Tag Archives: linux web hosting

Linux Web Hosting

Posted on by
Reply

Linux Web Hosting is one of the most common and popular method of web hosting. One advantage is that the OS is free and it comes with a good system LAMP which stands for Linux Apache MySQL and PHP. Apache is server software running native in Linux although it can run in Windows as well, MySQL is a major competitor of Microsoft MS SQL.

The main advantage lies in the fact that Linux OS is mostly free unless you take Red Hat Enterprise which you do not have to as they are a lot of Enterprise Edition of Linux, the most popular ones are for eg Centos. There are also other favors, Debian which is more popular in the Europe side, Red Hat Fedora (the development version of Red Hat Enterprise), Centos are more popular in the USA and in Asia. There are others such as Ubuntu which makes it a breeze to install a server and FreeBSD which is more of a UNIX system. Most of these are well supported by cheap and effective controlpanels such as Cpanel, Directadmin which makes it easy for a startup company to setup a server with not much of a learning curve.

We do see that Microsoft Windows are catching up, but those offering Microsoft Windows tends to be companies as you will need to have licensing agreement with Microsoft such as the SPLA in order to use Windows for hosting clients.

Reseller packages are common for both of the OS, so that we can see a new hosting company formed even without the need of a server. And unlike in earlier times, they do not have the headache of setting up manually, control panels now do the work. Even if a start up could not afford the price of the control panels, there are always good free alternatives available easily on the market for Linux.

Linux advantage was right from the start, it had been a very stable platform together with Apache. Windows NT 4 is quite a nightmare to run. Windows 2000 server is ok, but Windows 2003 onwards is looking to be an aggressive threat to Linux and Apache.

Linux used to be harder to install but nowadays it can be as easy as Windows, except for the problem of drivers. Windows have no problem with drivers, but with Linux some drivers need to be compiled from source as it is not readily available from the hardware vendor. A particular big headache is Raid drivers, you more or less needs to recompile the raid driver everytime you change the linux kernel.

Windows Hosting is it Safe?

Posted on by
Reply

I heard a lot of stories on how people’s windows based web hosting was hacked or defaced. A lot of blame on Windows hosting especially during Windows NT 3.1/4.0 era. Also the stability is a question, at that time the “Blue Screen” was quite common and was a horror phrase for any technician.

Windows codes are closed, unlike say Linux or FreeBsd. If you calculate the probability, by the time Windows 2003 is out, the codes by then should be as stable as that of Linux.

Still I heard quite a look of complaints on the Windows 2003 server based system with a lot of users saying that they were hacked because of the OS. Is it true? Much of it I do not think so. Windows 2003 is a very easy to install click and run operating system. (BTW Linux especially the newer ones like Ubuntu is a breeze to install). Installing the patches aren’t difficult too. You can even automate it. Till now a lot of hacked servers I had seen are from those who do not bother to patch their systems. I wonder why? It just take a few minutes if you do it manually or if you set to auto, you won’t even need to use that few minutes. Internet is a very dangerous place (hacking wise). The minute your server is online, bots start scanning for vulnerabilities. A well patched Windows 2003 is as good as any well patched Linux server with a major difference. Zero day vulnerabilities exist for both Windows and Linux and expert hackers can hack both OS without much difficulties. We are talking more in general terms. General hackers, not those specialized professional ones, who won’t care for your server anyway. Your server aren’t worth their time.

The major difference is the kernel, patching Windows even if it is related to the kernel is easy but not Linux, especially if you are using RAID systems or other server drivers. A lot of time, patching a Linux server can be a nightmare, you may need to compile the drivers from source for your new kernel. So generally speaking Windows is easy to use and with regards for stability and safety, I would say it all depends on how well maintained your systems are.

A linux server with no patching especially with an unpatched vulnerable kernel is as vulnerable as a Windows 2003 server with unpatched critical patches. I did had a phobia for Windows during the NT 3.1/4 era but that was long ago, I do believe Windows 2003 server is a very stable system and am looking forward to the new Windows 2008. Previous codename Long Horn.

I am not advocating for Windows, Linux based Redhat Enterprise 5, Ubuntu Linux and the Open Source based CentOS are forces to reckon with. A weird phenomenon is that Windows seemed to be going towards the processing ways of Linux while Linux seemed to be headed towards the click and run ways of Windows. I guess it won’t be very long in the future that the distinction between Linux and Windows blurred. Who will win in the end……..Desktop side Microsoft Windows are far dominant. Even with the ease of Ubuntu Linux it doesn’t make much of a dent. But server side, Microsoft Windows are catching up on Linux or rather they are converging in the abilities and functionalities. In such a scenario, the advantage lies with the underdog which in the server arena is Microsoft Windows. I expect Windows server to slowly take over some share of Linux. But in the foreseeable future, Linux will still be the dominant force in the server environment.