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If you’re a new or casual Webmaster and your site is non-revenue generating with static HTML pages you generated from boxed software, you probably better host on a Linux server. This is the best solution overall for you because Linux hosting costs less and you hardly ever need to delve into the more advanced functions. If you opt to use PHP and Perl to power your web site, then you’ll want to go with Linux hosting. While you can have PHP or Perl on a Windows web host, they weren’t developed for Windows and might not work as well. In fact, there are often disclaimers about using these languages on Windows servers. |
The moment you decide you want your site to have more complex features like members only area, e-commerce, live help and so on, then the server operating system might be important. Interactive features rely on server side programs that process your site visitor’s input and returns something intelligent. There are many programs out there, but most common are ASP, PHP and Perl. But if you opt to use ASP to power your web site, then you’ll want to go with Windows hosting. You might be told that ASP is available on Linux hosting packages and that is true. But bear in mind it might not work as well on Linux as they would on Windows.
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A Virtual Server can be an excellent solution for small- to medium-sized businesses that have increasingly complex needs for their Web sites but also need to stretch their budget. In the Virtual Private Server environment, only the hardware is controlled by the server administrators while the software is controlled by you. Because you have root access to the server, you pretty much have complete control over the function of your Virtual Private Server.
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Dedicated Hosting means just what its name implies – you rent an entire server from a hosting company that is dedicated to your use only. You aren’t sharing disk space or server resources with anyone else like you do with the shared-server environment of Virtual Hosting. That is the key difference that makes Dedicated Hosting more reliable and secure than Virtual Hosting since you never have to worry that someone who is sharing your server causes a problem by overloading or corrupting it. |
