Jun 10

One of the most confusing decisions someone new to web hosting will have to make is that your server platform should be on. There are a number of different options out there, but the main two are Linux and Windows web servers. There is also a large number of sources of information on accommodation, but most of them are contaminated by the author biased personal opinion unfortunately confusing the issue. You just put in some solid hours researching the topic I have come to the conclusion that, in general, most likely, no matter what server you use. For most people will be much more important to choose a web hosting provider very good to worry about the server type to apply.

Microsoft has developed and owns the Windows operating system. Linux open source and free in general. This means they can often be more expensive to install and run a Windows server. However, this fact does not really unless you really are creating a server for you and if you’re reading this article then I guess it’s safe to assume you’re not. This article will provide information for those trying to decide which cheap webhosting company to go with. The costs involved in managing 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 be as cheap or cheaper than an equivalent Linux hosting package.

Some people assume that, of course, because their PC runs Windows they need to buy a Windows hosting package. This is not true. Access to your web account will most likely via FTP or a control panel and both servers support these methods. The main difference is that some 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 that you may find that from time to time to try and get your FTP program to do something that returns an error message, but it will not happen very often.

Your choice of server platforms should be dictated by the use you intend to put it. Most of the items on the Web runs well on both platforms, including PHP, MySQL, POP3 etc. If you are creating your site using ASP, FrontPage, the. NET, Windows Streaming Media, Access, MSSQL, or any 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 can be expensive and often lack of features. It’s probably worth considering the fact that if you use server specific technologies and then change hosts will have a much more difficult than if you use technologies that can run on any system. Having run generic technologies removes the need to focus on the details and lets you focus on the quality of the service itself.

The reliability and stability of the different platforms have been the subject of many long arguments. The main reason that Windows is seen as the uncertainty is that it is the most widely used operating system for home PC. People spend more time looking for defects in the most common. Linux is the most common server type, has a surprising number of successful hack attempts made on it. In the end, the security of both platforms comes down to competition from system administrators. If you are of mind, then the security that will do best to make sure that the hosting company is reliable and highly skilled to worry about the server they use.

In terms of performance, there is a big 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 will not notice a difference overall, but if performance is of utmost importance to you then maybe this will influence his decision.

I have come to the conclusion that unless specifically using features that are unique to one platform or another your time will be much better spent in search of a very good quality as a very good quality server. Developers are constantly improving both Linux and Windows so you must be very close in terms of performance, safety and reliability for a long time. It’s the people that their application must base its decision.