Sunday, February 13, 2011

How To Pick Between Windows And Linux Web Hosting Options

By Eric Corley


Those making technology decisions will often face a challenge by being presented with too much information. There are many myths and a huge amount of irrelevant information that does not help anyone. This is so even for those who are sourcing operating systems for their web hosting. Some of the myths that you may have heard could include the fact that you should host using the same operating system as you run on your computer. This is not true and serves as an example of the abundant falsehoods of this debate.

Those who are for Linux have their reasons why they consider it the best while Windows too has its followers. There are situations to use or not use either of these systems as per their strengths. We shall try and do an impartial assessment of these two and try to establish where to apply either of these and why. Those looking for business web hosting will often find difficultly in making such decisions because they will not only impact the business through cost but may also come with revenue implications. Similar to other resources, your decision should be based on need. The website you want to host will be a significant factor that influences you choice. If you are looking to host a basic static and non commercial website, then you it would be best to use Linux hosting. Cost is the main consideration here. Interestingly Linux is also the preferred choice for websites that are on the extreme opposite end which have high traffic volumes and running many processes. Linux users will often be those who are more advanced as well as among those who are using a managed dedicated server for their hosting.

Windows hosting is especially attractive to beginners. Its friendly user interface is one of the main reasons it is preferred. Microsoft products are readily integrated when using Windows servers. The cost of Windows hosting is however one of it's main disadvantages. Besides paying for the operating systems, all additional software comes at an additional cost.

Your choice of programming application for developing your website could also see you tied to either of these OS. ASP is a Microsoft application that is only usable on Windows based servers. There are however other applications such as PHP which are applicable to both Windows and Linux hosting.

It is possible to host on any of the two systems without compromising performance especially if you have a qualified administrator. For the bigger and busier websites, Linux comes as a natural choice since it is more stable even with heavier loads. A Linux dedicated server host will cost much less as compared to a similar one that is running Windows. There will however be situations where Linux is not able to fully meet your hosting needs. In such a situation, Windows will be the system for you.




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