Hi, I need a Windows based server to for PHP & MySQL to run as efficiently as possible. I have been using a dedicated Linux server with Plesk all this time, but I need to switch to Windows. Please suggest your favorite way of running a Windows server that is:

- Secure
- Most efficient in processing PHP and MySQL
- Commercial grade for hosting one website

I had the following options in mind. Please let me know if it's a good idea or not:

- Windows XP Pro/Home with XAMPP package (Can this be a commerical server?)
- Windows 2003 Web Edition with Plesk 7.5 for Windows
- Windows 2003 Web Edition with PHP & MySQL as separate installs

Thanks for any input.

Do you need a control panel? If you do not need, just install PHP and MySQL as a separate software.

Do you need a control panel? If you do not need, just install PHP and MySQL as a separate software.
Do you mean on XP or 2003? Does install the control panel slow down the computer at all?

I found this, which I think might help a lot http://textpattern.net/wiki/index.php?title=XAMPP_%28Installer_Version%29_for_Windows

You need to have a Windows 2003 Server to be colocate at any datacenter. It depends how intensive is the control panel.

If this is just for one Site then you do not need to have a control panel.

Colo is also not required, but is nice to have for redundancy if you can afford it.

You can simply install php and mysql on the box, and properly configure IIS app pools and user permsisions to secure the OS to the user that the services will run as.

Once you start adding different sites running as different users it starts getting a little harder, but not much.