OS/Linux Distributions using Apache

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You are viewing an outdated report. The latest version of this report was published on October 1st, 2024

December 1st, 2020

Report Description

The Apache server has in virtually any unbiased metric available (either from us or elsewhere) a majority market share in the web server market. Couple this with the fact that Apache will often provide hints as to the nature of the host OS it is running on, and one can view trends of linux distributions, how specialty OS' are performing in the server market and so on.

Methodology

The principal is simple: when issuing a request for a page to an Apache web server, the response received consists of HTTP Response Headers as well as the body of the web page being requested. For example, consider if we connect to a host on port 80 and request the root document. Our transaction might look something like this:


$ telnet 192.168.1.1 80
Trying 192.168.1.1...
Connected to 192.168.1.1.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.0

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:24:24 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.3 (Debian) DAV/2 PHP/4.4.4-8+etch4 mod_perl/2.0.2 Perl/v5.8.8
Last-Modified: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:01:07 GMT
ETag: "62c786-15eb-43c23eac2cec0"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 5611
MS-Author-Via: DAV
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd">

<html>
...<snip>
</html>

The above response headers show the Server: header indicating the version of Apache, various add-on modules, as well as the fact that this platform is running the Debian linux distribution.

Reporting by Hostname (Sample size: 4,052,183 web sites)

It should be noted that not all web servers will report back the Host OS signature. In an Apache configuration file, the ServerTokens directive can be used to to disable the disclosure of this information. Only configurations that do not specify the ServerTokens directive, or set it to Full may reveal sufficient information to allow disclosure of the OS and distribution hosting the server.

In this month's survey, 25,576,636 Apache servers were detected, but only 4,052,183 (15.84%) revealed sufficient information to detect the host OS. The remainder of the survey by host information shown below is based on this subset of Apache servers that revealed the host OS.

OS/Distribution November 2020
Hostname Count November 2020
% October 2020
Hostname Count October 2020
% Growth
%

Debian 1,255,076 30.97 1,272,891 31.10 -0.40

CentOS 1,244,822 30.72 1,284,093 31.37 -2.08

Ubuntu 1,157,087 28.55 1,144,550 27.96 2.12

Windows 116,311 2.87 114,446 2.80 2.66

FreeBSD 101,780 2.51 99,844 2.44 2.97

Red Hat 87,173 2.15 88,116 2.15 -0.07

Fedora 43,625 1.08 41,708 1.02 5.66

SuSE 31,272 0.77 31,913 0.78 -1.02

Scientific Linux 5,636 0.14 5,730 0.14 -0.64

Oracle 2,723 0.07 2,785 0.07 -1.23

Gentoo 1,950 0.05 1,962 0.05 0.40

Turbolinux 1,681 0.04 1,727 0.04 -1.68

Darwin 631 0.02 631 0.02 1.01

APMServ 489 0.01 700 0.02 -29.43

Mandriva 439 0.01 455 0.01 -2.54

Sun Cobalt 362 0.01 366 0.01 -0.09

Trustix 229 0.01 199 0.00 16.24

Netware 157 0.00 150 0.00 5.73

ASPLinux 129 0.00 129 0.00 1.01

Mac OS X 123 0.00 364 0.01 -65.87

OpenVMS 102 0.00 101 0.00 2.01

OS/2 79 0.00 97 0.00 -17.73

OpenPKG 75 0.00 75 0.00 1.01

BlueQuartz 55 0.00 55 0.00 1.01

ALT Linux 49 0.00 49 0.00 1.01

IBM 42 0.00 44 0.00 -3.58

Asianux 23 0.00 23 0.00 1.01

UnitedLinux 20 0.00 20 0.00 1.01

White Box 16 0.00 16 0.00 1.01

ClarkConnect 8 0.00 9 0.00 -10.21

OpenNA 6 0.00 6 0.00 1.01

rPath 4 0.00 4 0.00 1.01

Lineox 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.01

Haansoft 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.01

iSeries 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.01

PCLinuxOS 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.01

Cygwin 0 0.00 2 0.00 -100.00

Reporting by Installation (Sample size: 522,619 IP Addresses)

The following graph and table are based on the same underlying data set as in the previous graphs and table, but with the distinction that we count unique IP addresses instead of unique hostnames, thus getting a more accurate representation of the number of actual web servers installed. (See Web Survey by IP for more details).

In this month's survey, 2,033,304 distinct IP Addresses hosted Apache servers, but only 522,619 (25.70%) revealed sufficient information to detect the host OS. The data below is based on this subset of servers that revealed the host OS.

OS/Distribution November 2020
IP Address Count November 2020
% October 2020
IP Address Count October 2020
% Growth
%

Ubuntu 193,028 36.93 196,065 36.79 0.39

CentOS 135,991 26.02 138,749 26.04 -0.06

Debian 131,163 25.10 133,987 25.14 -0.18

Windows 24,529 4.69 25,043 4.70 -0.13

FreeBSD 13,329 2.55 13,495 2.53 0.71

Red Hat 10,757 2.06 11,164 2.09 -1.75

Fedora 6,178 1.18 6,280 1.18 0.31

SuSE 4,576 0.88 4,775 0.90 -2.28

Scientific Linux 1,255 0.24 1,279 0.24 0.05

Oracle 669 0.13 688 0.13 -0.85

Turbolinux 253 0.05 270 0.05 -4.45

Darwin 192 0.04 194 0.04 0.92

Mandriva 160 0.03 166 0.03 -1.72

Sun Cobalt 109 0.02 112 0.02 -0.76

Gentoo 97 0.02 101 0.02 -2.07

Netware 71 0.01 64 0.01 13.12

OpenVMS 55 0.01 54 0.01 3.86

APMServ 34 0.01 222 0.04 -84.38

ASPLinux 23 0.00 22 0.00 6.60

OpenPKG 22 0.00 22 0.00 1.97

IBM 18 0.00 19 0.00 -3.40

Trustix 18 0.00 17 0.00 7.96

Mac OS X 17 0.00 31 0.01 -44.08

OS/2 14 0.00 15 0.00 -4.83

Asianux 12 0.00 13 0.00 -5.88

ALT Linux 11 0.00 11 0.00 1.97

BlueQuartz 10 0.00 10 0.00 1.97

White Box 10 0.00 10 0.00 1.97

UnitedLinux 4 0.00 4 0.00 1.97

ClarkConnect 4 0.00 5 0.00 -18.43

OpenNA 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.97

Lineox 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.97

rPath 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.97

PCLinuxOS 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.97

Haansoft 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.97

iSeries 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.97

Cygwin 0 0.00 1 0.00 -100.00

Note: Readers are cautioned that the Growth percentages are based on a server's market share penetration rather than the absolute number of servers we detected. Thus, it is possible for the number of servers to increase, while the growth is actually a negative value.

OS/Distribution	November 2020 Hostname Count	November 2020 %	October 2020 Hostname Count	October 2020 %	Growth %
Debian	1,255,076	30.97	1,272,891	31.10	-0.40
CentOS	1,244,822	30.72	1,284,093	31.37	-2.08
Ubuntu	1,157,087	28.55	1,144,550	27.96	2.12
Windows	116,311	2.87	114,446	2.80	2.66
FreeBSD	101,780	2.51	99,844	2.44	2.97
Red Hat	87,173	2.15	88,116	2.15	-0.07
Fedora	43,625	1.08	41,708	1.02	5.66
SuSE	31,272	0.77	31,913	0.78	-1.02
Scientific Linux	5,636	0.14	5,730	0.14	-0.64
Oracle	2,723	0.07	2,785	0.07	-1.23
Gentoo	1,950	0.05	1,962	0.05	0.40
Turbolinux	1,681	0.04	1,727	0.04	-1.68
Darwin	631	0.02	631	0.02	1.01
APMServ	489	0.01	700	0.02	-29.43
Mandriva	439	0.01	455	0.01	-2.54
Sun Cobalt	362	0.01	366	0.01	-0.09
Trustix	229	0.01	199	0.00	16.24
Netware	157	0.00	150	0.00	5.73
ASPLinux	129	0.00	129	0.00	1.01
Mac OS X	123	0.00	364	0.01	-65.87
OpenVMS	102	0.00	101	0.00	2.01
OS/2	79	0.00	97	0.00	-17.73
OpenPKG	75	0.00	75	0.00	1.01
BlueQuartz	55	0.00	55	0.00	1.01
ALT Linux	49	0.00	49	0.00	1.01
IBM	42	0.00	44	0.00	-3.58
Asianux	23	0.00	23	0.00	1.01
UnitedLinux	20	0.00	20	0.00	1.01
White Box	16	0.00	16	0.00	1.01
ClarkConnect	8	0.00	9	0.00	-10.21
OpenNA	6	0.00	6	0.00	1.01
rPath	4	0.00	4	0.00	1.01
Lineox	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.01
Haansoft	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.01
iSeries	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.01
PCLinuxOS	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.01
Cygwin	0	0.00	2	0.00	-100.00

OS/Distribution	November 2020 IP Address Count	November 2020 %	October 2020 IP Address Count	October 2020 %	Growth %
Ubuntu	193,028	36.93	196,065	36.79	0.39
CentOS	135,991	26.02	138,749	26.04	-0.06
Debian	131,163	25.10	133,987	25.14	-0.18
Windows	24,529	4.69	25,043	4.70	-0.13
FreeBSD	13,329	2.55	13,495	2.53	0.71
Red Hat	10,757	2.06	11,164	2.09	-1.75
Fedora	6,178	1.18	6,280	1.18	0.31
SuSE	4,576	0.88	4,775	0.90	-2.28
Scientific Linux	1,255	0.24	1,279	0.24	0.05
Oracle	669	0.13	688	0.13	-0.85
Turbolinux	253	0.05	270	0.05	-4.45
Darwin	192	0.04	194	0.04	0.92
Mandriva	160	0.03	166	0.03	-1.72
Sun Cobalt	109	0.02	112	0.02	-0.76
Gentoo	97	0.02	101	0.02	-2.07
Netware	71	0.01	64	0.01	13.12
OpenVMS	55	0.01	54	0.01	3.86
APMServ	34	0.01	222	0.04	-84.38
ASPLinux	23	0.00	22	0.00	6.60
OpenPKG	22	0.00	22	0.00	1.97
IBM	18	0.00	19	0.00	-3.40
Trustix	18	0.00	17	0.00	7.96
Mac OS X	17	0.00	31	0.01	-44.08
OS/2	14	0.00	15	0.00	-4.83
Asianux	12	0.00	13	0.00	-5.88
ALT Linux	11	0.00	11	0.00	1.97
BlueQuartz	10	0.00	10	0.00	1.97
White Box	10	0.00	10	0.00	1.97
UnitedLinux	4	0.00	4	0.00	1.97
ClarkConnect	4	0.00	5	0.00	-18.43
OpenNA	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.97
Lineox	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.97
rPath	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.97
PCLinuxOS	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.97
Haansoft	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.97
iSeries	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.97
Cygwin	0	0.00	1	0.00	-100.00