Choosing the right Web hosting plan for your Web site can be confusing. Do you need Shared Hosting or a Dedicated Server? Should you choose a Unix or Windows plan?
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Shared Hosting is perfectly adequate for more than 90% of Web sites, and it is the cheapest option. Your Web site will be hosted on a server along with other sites.
As long as the server hardware and Internet bandwidth are adequate for the number of Web sites hosted, sharing the server with other sites should be fine.
The choice is Unix or Windows. Recent statistics showed that approximately 69% of servers use Unix and 25% use Windows.
Unix is traditionally the operating system of choice. It has been around a long time and is widely regarded as the most reliable.
It uses memory and disk space efficiently and is able to do more with fewer resources than comparable Windows systems.
There are many Web server applications available on the Internet written for Unix. These include scripts written in Perl, C, Java, and PHP,
which add functionality and interactivity to Web sites.
Unix systems are less user-friendly than Windows systems. If you are developing a simple Web site, this should not be a problem,
since your only access to the Unix server will be via FTP to upload your site. However, if you are developing an advanced site you will need to become familiar with Unix commands.
Microsoft's Windows 2000/2003 is becoming much more popular with Web developers with its powerful ASP and ASP.NET programming environments.
It also integrates well with .NET server technologies such as SQL Server 2000, Commerce Server 2002 and BizTalk Server 2002.
Recent advances in Windows Server technology and the release of the new Windows 2003 Server provide what is now arguably the highest
performance server environment. It provides exceptional support for the developer community and has a single vendor (Microsoft) commitment to its ongoing development.
On the down side, software licensing costs are generally higher but the cost of server hardware is often lower than Unix-based systems.
With a Dedicated Server you rent an entire Web server. You can specify the hardware, operating system and software configuration to match your exact requirements.
A Dedicated Server is extremely convenient for those not proficient in server management. Connection with the Internet, security, daily backup
and 24x7 monitoring and management are all provided for you.
Dedicated Servers are suitable for high volume, business Web sites or if you have complex hosting needs which require special software installed on the server.
It is important to remember that you are responsible for the purchase of any software other than the operating system.
This could include databases, a virus checker, a Web statistics package to monitor Web activity and any other software that you need to run your server.