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Comparing Linux and Windows Web Hosting

In selecting a web hosting solution, one of the first things you have to take into account is the right operating system for your websites. Linux and Microsoft Windows are considered the prime hosting operating systems. While there are other solutions provided by Macintosh and Unix, these are considered less popular due to issues of software support and hardware.

Let us compare the various aspects of both operating systems based on certain requirements.

First, security is considered a very important concern. The common misconception is that Window servers have more vulnerabilities compared to Linux servers. But security risks are usually more often the undoing of the administrator than the operating system. You have to ensure that you have security patches and software updates. Security risks will always crop up and this is a certainty. The point is, focus more on the server management than the operating system.

Meanwhile, both platforms are compatible with FTP, which is considered the most common kind of server access. However, Linux can support telnet and SSH access. On the other hand, Windows can support telnet but it is neither common nor standard.

Both platforms also support standard HTML and JavaScript files. There was a time when it was difficult to tap FrontPage extensions on Linux servers, although this is now possible. Linux is more often capable of supporting CGI and Perl platforms. Windows commonly supports ASP while Linux commonly supports PHP.

Lastly, databases are where platforms make a difference. Microsoft only supports Access databases while MySQL databases are more commonly found on Linux servers. With that said MySQL can still be run by Windows servers, just not fully supported by Microsoft. A lot of users maintaining databases through Microsoft Access may want to run Windows server, rather than making a conversion to a MySQL database or integrating it with Linux.

Today, most platforms run on both Windows and Linux so there’s not as much difference between the two than there used to be.