• What is Debian 9?
• What advantages does it have?
• Which plans is it available on?
• What are the most notable differences compared to Debian 7?
• Difference between MySQL and MariaDB?
• What is the HTTP/2 protocol?
• What is the cost of a Debian 9 hosting plan?
• If I already have a hosting plan, can I switch it to Debian 9?

Question: What is Debian 9?

Answer: In this case, you should ask, what is Debian? 

Debian is a GNU operating system based on free software. You can find more information about Debian by clicking here.

Q: What advantages does it have?

A: Debian 9 offers greater stability, speed, and security compared to its predecessors. 

Q: Which plans is it available on?

A: Currently Debian 9 is available for shared plans, i.e., the Start, Junior, Senior, Master, Preserver, and Testing Platform plans. For more information about our hosting plans, click here.

Q: What are the most notable differences compared to Debian 7?

A: The most notable differences are the following:

• Moving from a Debian 7.11 platform to Debian 9.4, gaining security, stability, speed, and functionality.
• The database management system changes from MySQL 5.5 to MariaDB 10.1.
• With Debian 9, the available PHP versions are: 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2.
• The Apache version goes from V.2.2 to V2.4, offering more security, stability, speed, and functionality. It provides the HTTP/2 protocol and updates OpenSSL V.1.0.1.t to OpenSSL V.1.0.2l.
• Physical support changes from HDD disks to SSD disks with a transfer capacity between 200MB/s and 550MB/s.

Q: Difference between MySQL and MariaDB?

A: MariaDB is now the variant of MySQL with more features and better performance. MariaDB's compatibility with MySQL is practically total, with performance and functionality improvements. MariaDB is designed to directly replace MySQL as it maintains the same commands, APIs, and libraries.

MariaDB is fully compatible with MySQL, and therefore migration to MariaDB is simple and straightforward; there is no need to adapt the code.

• Speed improvements, especially in complex queries when using the Aria storage engine, as Aria caches temporary table data in memory, which provides better performance compared to using the hard drive (which is what MyISAM uses).
• New system tables (INFORMATION_SCHEMA) are added to store statistics that can help us optimize databases.

Q: What is the HTTP/2 protocol?

A: HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the protocol that allows information transfer across the web. This protocol has evolved until reaching the most well-known version HTTP/1.1 and now HTTP/2.

The major improvement introduced by HTTP/2 is speed, achieved through various new features:

• Binary structure: the plain text header and data structure is replaced by binary frames that encapsulate the information.
• Proactivity (Server push): servers can send responses on their own initiative, anticipating the client's request.
• Multiplexing: the HTTP/2 protocol can handle multiple requests at once, making parallel requests through a single TCP connection, which is known as multiplexing. On the other hand, domain sharding and concatenation are no longer necessary, since with the HTTP/2 protocol as many resources as needed can be requested.

Q: What is the cost of a Debian 9 hosting plan?

A: The cost of a Debian 9 hosting plan will be the same as current prices. You can find more information about our hosting prices by clicking here.

Q: If I already have a hosting plan, can I switch it to Debian 9?

A: Yes, if you already have a hosting plan with cdmon and want to switch it to Debian 9, you must request the migration via ticket, as long as your PHP version is 7.0. 

If you have a later version (5.3, 5.4, 5.5, or 5.6), you must switch your hosting to version 7.0 and adapt your website's programming to that version. Once you have your hosting with PHP version 7.0 and your website's programming adapted, you can request the migration to Debian 9.