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Linux vs. Windows XP Web Serving

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2003 6:11 pm
by icesolid
Do you recommend that I use Red Hat Linux 8.0 Professional or Windows XP Professional as my platform on my Web Server?

Advantages and disadvantages?

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2003 2:05 pm
by daven
Linux.
Reasons:
1. Linux can be configured better
2. PHP stuff is generally geared towards linux
3. Security (most annoying viruses/worms are written to attack Windows)
4. Linux tends to be more robust if set up properly
5. I have had WinNT, Win2K, WinXP, Redhat, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD (*drool*) servers. The *nix ones tend to work much better than the MS ones.
6. *nix is cheaper than Windows
7. Obligatory anti-Microsoft stuff

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2003 5:02 pm
by superwormy
I agree with what daven said![/b]

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:12 pm
by Stoker
I am also somewhat anti-billgates-and-steveballmer, but as far as linux/apache vs MS/iis goes in regards for web hosting, there is no doubt that Linux has way better performance on most things.. Try to run a php script that does include() of ten thousand small files on a Bill Gates system, it took 1.2 seconds on a Dual P3/512M/Scsi/Linux system..

I have seen W2K-server with Scsi-160/Raid-5 that performs worse in combined random write/read operations than a ide box with 5400rpm drive when it comes to moving and deleting files, its just nuts how much resources Bill & Steve is wasting on showing the user a pretty interface with a lying progress-indicator of what is going on..

as far as your choice of Linux distro, I would not recommend Redhat 8.0 (nor any other redhat x dot zero), as they tend to be very on the edge and use unstable code, such as rh8.0 uses apache-2 by default, as where PHP for apache-2 has never been declared stable yet (or at leats not at the point of release), if you are going for red hat, use 7.3 or one of the deratives that has been customized for webhosting purposes..
Myself I would have gone for debian, only for the reason of the best package manager in existence and easy system maintenance.. but debian an be a hassle to install on systems with new and unusual hardware, at least for the beginner..