Linux Community Magazine

Although advancements made in recent years towards the overall development of the web hosting industry has brought Linux and Windows hosting features much closer together, the reality is that there's still a lot to consider for today's webmaster when choosing what type of web host to use.

How Windows and Linux Work

For those unfamiliar with Windows and/or Linux, it's only fair that I provide some groundwork - so to you experts, or people who just don't care, you can skip ahead now.

In many ways, Linux and Windows are very similar. When used for web hosting, both services will interface just fine with anyone's home computer, whether they're running Windows, Linux, Apple's OS X, or just about anything else.

Despite this, some fundamental differences can't be ignored. Windows and all of its major software is developed by one company (Microsoft), which are virtually all dependent on one common core (or 'kernal'). This type of interdependence between the various parts of the server is what's called a 'monolithic' design. On a Windows home computer, examples of this sort of approach can be seen in Windows Media Player and Microsoft Internet Explorer. A Windows server typically runs webpage serving software known as IIS, which is actually integrated right into Windows too. Although the alternative Apache software that's standard on Linux servers is also available to Windows administrators, it's very uncommon that it's ever used.

This is where Linux is very different. Linux has been developed completely by what's known as the open source community - a collective effort by any talented programmer who's willing to pick up the existing Linux source code to try to improve upon it in some way. This group-oriented approach has created the perfect compliment to the monopolistic approach of Microsoft by creating an operating system made up of parts that are freely independent of one another - a 'modular' design, to oppose monolithic design, if you will.

Operating Systems and Feature Support

First, let's cover what both systems will do. Linux and Windows will each run HTML, CSS, DHTML, XHTML, XML, JavaScript, Java, CGI, Perl, and most other popular web technologies absoutely fine. E-mail, FTP, reporting, and other basic features are supported all the same, too. Conveniently, both operating systems also do an excellent job interfacing with Microsoft FrontPage

Linux excels by offering the best environment for open source development such as PHP and Ruby on Rails. Databases on a Linux hosting service typically use MySQL or PostGresSQL. Most existing applications that are open source (and on the web, that's quite a lot), seems to come better suited for Linux, or at least end up there first.

Windows excels by offering the best environment for ASP and other Microsoft proprietary applications such as Microsoft Exchange. When used on the web, databases on Windows typically rely on MS SQL.

Operating Systems and Security

The Windows VS Linux security debate is a very old one, which the nerd community will likely never agree on. The reason is simple - in the end, nothing on a computer is gauranteed secure. Some things we can't change - such as unskilled server administrators, brute-force password crackers, unsecured PHP or ASP scripts, social engineering risks in large companies, and more. In the end, these variables vastly outweigh the security risks existing within either operating system.

The most common argument against Windows security is that because of its monolithic design (mentioned previously), it is easier for hackers to compromise an entire server. For example, if a security exploit is found in the IIS web server, it could potentially be used in compromising the entire Windows server, as IIS is deeply interconnected with the core of the Windows. It's for this same reason that external browsers such as Mozilla FireFox tend to be seen as safer for a Windows PC than the integrated Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The most common argument against Linux security is exactly the largest argument for Linux security - that it's entirely open-source. With potentially the entire world with its eyes on Linux security, Linux has both the largest, most educated security team, and logically the most educated community of hackers, too.

Future Development

As if this isn't enough to soak in, we're now left to think about the future. As Microsoft has become increasingly dominated in the web hosting industry, we can expect future releases of Windows server to become increasingly like Linux with modular design; at least according to Microsoft representatives at last year's HostingCon.

In closing, if things continue on the course they're on now, it's also safe to assume that both sides will continue working to accommodate one another as much as possible, but your best bet is to pursue the type of web applications are important to you, as either side will probably be around for a long time. For open-source applications, your best choice will likely always be Linux, and for closed-source applications, Windows should remain a safe bet for years to come.