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I'd recommend a distro designed for server use, like CentOS. You'll find its packages are a little out of date because they are well tested and known to be stable. The default install is hardened and security updates are prompt. Also automatic updates are pre-configured and just need to be enabled.

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I will second CentOS... it's solid.

What are you using on your workstation? If you are using Ubuntu on your desktop, I would deploy Ubuntu on the server also. This allows you to combine your desktop and testing machines into one. Then, you only need a dedicated staging (virtual) machine and the production machine.

Otherwise, I also recommend CentOS, especially if your hosting provider lets you run it with SELinux enabled.

CentOS is a very common distro for rails production environments. Several high profile hosting cos use it, like RailsMachine for example. Hard to go wrong with CentOS.

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