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You are viewing an outdated report.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

August 1st, 2006

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: 3,858,090 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, 14,513,449 Apache servers were detected, but only 3,858,090 (26.58%) 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 July 2006
Hostname Count July 2006
% June 2006
Hostname Count June 2006
% Growth
%

Red Hat 1,108,946 28.74 1,086,463 28.98 -0.80

Debian 889,467 23.05 852,629 22.74 1.39

Fedora 645,907 16.74 642,498 17.14 -2.30

SuSE 444,395 11.52 436,108 11.63 -0.96

CentOS 182,027 4.72 151,325 4.04 16.91

Windows 131,978 3.42 128,388 3.42 -0.09

FreeBSD 127,790 3.31 121,737 3.25 2.02

Sun Cobalt 117,660 3.05 122,268 3.26 -6.47

Darwin 62,174 1.61 60,824 1.62 -0.65

Gentoo 39,501 1.02 45,054 1.20 -14.79

Mandriva 31,871 0.83 30,240 0.81 2.43

Ubuntu 19,815 0.51 16,328 0.44 17.94

Trustix 7,687 0.20 7,300 0.19 2.34

Netware 6,267 0.16 6,282 0.17 -3.04

Turbolinux 6,220 0.16 6,117 0.16 -1.18

UnitedLinux 6,093 0.16 6,302 0.17 -6.03

White Box 5,892 0.15 5,555 0.15 3.08

BlueQuartz 5,521 0.14 5,509 0.15 -2.60

IBM 4,777 0.12 4,705 0.13 -1.32

ALT Linux 2,822 0.07 2,758 0.07 -0.56

Oracle 2,030 0.05 2,074 0.06 -4.87

Mac OS X 1,967 0.05 1,917 0.05 -0.28

ASPLinux 1,621 0.04 1,485 0.04 6.09

OpenPKG 1,066 0.03 1,035 0.03 0.10

OpenNA 752 0.02 819 0.02 -10.76

Tao 601 0.02 800 0.02 -26.99

Lineox 534 0.01 521 0.01 -0.39

OpenVMS 418 0.01 412 0.01 -1.40

OS/2 380 0.01 360 0.01 2.59

Aurox 271 0.01 285 0.01 -7.59

Miracle 253 0.01 254 0.01 -3.19

Asianux 234 0.01 227 0.01 0.19

Yellow Dog 226 0.01 225 0.01 -2.38

ClarkConnect 148 0.00 142 0.00 1.29

RedFlag 111 0.00 113 0.00 -4.53

Haansoft 94 0.00 94 0.00 -2.81

Solaris 89 0.00 9 0.00 861.08

APMServ 84 0.00 66 0.00 23.69

cAos 82 0.00 80 0.00 -0.38

EasiLiX 81 0.00 84 0.00 -6.28

iSeries 68 0.00 67 0.00 -1.36

PCLinuxOS 55 0.00 53 0.00 0.86

Novell 36 0.00 31 0.00 12.86

StartCom 26 0.00 26 0.00 -2.81

Cygwin 18 0.00 15 0.00 16.63

OpenBSD 11 0.00 1 0.00 969.07

rPath 9 0.00 8 0.00 9.34

Momonga 8 0.00 12 0.00 -35.21

Ark 7 0.00 7 0.00 -2.81

Reporting by Installation (Sample size: 545,350 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, 1,676,248 distinct IP Addresses hosted Apache servers, but only 545,350 (32.53%) 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 July 2006
IP Address Count July 2006
% June 2006
IP Address Count June 2006
% Growth
%

Red Hat 178,213 32.68 178,734 33.10 -1.26

Fedora 101,038 18.53 99,175 18.36 0.88

Debian 87,263 16.00 85,820 15.89 0.69

SuSE 46,959 8.61 46,665 8.64 -0.35

Windows 34,797 6.38 34,590 6.41 -0.38

Sun Cobalt 19,239 3.53 19,956 3.70 -4.53

CentOS 17,504 3.21 15,586 2.89 11.21

Darwin 16,625 3.05 16,567 3.07 -0.63

FreeBSD 14,298 2.62 13,794 2.55 2.64

Mandriva 5,898 1.08 6,021 1.11 -3.00

Gentoo 4,604 0.84 4,788 0.89 -4.78

Netware 4,019 0.74 4,042 0.75 -1.54

Ubuntu 3,951 0.72 3,324 0.62 17.70

Turbolinux 2,064 0.38 2,059 0.38 -0.74

IBM 1,372 0.25 1,354 0.25 0.34

Oracle 966 0.18 985 0.18 -2.89

White Box 950 0.17 950 0.18 -0.98

BlueQuartz 901 0.17 911 0.17 -2.06

Trustix 837 0.15 836 0.15 -0.86

UnitedLinux 734 0.13 753 0.14 -3.47

ALT Linux 478 0.09 470 0.09 0.71

ASPLinux 433 0.08 429 0.08 -0.05

Lineox 417 0.08 423 0.08 -2.38

Mac OS X 406 0.07 406 0.08 -0.98

OpenVMS 190 0.03 191 0.04 -1.49

Miracle 167 0.03 165 0.03 0.22

Asianux 138 0.03 134 0.02 1.98

Tao 133 0.02 156 0.03 -15.58

OpenPKG 127 0.02 124 0.02 1.42

Aurox 99 0.02 102 0.02 -3.89

OS/2 99 0.02 100 0.02 -1.97

ClarkConnect 64 0.01 64 0.01 -0.98

OpenNA 64 0.01 65 0.01 -2.50

iSeries 53 0.01 51 0.01 2.91

Yellow Dog 53 0.01 51 0.01 2.91

Haansoft 46 0.01 48 0.01 -5.10

APMServ 31 0.01 28 0.01 9.63

Novell 30 0.01 25 0.00 18.83

RedFlag 22 0.00 22 0.00 -0.98

cAos 15 0.00 15 0.00 -0.98

EasiLiX 13 0.00 12 0.00 7.28

StartCom 9 0.00 10 0.00 -10.88

Cygwin 8 0.00 8 0.00 -0.98

rPath 6 0.00 5 0.00 18.83

PCLinuxOS 5 0.00 4 0.00 23.78

Solaris 4 0.00 1 0.00 296.10

OpenBSD 3 0.00 1 0.00 197.07

Momonga 3 0.00 5 0.00 -40.59

Ark 2 0.00 2 0.00 -0.98

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	July 2006 Hostname Count	July 2006 %	June 2006 Hostname Count	June 2006 %	Growth %
Red Hat	1,108,946	28.74	1,086,463	28.98	-0.80
Debian	889,467	23.05	852,629	22.74	1.39
Fedora	645,907	16.74	642,498	17.14	-2.30
SuSE	444,395	11.52	436,108	11.63	-0.96
CentOS	182,027	4.72	151,325	4.04	16.91
Windows	131,978	3.42	128,388	3.42	-0.09
FreeBSD	127,790	3.31	121,737	3.25	2.02
Sun Cobalt	117,660	3.05	122,268	3.26	-6.47
Darwin	62,174	1.61	60,824	1.62	-0.65
Gentoo	39,501	1.02	45,054	1.20	-14.79
Mandriva	31,871	0.83	30,240	0.81	2.43
Ubuntu	19,815	0.51	16,328	0.44	17.94
Trustix	7,687	0.20	7,300	0.19	2.34
Netware	6,267	0.16	6,282	0.17	-3.04
Turbolinux	6,220	0.16	6,117	0.16	-1.18
UnitedLinux	6,093	0.16	6,302	0.17	-6.03
White Box	5,892	0.15	5,555	0.15	3.08
BlueQuartz	5,521	0.14	5,509	0.15	-2.60
IBM	4,777	0.12	4,705	0.13	-1.32
ALT Linux	2,822	0.07	2,758	0.07	-0.56
Oracle	2,030	0.05	2,074	0.06	-4.87
Mac OS X	1,967	0.05	1,917	0.05	-0.28
ASPLinux	1,621	0.04	1,485	0.04	6.09
OpenPKG	1,066	0.03	1,035	0.03	0.10
OpenNA	752	0.02	819	0.02	-10.76
Tao	601	0.02	800	0.02	-26.99
Lineox	534	0.01	521	0.01	-0.39
OpenVMS	418	0.01	412	0.01	-1.40
OS/2	380	0.01	360	0.01	2.59
Aurox	271	0.01	285	0.01	-7.59
Miracle	253	0.01	254	0.01	-3.19
Asianux	234	0.01	227	0.01	0.19
Yellow Dog	226	0.01	225	0.01	-2.38
ClarkConnect	148	0.00	142	0.00	1.29
RedFlag	111	0.00	113	0.00	-4.53
Haansoft	94	0.00	94	0.00	-2.81
Solaris	89	0.00	9	0.00	861.08
APMServ	84	0.00	66	0.00	23.69
cAos	82	0.00	80	0.00	-0.38
EasiLiX	81	0.00	84	0.00	-6.28
iSeries	68	0.00	67	0.00	-1.36
PCLinuxOS	55	0.00	53	0.00	0.86
Novell	36	0.00	31	0.00	12.86
StartCom	26	0.00	26	0.00	-2.81
Cygwin	18	0.00	15	0.00	16.63
OpenBSD	11	0.00	1	0.00	969.07
rPath	9	0.00	8	0.00	9.34
Momonga	8	0.00	12	0.00	-35.21
Ark	7	0.00	7	0.00	-2.81

OS/Distribution	July 2006 IP Address Count	July 2006 %	June 2006 IP Address Count	June 2006 %	Growth %
Red Hat	178,213	32.68	178,734	33.10	-1.26
Fedora	101,038	18.53	99,175	18.36	0.88
Debian	87,263	16.00	85,820	15.89	0.69
SuSE	46,959	8.61	46,665	8.64	-0.35
Windows	34,797	6.38	34,590	6.41	-0.38
Sun Cobalt	19,239	3.53	19,956	3.70	-4.53
CentOS	17,504	3.21	15,586	2.89	11.21
Darwin	16,625	3.05	16,567	3.07	-0.63
FreeBSD	14,298	2.62	13,794	2.55	2.64
Mandriva	5,898	1.08	6,021	1.11	-3.00
Gentoo	4,604	0.84	4,788	0.89	-4.78
Netware	4,019	0.74	4,042	0.75	-1.54
Ubuntu	3,951	0.72	3,324	0.62	17.70
Turbolinux	2,064	0.38	2,059	0.38	-0.74
IBM	1,372	0.25	1,354	0.25	0.34
Oracle	966	0.18	985	0.18	-2.89
White Box	950	0.17	950	0.18	-0.98
BlueQuartz	901	0.17	911	0.17	-2.06
Trustix	837	0.15	836	0.15	-0.86
UnitedLinux	734	0.13	753	0.14	-3.47
ALT Linux	478	0.09	470	0.09	0.71
ASPLinux	433	0.08	429	0.08	-0.05
Lineox	417	0.08	423	0.08	-2.38
Mac OS X	406	0.07	406	0.08	-0.98
OpenVMS	190	0.03	191	0.04	-1.49
Miracle	167	0.03	165	0.03	0.22
Asianux	138	0.03	134	0.02	1.98
Tao	133	0.02	156	0.03	-15.58
OpenPKG	127	0.02	124	0.02	1.42
Aurox	99	0.02	102	0.02	-3.89
OS/2	99	0.02	100	0.02	-1.97
ClarkConnect	64	0.01	64	0.01	-0.98
OpenNA	64	0.01	65	0.01	-2.50
iSeries	53	0.01	51	0.01	2.91
Yellow Dog	53	0.01	51	0.01	2.91
Haansoft	46	0.01	48	0.01	-5.10
APMServ	31	0.01	28	0.01	9.63
Novell	30	0.01	25	0.00	18.83
RedFlag	22	0.00	22	0.00	-0.98
cAos	15	0.00	15	0.00	-0.98
EasiLiX	13	0.00	12	0.00	7.28
StartCom	9	0.00	10	0.00	-10.88
Cygwin	8	0.00	8	0.00	-0.98
rPath	6	0.00	5	0.00	18.83
PCLinuxOS	5	0.00	4	0.00	23.78
Solaris	4	0.00	1	0.00	296.10
OpenBSD	3	0.00	1	0.00	197.07
Momonga	3	0.00	5	0.00	-40.59
Ark	2	0.00	2	0.00	-0.98