One of the most confusing
decisions someone new to web hosting will have to make is which
platform their server should be on. There are a number of
different choices out there but the main two are Linux and
Windows web servers. There are also a lot of sources of
information about hosting, but the majority of them are tainted
by the author's biased personal opinion unfortunately confusing
the issue. Having just put in some solid hours researching the
topic I have come to the conclusion that in general it quite
probably does not matter which server you use. For the majority
of people it will be far more important to choose a really good
web host than to worry about the server-type that they
implement.
Microsoft developed and owns the Windows operating system. Linux
is open source and generally free. This means it can often be
more expensive to set up and run a Windows server. However, this
fact doesn't really affect you unless you are actually setting
up a server for yourself and if you're reading this article then
I'm guessing that it's safe to assume you're not. This article
is going to offer information for those trying to decide which
hosting company to go with. The cost involved in running a
server does not affect the cost of a web-hosting package as much
as you may think. Despite the general opinion that Windows
servers are more expensive to run, buying a Windows hosting
package can often turn out to be just as cheap or even cheaper
than an equivalent Linux hosting package.
Some people naturally assume that because their PC runs Windows
they need to buy a Windows hosting package. This isn't true.
Access to your web account will most likely be through FTP or a
control panel and both servers support these methods. The main
difference is that some of the FTP commands are slightly
different between Linux and Windows and some FTP programs will
be designed with one or the other in mind. This means you may
occasionally find that when you try and get your FTP program to
do something it returns an error message, but it won't happen
very often.
Your choice of server platforms should be dictated by the use to
which you intend to put it. The majority of web features run
fine on both platforms including PHP, mySQL, POP3 etc. If you
intend to create your site using ASP, FrontPage, the .NET
environment, Windows Streaming Media, Access, MSSQL, or any of
the other Microsoft proprietary technologies then you probably
need to use a Windows host. There is limited support for a
number of these technologies in Linux, but they can be expensive
and are usually lacking in features. It is probably worth
considering the fact that if you use server specific
technologies and then change hosts you'll have a much harder
time of it than if you use technologies that can be run on any
system. Having it run generic technologies removes the need to
focus on specifics and allows you to focus on the quality of
service itself.
The reliability and stability of the different platforms have
been the topic of many long arguments. The main reason that
Windows is seen as being insecure is that it is the most widely
used operating system for home PC's. People spend more time
looking for flaws in the most common system. With Linux being
the most common server type, it has a surprising number of
successful hack attempts made on it. In the end the security of
both platforms comes down to the competency of the system
administrators. If you are security minded then you'll do better
to make sure that the hosting company is reputable and highly
skilled than to worry about the server they use.
In terms of performance there's not a huge difference between
the two servers. Linux reportedly performs faster because
Windows (as usual) attempts to offer an 'all in one' package
instead of the extendable Linux implementation. You'll generally
not notice a difference but if performance is of utmost
importance to you then maybe this will influence your decision.
I've come to the conclusion that unless you are specifically
using features that are unique to one platform or another your
time will be much better spent looking for a really good quality
host than a really good quality server. Developers are
constantly improving both Linux and Windows so they should be
fairly close in terms of features, security, and reliability for
a long time. It's the people implementing them that you should
be basing your decision on.
About the author:
Daniel Punch
M6.Net Web Helpers
http://www.m6.net
Daniel Punch is a writer working at M6.Net: 'The web-hosting
company for humans.' M6.Net is working hard to help humanity
experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of
the Internet, to share their information and connect with
anyone, anywhere, anytime.
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