anything you need are always mainly built for Debian. It's much easier to find resources for Debian compared to other Linux distributions.

Debian's compatibility and flexibility have significantly helped me in my work. For example, if I want to install any prerequisites for software on Debian, it's very easy to use the default commands for installing software such as APT-get, and I always find the package I want to install compatible and available in any of Debian's libraries or repos. When I try the same on Kali Linux or CentOS , I almost always struggle to find the packages easily, but for Debian, I always find what I need.

Debian has positively impacted my organization by making it much easier for the technical team. If we had forced our team to use Kali Linux or any other Linux-based distributions, they would struggle more to complete projects that rely on Linux. Debian is the most straightforward and compatible option, which greatly simplifies our engineers' tasks.

This ease of use with Debian has translated into results for our team by saving time and reducing errors. For example, when deploying a Linux-based application or software for one of our customers, since it's most likely compatible with Debian, the team can concentrate on implementing the product and installing it without working around limitations or compatibility issues.

I wish the company responsible for Debian would send communications about updates and new features to keep people informed and to give Debian the recognition and praise that it deserves.

I have been using Debian on and off depending on the projects I work on and for personal use in lab testing and internal applications for my company since I was studying in university and throughout my experience over the past five years.

In my experience, Debian is very stable.

The scalability of Debian for our organization depends on our requirements. We don't spin up new Debian instances arbitrarily. We deploy machines for lab testing or specific projects as needed, some being temporary for testing purposes.

We rely on community resources for support, such as documentation, forums, and asking questions online. It's very easy to find reliable tutorials and guides. However, we've never reached out for official support or dealt with Debian's vendor tickets, as we manage everything ourselves by utilizing open-source resources.

I used to rely heavily on Windows before switching to Debian. With Windows, you need a license and must ensure that all the software you try to install supports Windows. A lot of software relies on Linux, which made the transition to Debian easier.

I have seen a return on investment using Debian. We were able to save a substantial amount by using Linux instead of Windows and spending a lot of money on Windows licenses.

Regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing, we have a certain amount of credit on AWS, and as long as I remain within the limit of that credit, I can create machines as much as I want without exceeding the monthly limit.

Before choosing Debian, we evaluated other options like Ubuntu , Kali Linux, and CentOS , but many of them have additional costs such as support licensing, even though they are still cheaper than Windows. Debian stood out as the most compatible option, being the most stable with frequent updates and reliable backward support, making it the best choice for us.

Other vendors should consider preparing AWS market-ready instances that are based on Debian. Offering ready-to-spin virtual machines that are packaged with their software would be beneficial.

My advice to others looking into using Debian is to assess their current pain points if they are using Windows or another Linux distribution and check if Debian resolves those issues. It's more compatible with solutions they may already have deployed on other operating systems, and I'm confident they'll find it to be a better and more cost-effective choice.

My additional thoughts about Debian are that the best part is the community, the resources available online, and how easy it makes it for technical users. I truly appreciate that I've never struggled to achieve or implement something on Debian. If I don't know how, I can always search online and find someone who has already done it, along with tutorials or documentation available online. I would rate my overall experience with Debian highly based on its stability, compatibility, and strong community support.