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You are viewing an outdated report.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

April 1st, 2016

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: 7,381,240 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, 37,079,631 Apache servers were detected, but only 7,381,240 (19.91%) 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 March 2016
Hostname Count March 2016
% February 2016
Hostname Count February 2016
% Growth
%

CentOS 2,269,957 30.75 2,239,901 29.84 3.06

Debian 2,026,486 27.45 2,145,451 28.58 -3.94

Ubuntu 1,604,808 21.74 1,634,671 21.78 -0.16

FreeBSD 366,273 4.96 372,993 4.97 -0.14

Red Hat 360,624 4.89 365,223 4.87 0.42

Windows 312,322 4.23 296,440 3.95 7.15

Fedora 227,536 3.08 231,782 3.09 -0.17

SuSE 160,544 2.18 164,735 2.19 -0.89

Scientific Linux 12,166 0.16 12,051 0.16 2.67

Oracle 9,350 0.13 9,743 0.13 -2.41

Turbolinux 5,743 0.08 5,898 0.08 -0.98

Mandriva 4,946 0.07 5,073 0.07 -0.85

APMServ 4,887 0.07 5,084 0.07 -2.24

Darwin 4,272 0.06 4,556 0.06 -4.64

Gentoo 4,228 0.06 5,439 0.07 -20.95

Sun Cobalt 1,998 0.03 2,043 0.03 -0.54

Mac OS X 1,234 0.02 1,260 0.02 -0.40

IBM 1,009 0.01 961 0.01 6.78

Netware 676 0.01 879 0.01 -21.79

Trustix 495 0.01 493 0.01 2.11

ASPLinux 307 0.00 310 0.00 0.71

Asianux 250 0.00 281 0.00 -9.52

BlueQuartz 244 0.00 248 0.00 0.06

OpenVMS 159 0.00 166 0.00 -2.59

ALT Linux 135 0.00 150 0.00 -8.47

White Box 106 0.00 106 0.00 1.70

OS/2 104 0.00 117 0.00 -9.60

UnitedLinux 98 0.00 99 0.00 0.67

OpenPKG 94 0.00 96 0.00 -0.42

rPath 56 0.00 62 0.00 -8.14

ClarkConnect 34 0.00 35 0.00 -1.21

PCLinuxOS 24 0.00 24 0.00 1.70

OpenNA 20 0.00 20 0.00 1.70

iSeries 13 0.00 16 0.00 -17.37

OpenBSD 9 0.00 10 0.00 -8.47

Miracle 8 0.00 8 0.00 1.70

Tao 6 0.00 6 0.00 1.70

Haansoft 4 0.00 4 0.00 1.70

Lineox 4 0.00 4 0.00 1.70

RedFlag 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.70

Solaris 3 0.00 5 0.00 -38.98

Cygwin 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.70

Aurox 1 0.00 0 0.00 N/A

Rogue Penguin 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.70

Yellow Dog 0 0.00 48 0.00 -100.00

Reporting by Installation (Sample size: 834,915 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, 2,935,205 distinct IP Addresses hosted Apache servers, but only 834,915 (28.44%) 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 March 2016
IP Address Count March 2016
% February 2016
IP Address Count February 2016
% Growth
%

CentOS 228,794 27.40 230,793 27.24 0.59

Ubuntu 218,477 26.17 221,742 26.17 -0.02

Debian 200,889 24.06 203,694 24.04 0.07

Windows 63,676 7.63 64,885 7.66 -0.42

Red Hat 47,925 5.74 49,142 5.80 -1.04

FreeBSD 25,800 3.09 26,283 3.10 -0.39

Fedora 20,713 2.48 21,181 2.50 -0.77

SuSE 19,069 2.28 19,611 2.31 -1.33

Scientific Linux 2,586 0.31 2,606 0.31 0.69

Oracle 1,440 0.17 1,458 0.17 0.22

Darwin 1,157 0.14 1,212 0.14 -3.13

Turbolinux 931 0.11 956 0.11 -1.18

APMServ 802 0.10 889 0.10 -8.46

Mandriva 722 0.09 739 0.09 -0.86

Sun Cobalt 425 0.05 438 0.05 -1.54

Gentoo 334 0.04 341 0.04 -0.61

Netware 291 0.03 302 0.04 -2.22

IBM 173 0.02 188 0.02 -6.62

OpenVMS 102 0.01 105 0.01 -1.43

Mac OS X 93 0.01 98 0.01 -3.71

Asianux 91 0.01 92 0.01 0.37

ASPLinux 69 0.01 70 0.01 0.02

BlueQuartz 58 0.01 59 0.01 -0.25

Trustix 53 0.01 55 0.01 -2.22

White Box 40 0.00 40 0.00 1.47

UnitedLinux 35 0.00 34 0.00 4.46

OpenPKG 31 0.00 33 0.00 -4.68

ALT Linux 29 0.00 32 0.00 -8.04

rPath 27 0.00 31 0.00 -11.62

OS/2 24 0.00 27 0.00 -9.80

ClarkConnect 14 0.00 14 0.00 1.47

OpenNA 10 0.00 10 0.00 1.47

PCLinuxOS 7 0.00 7 0.00 1.47

iSeries 6 0.00 8 0.00 -23.90

Miracle 6 0.00 6 0.00 1.47

Haansoft 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.47

Solaris 3 0.00 3 0.00 1.47

OpenBSD 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.47

Cygwin 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.47

Lineox 2 0.00 2 0.00 1.47

Tao 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.47

Rogue Penguin 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.47

RedFlag 1 0.00 1 0.00 1.47

Aurox 1 0.00 0 0.00 N/A

Yellow Dog 0 0.00 5 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	March 2016 Hostname Count	March 2016 %	February 2016 Hostname Count	February 2016 %	Growth %
CentOS	2,269,957	30.75	2,239,901	29.84	3.06
Debian	2,026,486	27.45	2,145,451	28.58	-3.94
Ubuntu	1,604,808	21.74	1,634,671	21.78	-0.16
FreeBSD	366,273	4.96	372,993	4.97	-0.14
Red Hat	360,624	4.89	365,223	4.87	0.42
Windows	312,322	4.23	296,440	3.95	7.15
Fedora	227,536	3.08	231,782	3.09	-0.17
SuSE	160,544	2.18	164,735	2.19	-0.89
Scientific Linux	12,166	0.16	12,051	0.16	2.67
Oracle	9,350	0.13	9,743	0.13	-2.41
Turbolinux	5,743	0.08	5,898	0.08	-0.98
Mandriva	4,946	0.07	5,073	0.07	-0.85
APMServ	4,887	0.07	5,084	0.07	-2.24
Darwin	4,272	0.06	4,556	0.06	-4.64
Gentoo	4,228	0.06	5,439	0.07	-20.95
Sun Cobalt	1,998	0.03	2,043	0.03	-0.54
Mac OS X	1,234	0.02	1,260	0.02	-0.40
IBM	1,009	0.01	961	0.01	6.78
Netware	676	0.01	879	0.01	-21.79
Trustix	495	0.01	493	0.01	2.11
ASPLinux	307	0.00	310	0.00	0.71
Asianux	250	0.00	281	0.00	-9.52
BlueQuartz	244	0.00	248	0.00	0.06
OpenVMS	159	0.00	166	0.00	-2.59
ALT Linux	135	0.00	150	0.00	-8.47
White Box	106	0.00	106	0.00	1.70
OS/2	104	0.00	117	0.00	-9.60
UnitedLinux	98	0.00	99	0.00	0.67
OpenPKG	94	0.00	96	0.00	-0.42
rPath	56	0.00	62	0.00	-8.14
ClarkConnect	34	0.00	35	0.00	-1.21
PCLinuxOS	24	0.00	24	0.00	1.70
OpenNA	20	0.00	20	0.00	1.70
iSeries	13	0.00	16	0.00	-17.37
OpenBSD	9	0.00	10	0.00	-8.47
Miracle	8	0.00	8	0.00	1.70
Tao	6	0.00	6	0.00	1.70
Haansoft	4	0.00	4	0.00	1.70
Lineox	4	0.00	4	0.00	1.70
RedFlag	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.70
Solaris	3	0.00	5	0.00	-38.98
Cygwin	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.70
Aurox	1	0.00	0	0.00	N/A
Rogue Penguin	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.70
Yellow Dog	0	0.00	48	0.00	-100.00

OS/Distribution	March 2016 IP Address Count	March 2016 %	February 2016 IP Address Count	February 2016 %	Growth %
CentOS	228,794	27.40	230,793	27.24	0.59
Ubuntu	218,477	26.17	221,742	26.17	-0.02
Debian	200,889	24.06	203,694	24.04	0.07
Windows	63,676	7.63	64,885	7.66	-0.42
Red Hat	47,925	5.74	49,142	5.80	-1.04
FreeBSD	25,800	3.09	26,283	3.10	-0.39
Fedora	20,713	2.48	21,181	2.50	-0.77
SuSE	19,069	2.28	19,611	2.31	-1.33
Scientific Linux	2,586	0.31	2,606	0.31	0.69
Oracle	1,440	0.17	1,458	0.17	0.22
Darwin	1,157	0.14	1,212	0.14	-3.13
Turbolinux	931	0.11	956	0.11	-1.18
APMServ	802	0.10	889	0.10	-8.46
Mandriva	722	0.09	739	0.09	-0.86
Sun Cobalt	425	0.05	438	0.05	-1.54
Gentoo	334	0.04	341	0.04	-0.61
Netware	291	0.03	302	0.04	-2.22
IBM	173	0.02	188	0.02	-6.62
OpenVMS	102	0.01	105	0.01	-1.43
Mac OS X	93	0.01	98	0.01	-3.71
Asianux	91	0.01	92	0.01	0.37
ASPLinux	69	0.01	70	0.01	0.02
BlueQuartz	58	0.01	59	0.01	-0.25
Trustix	53	0.01	55	0.01	-2.22
White Box	40	0.00	40	0.00	1.47
UnitedLinux	35	0.00	34	0.00	4.46
OpenPKG	31	0.00	33	0.00	-4.68
ALT Linux	29	0.00	32	0.00	-8.04
rPath	27	0.00	31	0.00	-11.62
OS/2	24	0.00	27	0.00	-9.80
ClarkConnect	14	0.00	14	0.00	1.47
OpenNA	10	0.00	10	0.00	1.47
PCLinuxOS	7	0.00	7	0.00	1.47
iSeries	6	0.00	8	0.00	-23.90
Miracle	6	0.00	6	0.00	1.47
Haansoft	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.47
Solaris	3	0.00	3	0.00	1.47
OpenBSD	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.47
Cygwin	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.47
Lineox	2	0.00	2	0.00	1.47
Tao	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.47
Rogue Penguin	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.47
RedFlag	1	0.00	1	0.00	1.47
Aurox	1	0.00	0	0.00	N/A
Yellow Dog	0	0.00	5	0.00	-100.00