"IMO production server is just that: a production environment. You set it up just once and you're not supposed to mess around alot."

That's why you should have stuck with LTS. 7.04 will likely be EOL'ed in the next few months (unless they branch another LTS version of it), and then you'll be forced to upgrade under duress. Long life cycle is probably single most important factor in choosing a good server distribution, because "you're not supposed to mess around alot".