This has probably been discussed before, but I'm a newbie. I'm interested in knowing why most people seem to prefer *nix hosts? I have someone who wants me to move their site to a Windows system so he can put up an Access database. I want to be able to password protect a directory (realm) with .htaccess which I believe is only on *nix systems. I need to know if I can do both on one system and what, if any, drawbacks there are to moving to a Windows host.

Thanks.

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Sheila Hoffman

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most people choose *nix over windows for reliability, stability and security......

Hi,
I wish I could just say, Sorry,,, and leave it at that, but that wouldn't help you much.

Ok, Linux over Win...NT
Number 1... when did Windows ever work right? They never finish their projects. Their servers are full of security holes, and go down 10 time or more often then a linux or Unix server.

Windows servers are tricky to set cgi scripts on if your only used to linux servers. But once they explain the difference, it isn't that hard.

The bad news...
If you want to use access then unfortunately, a windows or NT server (how ever you like to say it) is the server you really need.

They have mysql / access compatibles for linux, but I have found that for access it is best to stay in a windows server. That means it is going to cost more to host the site in 99% of the cases.

The reason it costs more to host a site on an NT server is simple... you can't put as many sites on them, and they require more server admin and tech time, and the combination means that if the host plans to stay in business, he has to charge higher than he would the same plan on a linux server.

One word of advice on looking for a NT host... DON'T take the cheapest you can find. They won't be around as long as your site will be.

Good luck with your endevors,

Tim L :cool:

Hello

If you want to see how popular is windows in hosting industry , post two hosting requests for linux and windows in "Hosting requests" forum and you will see how many people will offer *nix and how many will offer windows.

A windows host will never be able to sleep comfortable because he must be ready to install a new patch against a new trojan or virus !

In addition windows is not suitable for hosting high traffic sites as a little high traffic ill saturate IIS very quickly. (even I have seen a webserver which has hanged when only 50 concurrent users have connected to it.)

Ooh by the way Windows is very good as a desktop OS, I rarely use my linux to browse websites and send pop emails in its "stable ! :D" XWindow. No one will tell you tha *nix Xwindow is better than MS-windows but as a web server and business critical server it is not comparable by a *nix server.

I think most of us use outlook express and IExplorer as our desktop tools.

Mac

I wish it was that simple. For .htaccess, you obviously need some unix variant. However, for access you need windows. There are also other issues:
you can use other methods to password protect directories (i.e. gearhost's i control)
however, I dont think there is a way to get the access database working in unix (check on it some more).
There are other issues involved. he price of good windows hosting is more expensive. There many pluses and minuses to both situations. Reliability with good windows hosting isn't much of a concern anymore although security issues are still a problem. I think you only have one option because of the access db.
hope this helps

Windows platform,

it's not easy to avoid blue screen and cpu wastage and tons of other things.

read with humor.

now on the hosting end.
1) software cost = 3K to 6K that's just the basics and not including a control panel.

2) patchs / upgrades
every day you have to look around on the web just to see whom has created a new hack. Therefore you have to be on CERT's e-mail list subscribtion and spend time reading them.

3) Noooooo... "what the hell did this .dll do to the system" Famous quote from many windows admins.

4) Noooooo... "what the hell just happened to my Imail"
another quote from an admin.

5) the rule when in doubt reboot is valid under windows

6) every now and then you can get a runaway program that will kill your server. or better yet, the client that desires that great DLL for his needs, given it's great service to give it to him, it just eats the CPU's for lunch and the server temp breaks out into a sweat

mike

As someone who runs several windows servers for web hosting, let me comment as well.

Unix/Linux is less expensive to run because:
(a) the software is less expensive and
(b) apache and sendmail make it easier to manage
(c) Unix/Linux will run on less expensive hardware just fine whereas Windows is a memory and CPU eating machine.

However, with knowledgable admins, Windows servers can
be quite reliable and offer some features that unix servers just
can't.

Specifically Access Databases, ASP (that works well), and MS SQL databases. For people looking for these features a Windows server is a must have. We also run Cold Fusion - which I am not sure if it is available for Unix, it's didn't use to be, but I believe it may now be.

Also, FrontPage extensions are better served from a Windows machine (of course MS wan't to keep it "all in the family") but who wants to design in Front Page anyway? :D

We run PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc. on Windows machines without any trouble, and despite what others have said, if the machine is up to it you can get tremendous traffic and still be fine.

We have several Cold Fusion and asp Ecommerce sites that we host on a shared solution windows 2000 server with a MS SQL database and this one site gets 40,000 unique IPs a day and the server doesn't even blink - utilization is almost nil. It all depens on your hardware and how you configure the system.

The reason you get a flurry of offers for a Linux host is there are a billion (or there about) people offering it really cheaply, while there are far fewer offering Windows hosting and it tends to be more expensive.

If you don't care which you have, unix will always be cheaper, whereas the people who want what only a Windows server can offer are going to know they have to pay a little more and find a true Windows solution.

Sorry - I got off topic ---

The disadvantage is cost. The advantages are listed above.

As for directory security, unlike Unix where all settings including security are written in text files, in NT/2000 you would use the NTFS file system built in security features - which means either they have a control panel that would allow you to set the directory permissions or they would have to do it for you (you would have to contact support).


Just my rambling thoughts ----

If you really need to use access database, then Windows hosting is the only option unfortunately. But then again, you can convert access database to mysql, there are several scripts on http://www.mysql.com. In my opinion, converting your data from legacy environment is a good long term investment, and it is much cheaper and easier to do it sooner than later.

Thank you all for taking time to offer thoughtful input. It's been VERY helpful. I've shown the responses to our volunteer and after some discussion I think we'll likely stay with a *nix host.

The reason he felt so strongly about the NT is that he can program in ASP & do Access stuff as can many of our other consituents. When I tried to get help this year to setup a user customizable and searchable member profile database using a perlscript called DBMan, noone was able to help. The one person who offered gave up because it was on a UNIX system and he only knew Windows. But I've been researching out-of-the-box soutions to meet our needs and once installed we shouldn't need to recruit volunteer assistance anyhow.

so thanks again and have a great weekend.

Sheila in Seattle