Published on 04/3/2006

What Type of Server Should You Use for Your Web Pages? The type of server you need for your site depends on what type of site you have. If you have a basic website with no database or "dynamic" components, then the server type usually does not matter.

Windows Hosting versus Linux Hosting

If you have a more complex website, or an ecommerce website that has database functions and serves up dynamic pages, then the server type will depend on what technologies your website will be using, such as ASP, .NET, PHP, Perl, and what type of database it will use.

Differences between Linux and Windows hosting.

ť Price
Linux holds an edge due to the fact that most of the software we use is open source and that it's less cost to maintain Linux servers than Windows servers for the same level of service.

ť Your computer
One of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to run Linux on your local computer in order for you to host your website on a Linux platform. Which operating system you run on your computer is irrelevant to what you need for your website. This means, if you are running Windows 98, Windows XP, WindowsŽ 2000 or using an Apple Macintosh, you can still choose Linux or Windows as your hosting platform.

ť Security
Many people argue that Linux servers has less vulnerabilities than Windows servers. But the reality is, out of the box, neither Linux or Windows is very secure for Internet use. HostW3 makes numerous modifications, removes unnecessary components and updates software to ensure that both platforms are secure. We also continue to maintain our servers with the latest security and performance patches.

ť The Bottom Line
The differences between the operating systems is much less than you might think. We would recommend choosing the plan that has the options you want, rather than worrying about what operating system they are running on.