For a webserver serving just static files (lighttpd or nginx) which is better, 32 or 64 bits?
Which OS is preferable? Centos 5 or Ubuntu 10.04?
For a webserver serving just static files (lighttpd or nginx) which is better, 32 or 64 bits?
Which OS is preferable? Centos 5 or Ubuntu 10.04?
32-bit versions are slightly more memory efficient than 64-bit versions, but probably not enough to notice and will fall out of maintenance sooner than 64-bit kinds. For OS chose whatever you're most comfortable with.
Question is very vague - how big a dataset is it serving? How many concurrent connections? What are the constraints ? (memory, performance, stability, security, cost....).
A consideration for your choice of operating system should be the availability of skills to support it. Indeed in choosing between different distributions of the same OS, its probably the biggest consideration. Note that this encompasses both your skills as the primary admin, the skills/availabilty of the distributor to update security patches which are easy to manage, and the availability of support from the distributor / third parties.