Im not much for meaty distros. A server os should only contain the needed apps to run and maintain the server. Dont get me wrong I like Debian, Fedora, and Suse as desktops but not servers.
For server I use a complete text based distro:
http://www.trustix.org/
In my opinion it is by far more secure and stable. Its main focus is on security and stability. Text is less strain on a server then when you load a gui.
Pretty much any distro will work. Some need tweaking to get it to run properly.
I chose trustix not only for its security, and stability, but also for its small size.
Ive been running my eqemu server on a solid state flash disk, extremely fast in data I/O. Some links below:
http://www.bitmicro.com/
http://www.m-systems.com/
alittle costly depending on what you go with gb wise but very worth the I/O speed with no bottlenecks. I only mention the SSFD's because I planned out the size of the os and all necessary eqemu space, to fit on a drive with enough space left over due to the small size of trustix.
Just curious if anyone else running pure text based linux servers?
...or am I that geeky hehe.