You only need to restart when there is a kernel update, and the frequency of kernel updates depend heavily on the distro used. Debian stable, for example, although using ancient versions of the packages, is a great OS for such a use case, as kernel upgrades are really infrequent. Have a look at the changelog frequency of Squeeze [1] or Wheezy [2].<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;metadata.ftp-master.debian.org&#x2F;changelogs&#x2F;main&#x2F;l&#x2F;linux-latest-2.6&#x2F;linux-latest-2.6_29_changelog" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;metadata.ftp-master.debian.org&#x2F;changelogs&#x2F;main&#x2F;l&#x2F;linu...</a>
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;metadata.ftp-master.debian.org&#x2F;changelogs&#x2F;main&#x2F;l&#x2F;linux-latest&#x2F;linux-latest_46_changelog" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;metadata.ftp-master.debian.org&#x2F;changelogs&#x2F;main&#x2F;l&#x2F;linu...</a>