Hi everyone,

 

i know this is going to sound really dumb, but what are the differences between windows and linux hosting? Obviously the servers are different OS's, but i am assuming this is important for a reason, but its not something ive crossed yet.

 

thanks

 

Reaper

The main difference, is that windows hosting is required to run .asp, as well as .NET (I think).

That's the main difference! Windows is used for different technologies: ASP, .NET, Sharepoint. basically the crap ones! I think there is a way to host those with Linux but it's complicated, meanwhile Linux is better for handling PHP and MySQL.

 

Linux is also free and therefore cheaper, despite actually being a better solution. It's the weapon of choice for most web folk.

I find only marginally speed too, only very slighty though. Security on windows is Sh1t so i always avoid that.

Websites that require .net application integration with windows desktops will use windows servers, as do public websites scripted in the .asp language, or ones that might be using Microsoft access for their database's too.

 

Typically used in "intranet" invironments for applications like Exchange servers, sharepoint and project servers and now the new Microsoft Groove too and everything would be integrated into one single logon account within corporate enviroments, so people go into work, logon to their windows computers and can access exchange mailboxes and sharepoint services, all of which would be authenticated by their companies domain controllers (Windows servers)

 

Windows hosting is also used for public websites where .asp scripting is used and those .asp websites can also be integrated into those backend corporate servers too, thus giving remote access to exchange and other corporate services over the internet.

 

Wndows hosting is expensive though and licencing is typically done on a "per-seat" or per instance basis for EVERY application required, so if you had exchange, sharepoint and project server all running, you may find, depending on your usage and licencing terms, you wind up paying per application, per-user, per-year for each application...

 

Licencing for mcrosoft server products can be somewhat confusing too but no matter how you do it, the cost's are expensive.

 

Linux hosting performs a lot better as a web based technology for websites and database usage where that type of corporate integration is not required and is not only far cheaper but as pointed out, can often be more secure and offer better performance and reliability.

 

Linux web servers dont "always" require licencing and for most Linux web servers the operating system is free, database usage is also free via MySQL / PostgreSQL and also offers a ton of web applications from the open source community that are also free for use such as shopping cart scripts and many other applications, making it far more popular for internet usage.

 

Many of microsoft's own web servers run Linux :-)

 

I hope that sort of sum's it up breifly as this isnt a detailed description but a general overview..

Hi everyone,

 

thanks for the information. am i right in assuming that i would haveno trouble using my copy of filezilla, and still using exactly the same things to make my sites i do now. (i tend to handcode in notepad and then just add the .htm on the end)

 

sorry for all the questions, but ive never used linux before (well, i probably have, but not to my knowledge)

 

Reaper

Yeah, that'd be just fine. Those are client side scripting languages and should run just fine on any server.

 

Server side languages are server specific.