The question was:
>>> My question to you is, how might NT be a better OS than UNIX for
>>> hosting a web site?
Rob Weaver (I think) wrote:
>> In my opinion, for a low volume, non-critical web-server the choice
>> between NT and Unix comes down to two factors, cost and experience:
Javilk writes:
> Linux can be obtained for free, or for $49.95. Red Hat, Caldera,
> Turbo Linux, SuSE all have versions for sale. The web server Apache is
> included. It is UNIX based, which gives you a lot more power to build
> things. And, it will run for weeks, even months without crashing if run
> on stable hardware.
This kind of sums up my opinion on the general topic. Rob is
right, though, that your existing skill base can be a major factor.
If you're already an experienced & skilled NT admin (or have one
willing to support you) and you don't want to learn about the wonders
of Linux, it's going to be a lot simpler to get an NT box.
If it was me, I wouldn't touch NT with a 10-foot pole, but I've
had friends swear by it. Had a lot more other friends swear AT it,
too. Let's sum it up this way: why is the "BSOD" (Blue Screen of
Death - the reboot screen you get when everything's hosed) an
omnipresent acronym in most NT conversations I've heard
Two comments on cost:
The cost-dependent wisest choice boils down to where you place your
own time vs. capital investment in the equation. Certainly, in some
situations, you may give greater weight to your time. I make a pretty
penny doing contracting, so I can look at this question and say, "the
option that looks to require less of my time on an ongoing basis is
better." In other situations, I might not have the capital investment,
or I might decide that the cost of investing the time and effort of
learning will be repaid by practical skill benefits in the long run.
For example, I, personally, would look at the Linux option and,
unless I was planning to run mission-critical stuff on the server,
decide that the payback of a practical learning experience about Linux
is worth the extra effort. Another person might decide that the rewards
of a practical learning experience about NT (since you can get paid
serious money for NT admin work) make it worth the effort.
Note, however, tht if you choose the NT route, you should be
prepared to spend money not only on the box, but on commercial software
for most of your purposes. Microsoft bundles a lot of stuff with NT -
some of it's even pretty good, I've heard. But that's it; anything else
will be commercial, and expensive. There are some free source products
ported to NT, but it's not exactly high on the list of target platforms,
so most of them won't be available for NT. The ones that will be
available, I'd guess will not be as easy to install and get working on
NT as on Linux. So plan accordingly and budget for commercial software
if you're going with NT.
Second point is, if you're going with a Linux box and you're *not*
interested in learning the ins and ours of Linux, getting into the guts
of the system, and parting your own box together, you may want to
consider a Cobalt Qube or RaQ Microserver (www.cobaltmicro.com). I
can't speak from personal experience but by all accounts I've
heard so far, they're pretty solid, and very easy to bring up as a web
server.
Cobalt servers are priced reasonably, at $999 for the base model
(with a MIPS chip that is claimed to be about equivalent to a 200MHz
pentium, 16 MB of memory and a 1.2 gig HD), up to $1500 or so for the
high-end model (neither of the above comes with a monitor - the cobalt
is designed to be used without a monitor). The Qube is a little box
about 7.5" on a side, while the RaQ is a flat model designed to be put
in a standard rack-mounting (which makes the ISP you're co-locating it
at very happy). In sum, going with a Qube or RaQ can mean *not* having
to learn all that much about Linux to set up and use a Linux-based web
server box.
Zdnet.com, PC Weekly and Linux Journal have all had favorable
reviews of the Cobalt Microservers. If anybody here's had personal
experiences with one, I'd love to hear about it.
Steven J. Owens
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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