Just like your computer need an operating system for one to be able to access it, a website too needs to be hosted on a web server so you it can be accesses by web users. There are numerous web servers and server platforms offering these services on the web today. But each has got its advantages and disadvantages and so it is important of you to select wisely so that you make the best our the server or the platform you chose.
Research done by Netcraft has found out that Unix and Linux running Apache web server and Window NT/2000 running Internet Information Server are the most popular platforms and web servers today. The former is up by 60.17% and the later by 30.78%. Apart from these, there are many other web servers like SunONE, Weblogics, Zues etc. But we can say from the amount of popularity of Apache web server and Microsoft’s Windows NT/2000 is that they are compatible with most computers and machines.
If you have an understanding of what an operating system is like in your computers, then you can understand that a platform is just like this. It is the operating system for the web servers and is called a Platform. Most web hosts have a preference for UNIX because that is the one they are most used to and seems to function the best. This is referring to web hosts that use NetBSD ,OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Linus. It also includes Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 which is also doing very well.
One factor you should consider before deciding which platform for turn to, is the requirements of your website. If you are making a simple web site that will only need HTML to make and run, then you don’t have to be too particular about the platform to choose.
But if you need to run dynamic content which might need to use functionalities like CGI scripts, ASP, SSI, JSP, or PHP, then you are advised to go for UNIX platform web hosting.
Although UNIX is a great platform sometime it just isn’t compatible with some applications. An example of this is ASP, MS Access, Microsoft SQL servers or Net and Cold Fusion. These applications require a Windows NT platform. A real bonus with UNIX is that it does support PHP, MySQL and Perl.
For many other reasons like having many more free programs supported by UNIX, this platform has been much cheaper that that of Microsoft. If you are there starting a business and need to save some money, you should design you website keeping this in mind and go for the servers that support UNIX.
Alfred Johnson is a website hosting specialist and his new internet business project is selling contact lens online.
