Picking the Perfect Platform

8 July 2005

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When you choose a host, you'll also need to pick a platform - but should you run a Windows Web server, or leverage Linux? Gary Marshall asks the experts.

Excerpt 1

ASP and PHP

ASP (Active Server Pages) and PHP (Hypertext Pre-Processor) both generate dynamic pages, which means they output Web pages from databases. ASP is Microsoft's system and works on Windows servers. PHP is the open source system and works best on Linux.

Although it's possible to run ASP on a Linux server, it's not a great idea. John Liston, Windows expert with UKFast (www.ukfast.net) explains: "If you are looking at running ASP stuff then I'd say Windows will have the better performance, as it is ASP's natural home," he says. "You can get add-ons for Linux that enable you to run ASP but they are often missing basic features or have unpredictable functionality. PHP scripts work well on both systems, (but) Linux is probably the better choice for this." His Linux counterpart Chris Sarginson, adds: "(Linux) can be moulded to perform almost any task, but you do need to know where to look - and some of the components currently available do not match up to the capabilities of their Windows counterparts."

Excerpt 2

Safe and Sound

In addition to all the other things you have to consider, there are some key differences between the way Linux works and the way Windows works when it comes to security and stability as well. In Linux the operating system and the graphical user interface are separate, which means that users rarely bring the whole thing crashing down when things go wrong. Windows is a much more integrated system, which can make crashes more likely (and potentially severe). As Chris Sarginson points out, on Windows "one can take down an entire server with one slip of the mouse - and it doesn't always need to be an administrative user!"

Neil Lathwood is UKFast's technical director, and he identifies one key difference between the two platforms. "From the time a security hole is discovered to a patch or update being released, you tend to find that Linux is quicker - and you can usually implement a workaround on Linux by modifying code yourself before a fix is available."

In practice, your server security depends more on good administration than on your choice of operating system. As John Liston points out, "if you don't keep the system up-to-date then you run the risk of being compromised no matter which operating system of software you use."

Excerpt 3

Easy peasy

…It's important to keep the ease of use angle in perspective, though, as Chris Sarginson notes - while Windows can be easier to set up and configure - "it's also easier to configure badly." Irrespective of the platform, running a server does require some basic technical proficiency.

You can read the whole article in the August edition of .net magazine.

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