Definitions Of The Differences Between Unix And Windows Web Hosting?
From the point of view of the website designer there are very little differences between Unix and Windows web hosting. If you have finished designing your own website and you are ready to publish you might have noticed that both Unix and Linux systems are used by web hosting companies, Window is offered less commonly.
Everyone uses Microsoft Windows, in their homes, offices and schools and we are all familiar with it. It is easy to use and was designed to be this way, the same applies for considering advanced server edition and Windows Home. Because Window is so simple to use it has attracted mass appeal and this also applies to server applications.
Novices are able to make use of it and operating Windows does not include having any knowledge of command-line. All you do is point your mouse and click you way to different folders, no mess no fuss.
Unix and Linux are both open source and this means the OS is free and source codes are easily distributed and well documented. There are very few differences between these operating systems, barring the fact that Unix is older and is unable to run with x86 based PC’s. Linux on the other hand is able to operated with these and very high powered servers.
If you want a proven workhorse, then Linux is your answer, it comes in various flavors such as Red Hat and Mandrake, and can handle hundreds of sites, receiving millions of hits daily. Also available is OpenBSD and FreeBSD which are Unix versions.
Home and office PC’s really do have to provide ease of use; this is not really an issue when working with web servers. Designing a site generally takes place when you are offline, and on your PC. Very advanced programming which is system-specific is another matter completely and it is when this is necessary that you notice a between working with Unix or Windows based servers.
Both these systems are able to deal with heavy traffic sites with add-ons such as email, web stats, and chat rooms, and the biggest differences really are software compatibility and price.
With Windows it continuously has to be purchased and the license renewed, and this makes Windows hosting plans generally more expensive. Unix-based plans regularly offer added value such as MySQL databases, free email, community as well as statistics programs. If you want MS SQL with Windows based plans this has to be purchased.
They are both able to run with all the popular computing languages, and Windows tend to be more secure if it is hosting active pages. Active pages can run with Unix and there are some glitches but these are barely noticeable.
Third party applications and active server pages using MS SQL 2000 will more than likely benefit from using a Windows hosting plan. But before signing on the dotted line you need to make sure of all the facts. Your serviced provider will clarify any issues you have and you should be able to clear these up with the server hosting sales or technical staff.
If you are looking for web hosting, dreamhost is the best choice. Sign up with dreamhost coupons.
Mail this post
No Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.













