| By :
Dirik Hameed
The two most popular development platforms for web hosting are Linux and Windows. Linux is open source software so it is free to use and costs less to host. Larger corporation might prefer Windows web hosting as it offers the security of more stable development and they might already use Microsoft systems such as . NET framework. Using the correct platform from the outset could easily facilitate future expansion as it is required so it is important to define possible long term needs early on. If changes are eventually needed that would require the development platform to be changed then this would incur a large cost in itself and lead to costly down time. It should also be decided early on which development language would be the most suitable for the webhosting as these are suited to specific platforms. Windows uses ASP coding language and also ASP.NET and C# etc. These are very easy to work with and require less time for development as they offer a more visual interface but the extra coding required to achieve this can adversely affect performance. Linux predominantly uses PHP scripting language or Perl, Python etc. Both scripting languages and database servers are interchangeable however but obviously they are normally used in common configurations. The most popular configuration for Linux would be LAMP which combines it with an Apache server, mySQL and PHP. Database hosting for Windows is always going to be more expensive because of the royalty costs associated with database servers that are normally used with it such as Oracle. Many developers would prefer to work with Windows development platforms for web hosting as it can be quicker and easier to use. Using a scripting environment such as Cold Fusion offer a very intuitive and powerful tool which can allow for rapid prototyping. Even though the cost for this application alone is quite high it could be worthwhile for large applications where rapid development is required. Linux is usually the better choice for small businesses as there is a lower cost for development and hosting. It offers a very flexible and secure option and it can be used on shared servers. It has to be set up properly from the beginning however and for this reason it is always advisable to keep the content, presentation and code separate. Both options would be equally robust and offer good levels of developer support. When making a choice there might be a certain component which is required that might only be available from one of them so this might be a deciding factor. For Windows all the all the added components have to be paid for whereas with Linux they are available for free. Linux is generally suited to small business due to the lower associated costs but it still allows for a lot of flexibility and scalability. If the web hosting is for larger enterprise with a big database then the added cost of Windows might be worthwhile. The fact that only dedicated servers would also not count against it then.
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