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Which is better Unix Web Hosting; Linux?
Windows?
On the Internet there is a tremendous amount of argument over which
operating system is the best for web hosting. There are anti-windows haters,
there are FreeBSD fanatics and more. But which is the best? The truth is it
depends on what you are doing.
The servers which run the web sites and the server software all run on a
computer program known as the operating system. If you are running a
personal computer chances are that you are running Windows ME, XP, NT or
some other similar computer program. That is the operating system of your
computer. With web hosting servers they also need a operating system and
there are essentially three different competing versions.
The first version is Windows. Microsoft makes an operating system especially
for servers. This operating systems allows true integration with Microsoft's
products and also allows web sites to run Active Server Pages (basically
computer scripts for dynamic web site content). Microsoft's server also
allows integration with its SQL database, one of the more powerful
databases. The downside of Microsoft's server software is that it costs
several thousands of dollars for each server.
The second version is Linux. Linux is actually a common name for a variety
of operating systems. Linux was, and is, developed by a community of
individuals which come together to commonly write the main part of Linux.
After this main part is developed, and continually refined, additional parts
are added to the program to customize it for whatever purposes the end user
wants. A variety of companies market Linux and you might have heard of a
few: Red Hat, Debian, Slackware, etc. Linux is good in that it is compatible
with the popular programming language PHP. It is also favored by some web
hosters in that in general it has a good security record and tends on
average to be a stable operating system. Linux software is free.
The third version is Unix-based operating systems. The last version
mentioned here is very close in comparison to the Linux versions. In fact
there are probably more similarities than differences. The main difference is
the history of how the two versions came into being. Linux is an offshoot of
the Unix operating system, where the Unix-based operating systems are
refinements of Unix itself. Linux basically is a cousin to Unix-based
operating systems. The main Unix-based operating systems are FreeBSD and
OpenBSD. The selling point of these operating system is that they tend to be
very stable once installed. The downpoint is that they are very technical to
install. OpenBSD also has the reputation of very secure in that in the last
six years it had only one security hole in the software itself. But OpenBSD
does not allow everything; that it you have to sacrifice some flexibility
for security. These operating systems are free as well.
So which is the best? Well it depends on what you need. If you want the
tightest security you can get then OpenBSD is probably for you. But it is
very technical to install and you will not have a lot of frills. How about
compatibility with all of Microsoft's products? Well then Windows is the
best for you, but be prepared in that it will cost a lot--the other
operating systems here all are free. How about compatibity with PHP? Well
then look at Linux or FreeBSD. You see it is not so much as which operating
system is the best, but rather which operating system is best for what I
need to do.
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