Web Hosting With UNIX or Windows ?
Windows or UNIX which Operating System
is best for your web hosting? There are lot of factors where both are dominating
over each other whether for their performance, features, stability or some time
their prices. So, let’s talk about few of these factors and find out which one
is better and why.
Traditionally, Unix was the hosting
service of choice due to its advantages in these four areas, but the gap
between two major operating systems in the form of hosting preference is closed
and often blurred. Here is a breakdown where they stand today:
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Performance:-
Due to the many important factors -
Memory (RAM) requirements and OS tune capability, the Unix system is still
committed to winning in this field. Windows was developed as an operating
system to make it easier for people to use the computer efficiently without
having much skill of it. Unix was more developed for server use, and average
skilled computer person would not be able to use and manage this OS on a daily
basis. Due to this difference in the background, Unix will perform better on
the same hardware as a server than a Windows box - Windows needs more RAM to
compete with Unix, but due to the ability to tune almost everything, Unix will
still beat it.
Let me be clear about this, I'm not
saying that Unix is a better OS than Windows, it's just a better performance hosting environment.
Windows beats out the UNIX in utility, development tools, maintenance, and many
other areas.
But do not stop reading here -
displaying the web hosting service is least of your worries. Since you are most
likely to choose shared hosting environments, you have little control over the
resources of the machine related to your hosted website - you will share the
memory, with hundreds of other websites, hard drive access, CPU, and network bandwidth
anyway. At any given moment in time, the activity of one of the other website
may be growing rapidly and your website can respond slowly.
In a virtual private server or
dedicated server, Unix will be the best choice in the performance category, but
the difference in shared environment is not a factor.
ü
Features:-
Both Windows and Unix are fully loaded
with a wide range of features, and some are shared between the two. If you
wanted to manage the machine directly, then you would like to choose Windows
because the interface is easy to use. But this is not the case when talking
about web hosting account. All hosting companies use a control panel to allow
users to manage their accounts and websites, and all control panels are
web-based, and most of them are cross-platforms. All of these control panels
are similar in functionality - they provide a web user interface for all the
built-in OS, web server and files on the hosting service. Both operating
systems support remote access i.e., UNIX with telnet / SSH shell and windows
with remote desktop and both support FTP file management also.
Among the two operating systems, the
biggest difference is the development tool available. Both PHPs support major
scripting languages used to create websites such as PERL, Python, Ruby and Java. Both support
extensions which are popular for connecting to websites such as ColdFusion,
Front Page Extensions, Flash etc. Windows has the advantage here, which also
supports ASP, ASP.NET, ASP MVC, and MSSQL database. These are specific tools
for some applications and may be a big requirement for you - obviously making
this decision easier between both operating systems.
Unix's available installable
applications have a bit of advantage - most of the open source website projects
(blog, content management system, shopping cart, web site builders) install
smoother under Unix because they believe that you have other open source tools
( Linux, MySQL, a native tribe of USA). To install some of these on the Windows
operating system, additional configuration or assistance is required from the
web hosting support staff.
Based on Windows features, there is an
operating system of choice, especially in the shared hosting environment, and
if you need any Microsoft Technologies (ASP, ASP.NET, ASP MVC, MSSQL) to run
your website. If you need older scripting technologies (PHP, PERL, Python,
Ruby) on Windows hosting, they may not be available or perform poorly.
ü
Stability:-
Windows has traditionally been struck
in this area earlier, but primarily due to its desktop operating system, its
server operating system is not. Desktop stability issues are not primarily
Microsoft's fault - Almost every desktop Windows user is guilty of installing a
wide range of different software packages and drivers, which over time presents
the machine to make a mix of software which are never been tested with each
other.
Unix traditionally shines in the field
of sustainability and still due to its background of being developed as a
server operating system. There are also advantages over Windows that the full
server reboot is rarely necessary as part of the installation of a third party
software package - this clearly defines system component drivers that can be
rebooted without the need for full system reboots.
Both operating systems are equal in the
field of sustainability - even in shared hosting environments, both have
adequate security against individual websites on the same machine that damages
the server or suddenly shut down.
ü
Price:-
Windows still remains a more expensive
operating system for selling hosting accounts for two reasons - licensing and
RAM requirements. Web hosting companies have more costs on Windows servers,
which host 100 websites that it does on Linux servers hosting 100 websites.
With the database support for the website,
Windows is a bit more expensive. Most Web Hosting offers a UNIX hosting package
at some price points with unlimited MySQL databases and database disk space,
but very few offer a Windows package with the same. So if your website grows
and requires more databases and disk space, then you may be locked to pay a
higher fee per month with MSSQL and Windows, than you will do with MySQL.
There is a profit in Unix's pricing,
even though some hosting companies sell Windows and Unix based accounts at the
same price, but there is still a slight increase in monthly fees for the
Windows package.
Conclusion:-
Let me be clear about this: The option
to host your website in Unix or Windows has nothing to do with the desktop
operating system you use. It has nothing to do with the Management interface,
which you will use to manage your website and hosting account. It is also not
that the operating system is better than the other. Some people have religious
zeal for one or the other, but they are both tools in the toolbox. So here's a
review of how the operating system criteria are in four areas for selection in web
hosting services:
Display: Virtual or dedicated server in a shared environment, tie in Unix.
Features: Windows because of its Microsoft technologies.
Stability: Tie for both Operating System.
Price: Unix will be better.
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