Cheap
Web Hosting: Unix or NT
Shared
cheap web hosting is most commonly offered in UNIX and Windows
NT operating systems. When you go to retain a cheap web
hosting provider, you will have to choose which platform
your site will run on. Here are some things to consider
when making your decision:
Windows
NT servers are configured to be compatible with Microsoft
applications, such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL. NT servers
also offer programming environments such as Active Server
Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server and Cold
Fusion.
NT allows
those with little or no experience in web development to
get advanced features working very quickly. By using software
such as Microsoft's FrontPage, you can have a fully functional
site up in a short amount of time.
However,
along with Microsoft's powerful features and user-friendly
environment, comes a cost much larger than similar features
compatible with UNIX. Microsoft's NT operating system has
another drawback. It's very hard on web servers and may
require additional resources if stability is to be maintained.
Even with additional hardware implemented, NT servers will
have to be rebooted regularly. So it is very important that
the support staff for an NT host be knowledgeable and reliable.
Given
that NT servers provide excellent levels of support and
integration for Microsoft products, you should select NT
if you will be using a Microsoft-based service with your
hosted server.
UNIX
is the other common operating system. It is extremely vigorous
and designed to handle heavy Web traffic and server load.
Most UNIX systems with heavy traffic can provide a 99 percent
uptime guarantee. This is because UNIX has been around for
much longer than NT, and is now very developed and stable.
Many
web server applications available on the Internet are intended
for use with the Unix OS. So UNIX has come to be a very
flexible platform in regards to programming/application
compatibility. Most hosting plans include a wide amount
of features such as, Perl, JAVA, PHP, Miva, Shell Access
(remote access to your server through any online connection),
and much more.
For
the downside, there are some types of server applications,
mostly those offered by Microsoft, which will not be supported.
These include Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) and
Microsoft's SQL database software. However, several companies
have already developed software that will allow these applications
to run on UNIX. So these issues may not be around much longer.
Overall,
it is safe to say that if you know what sort of programming
and applications you will use to run your web site, and
they are compatible with a UNIX platform, then you should
go with a UNIX plan.
Articles
that are submitted will be reviewed and if they are well
written, they will be listed at separate pages with the
corresponding information about the author (a short bio
and an active link to your website). This gives you a valuable
link which enhances your site's search engine rankings.
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