Choosing A Web Host

How do I decide between Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting?

We're often asked this question and what differences it makes to your final site. Linux and Windows are operating systems and both have fundamental differences, but also many similarities. The truth is it all depends on what you need. Easy right?

Let's start with the web site idea. When you start to choose a web host provider you're progressing beyond the "I need a web site" phase and starting to move into the "I want my web site to do this" phase. Don't try to decide on a back-end right away, you'll just confuse yourself and get bogged down.

Let's start by thinking of a web site having a back-end and a front-end. The front-end is what your clients and visitors see - this is the image of your business. That face can be professional, whimsical, informational - anything you choose. The front-end is where you debate graphic design, visitor interface and content of the site. This is also the part you're designing things on the back of a napkin and not worrying about how it works - just how it looks.

The back-end is getting into the technical portion and most likely where you'll need someone to work things through with you. This is the portion of the web site that no one will see except you. When you designed a form in the front-end, what do you want it to do? Sure it can collect an email address for you to email them - that's a basic function. Now choose what to do with that information - do you want to store that information, along with when they contacted you? Do you want to store that information just in your email client or do you want a database?

Now you have an idea of where you'll be when you choose Linux or Windows for your hosting solution. Now the tools will help us focus further. In our example your form is collecting email addresses. If you just want your information mailed to you and you'll call them and delete the email - it won't matter what operating system you choose they both have simple email functions available. Do you want to store those emails in your company database? If so, do you already have a database to store those in?

Linux hosting will generally come with a MySQL database. MySQL is a major database, able to hold millions of lines of information and is supported by major companies and numerous web support sites. MySQL is also free to use, easy to set up (with the right help) and a web standard. It interfaces with major publishing systems like Drupal, Wordpress, PHP pages and general HTML. If you don't have a database for yourself it generally won't matter what is setup - pick the cheaper one in this case. For your purposes if you don't have a specific need - pick a Linux host, they're generally cheaper.

Windows hosting is based more on the tools you use to publish, maintain your site or internal tools you're using. If you currently have an in-house SQL database, it's a more appropriate solution to host that database on the web using a Windows-based hosting provider. If you have tools or programming done with Visual Studio, those tools can publish directly to your Windows-based website or directly convert into a web page hosted there.

Either choice in creating a website can be a technical challenge and it's recommended to talk with a technical consultant. Even a quick consult from one can help you save hours of work on your part.