Wikipedia switches from Red Hat to Ubuntu

Wikipedia will be using the Ubuntu Linux distribution to power its sizable server infrastructure, report numerous sources. The popular online knowledge repository will try to create a homogeneous server environment in an attempt to reduce complexity and costs. The Linux flavor of choice is the Hardy Heron 8.04 long-term support version.

Until now, Wikipedia has been running on a network of 400 servers powered by Red Hat and Fedora. Both distributions are sponsored and in part developed by Red Hat, Inc., with the eponymous distribution generating profit via sales and support fees, while the freely available Fedora in effect serves as a testing and innovation platform. It needs to be mentioned that there exists another important member of the Red Hat family: CentOS, compiled from Red Hat Enterprise Linux code and available for free, but without the support option.

Ubuntu is a relatively new distribution (launched in 2004), based on Debian Linux and sponsored by Canonical Ltd. In its few years of existence, Ubuntu has claimed some 30% of the Linux desktop market, with OEMs like Dell choosing it as the pre-installed OS for some PC configurations. Separate version of Ubuntu exist for desktop and server machines, and Canonical is attempting to encourage adoption on servers by providing paid support and launching new products, such as the Landscape system management service.

Here are some details about Wikipedia's infrastructure, from an Arstechnica article:
"Wikimedia's entire collection of web sites—which includes Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikiquote, Wikinews, and several others—serves up roughly 10 billion page views per month. At its peak, traffic can sometimes reach 50,000 HTTP requests per second. The organization's hardware budget to date is roughly $1.5 million, and it spends $35,000 per month on bandwidth and physical hosting. All of its technical infrastructure is managed by a small IT staff consisting of only four paid employees and three volunteers."

More info is available in this Computerworld interview with Brion Vibber, CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation Inc., the nonprofit group that supports the online collaborative project.