| By :
Dirik Hameed
When choosing a managed hosting service, the two most common options are Linux and Windows managed hosting. In order for you to be able to select which option best fulfils your managed server requirements, some differences between hosting with Windows managed servers and Linux are listed below. Linux managed hosting is viewed by many as a cheaper alternative to Windows managed hosting because Linux is open source whereas Windows is closed source. It is often argued that Linux handles running many processes simultaneously better than Windows can. This means Linux managed servers are generally more stable than Windows managed servers. A Linux managed server is therefore less likely to crash than a Windows-based server and therefore a Linux managed hosting service is likely to offer a more reliable user experience than a Windows managed hosting service. It is vital to note though that at the end of the day, how reliable a managed hosting service is comes down to how skilful and professional the managed hosting provider is instead of what operating system is running on the server. Linux is very scalable; however it cannot support certain Microsoft offerings such as MS SQL and Access. However a Windows managed hosting server can run all of Microsoft's software offerings. Both Windows and Linux managed servers support CGI, PHP and Perl; however they are utilised more on Linux servers. ASP on the other hand is utilised predominantly on Windows managed servers. FTP access is available on Linux and Windows servers. Linux server access is also available via Telnet and SSH (which encrypts data transferred between networked computers and which is more secure than Telnet). In terms of security on a managed server, some are of the opinion that a Linux-based server is more secure than a Windows one due to there being more Windows users than Linux users. The fact that Linux is open source means it has its fair share of security problems however, although the nature of it being open source can arguably mean that it is quicker to detect security issues in the programming than it is with closed source code. When it comes down to it though, how secure a managed hosting server is will be the responsibility of the host. The security measures that are implemented by the host will establish the degree to which the server is secure. It is not possible to state that overall either Windows or Linux is superior for a managed hosting service. A more productive way to choose between the two is to decide what you want to run on your managed server and what you want to utilise it for and then see whether Linux or Windows fulfils your requirements. If either option would satisfy your server utilisation requirements, then choose the one that you would prefer working with. If you don't have a personal preference, ask your host if they will show you both options in action to help you decide. Whether you pick Windows or Linux, it is vital to have a reliable and professional host as they will determine how smoothly your managed server operates and how secure it will be.
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