I've been using RedHat/Centos for 20 years now and generally don't look 
much else for my server needs. I have a production server that is 
seriously straining under the load and it appears to be time to upgrade 
to a larger server. But I'm wondering about the benefits of php7 and 
maybe a newer mariadb than what currently ships on Centos 7.

Call me an old dog, but I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of using 
Ubuntu server and learning all the new stuff. I'm a developer who also 
is tasked with managing all the servers and just not sure I'll have the 
time to learn new tricks.

Maybe I'm just looking for a confidence boost, but any other devops guys 
here using linux web serving and looking at some of the newer 
technologies?

I appreciate your thoughts and insights.

Nathan