LINUX VS WINDOWS HOSTING

While comparing linux vs windows as a web hosting service it is important to differentiate your operating system from your web hosting service.The two most popular operating system hosts are linux and windows. Linux being open source software of the unix type and windows being owned by Microsoft.

SERVER ACCESS AND SECURITY

We can access our server using standard ftp(file transfer protocol) with both linux and window. However,if security may be a problem during file transfer from your computer to your web server,then on the more secure Ssh or Telnet Ssh services operates best on linux.

It is possible to install Ssh on windows,but it is not easy and therefore it runs much slower than on a linux server.Very few hosting services will offer telnet or Ssh on windows.

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTED

When comparing linux vs window,it is important to make sure that your web hosting service supports the technology you need to run your website.

PHP(HYPERTEXT PREPROCESSOR)

PHP was developed for linux,and its purpose is to offer scripting capability direct from the HTML on your page.(For example) it can be used to run CGI scripts from PHP code embedded in the HTML. PHP is also needed to be interact with MYSQL databases.PHP was designed to efficiently work with linux,and while it has been adapted for windows,it runs slower and tends to be more complex.

WINDOWS TECHNOLOGY

The FrontPage web page designer, ASP and the .NET framework are all Microsoft developments that will not run on Linux. However, you can use FrontPage offline to design a web page of your own, and it will resolve on Linux hosted websites. Nevertheless, if you are fundamentally dependent on these, then you will be restricted to using Windows. Rather than using ASP, you could use PHP to achieve the same things.

DATABASE TECHNOLOGYThe most commonly use online database is MYSQL which can run on both Linux and Windows hosting services,although you will find it most commonly on linux.  Microsoft access is available for Windows hosting services. In general, Access is slower than MySQL although it is more easily customized. MySQL is more robust than Access, and can allow many more simultaneous users.