Unix web hosting

Overview
UNIX and Linux are the two most famous operating systems next to Windows and Apple’s Macintosh. When the discussion boils down to hosting, Unix/Linux hosting has several advantages in comparison to Windows hosting, but at the same time there are certain downsides to it, as well. UNIX was developed during the 1970s, at AT&T's Bell Laboratories, and has greatly evolved in due course of time.

Flavours of UNIX
Free BSD and OpenBSD are the two most popular flavours of UNIX environment. Both these versions are highly stable and secure. OpenBSD boasts of being the most secure open source operating systems throughout the world. Above all, it is free and maintenance cost of the web servers running on UNIX environment is also on the lower side.

Support to Scripting Languages and Databases
UNIX offers support to all the common scripting languages like Shell, C/C++, Tcl, Python, Perl, PHP and Java. However, these days the latest web servers developed on UNIX environment also offer support to Ruby-on-Rails and all other technological developments.

As far as database support is concerned, the popular UNIX hosting providers usually support MS SQL, PostgreSQL, and MySQL databases. However, the Unix hosting service providers may not support all the databases. Therefore, it is important that you enquire about this aspect and pick a web host that support the database you intend to use.

Windows versus UNIX Hosting
This has been an area of endless discussion. While the hardcore MS fans prefer Windows hosting, the open source community always prefers Linux or Unix hosting. But, there’s more to it, than just personal opinions.

Today, despite all the goodness of Windows hosting, it is impossible to host Wordpress blogs, phpBB discussion boards and several popular online galleries without Linux/Unix hosting and this is one of the biggest downsides to Windows hosting.

At the same time, there are many things which are not supported by Unix hosting platform. For instance, the latest technological developments like MS FrontPage extensions and Microsoft SilverLight are not supported by UNIX hosting environments. Therefore, the developers who require support of the latest technological features can’t survive without Windows hosting.

Convenience in Usage
The ease of usage remains more or less remains the same for the beginner level users, because the web hosts provide Admin/Control panel and it hardly makes any difference whether the web server is running on Windows or Unix platform. However, the proficient users who need higher level of access over the web server pick Unix and carry out all the development work using Shell scripting.

Hosting Reliability
In general, Unix hosting is considered to be more reliable, though Windows NT 4.0 has been known to be extremely stable too. Moreover, the level of reliability of a Windows server can be increased by certain tweaks and maintenance totally depends upon the serving staff rather than the platform.

Hosting Speed
In strict terms, there is hardly difference between these two platforms in terms of hosting speed. However, as a whole, Unix computations turn out to be a lot quicker in comparison to Windows. But, to most of the common web users, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Only the hardcore developers can experience this minor difference in the hosting speeds.

Hosting functionality
As discussed earlier, certain tasks cannot be accomplished on Unix hosting environment, while some of them are not possible on Windows platform. But, there are always alternative ways to get the job done, on either platform.

But, when it comes down to specific product support, you may not be able to help the cause. For instance, Microsoft FrontPage is supported by Windows as well as UNIX hosting platforms, but some of the FrontPage extensions are not supported by Unix platform.

Hosting cost
Since Unix and Linux are open source, most of the licenses are available for free under Unix hosting environment. Hence, Unix hosting is always considered a lot cheaper than Windows by all means. And, there’s no difference of opinion in this regard – everybody has accepted this fact that Unix and Linux hosting platforms are most affordable ones.

How long will Windows Hosting and Linux/Unix Hosting Go Hand-in-Hand?
Looking at the pros and cons of Windows and UNIX hosting, it is quite obvious that Windows and Linux/Unix Hosting services will go hand-in-hand for quite a long time to come, until each of these platform can cater to all the hosting needs of the customers.

Currently, most of the shared web hosting providers gives the choice of selecting the hosting environment to their customers at no additional cost. This simply means that you may opt for Windows as well as UNIX hosting, so as to meet all the requirements.

How Popular is Unix Hosting?
You may be taken aback when you discover that over 70% of the internet web servers make use of the UNIX/LINUX operating systems and the share of Windows hosting falls well under one third of the total (hardly about 29-30%). Unix hosting also offers most of the features similar to Windows hosting, but it is lot cheaper than Windows hosting. The level of popularity of Unix hosting has increased drastically only in recent times. Until 2007, Windows hosting was extremely dominant, but things have changed pretty fast. Most of the advanced level users and developers have shifted from Windows hosting platform to the Linux/Unix hosting platform due to the sheer fact that Shell scripting on Unix platform is lot convenient and offers higher level of flexibility. On the other hand, most of the normal users have continued to be loyal towards Windows hosting platform as ever before, though some of them have shifted to Unix due to the low pricing.

Reasons behind Popularity of Linux/Unix Hosting
Apart from the pricing, Unix Hosting is pretty popular due to very high levels of security and greater compatibility with all the necessary technologies. As a result, thousands of UNIX web hosting solution providers have emerged out in the market, providing reliable services.

If you’re looking for cheap UNIX web site hosting, then the chances are high that you may be able to find an affordable host, lot easily than you would find a Windows hosting provider for the same price. But, when you pick the advanced shared/dedicated web hosting packages, you get the choice of Windows as well as Unix/Linux hosting at the same price.

The Downsides of Unix Hosting
Just as every coin has a flip-side, there are certain downsides to Unix hosting in comparison to Windows hosting, though these aren’t major drawbacks that may force you to pick Windows hosting.

The biggest downside is the absence of a user-friendly interface as in case of Windows hosting. More often than not, the PC users are tuned-up to use the good old interactive and highly intuitive Windows GUI that makes the life of the user a lot easier.

On the other hand, you’ll have to learn to get along with certain basic Unix hosting commands to perform simple tasks, as user interface may not be available for everything.

However, when you look at the advantages of Unix web hosting, you’ll realize that there are plenty of things in favour of Unix than you’d find in favour of Windows hosting. Therefore, if you’re looking for a cheap Unix hosting solution, you must be ready to bear with these minor disadvantages of Unix hosting.

The Bottom-Line
A good Unix web hosting provider must ensure that the customers get all the necessary resources and a good administrative/control panel to manage their website with great ease. A good Unix web host will never let you make out that you’re making use of Unix hosting, while the poor hosts don’t give enough resources, thereby causing discontentment amongst the users.

Ideally a Unix web hosting plan must include all the features offered by a shared Windows web hosting plan, and there must never be any difference between Unix website hosting and Windows hosting plan (except the specific support).

Remember, you’ll always get the added advantage in terms of pricing, if you pick Unix website hosting services, and the reliability and flexibility of the web server hosted on Unix platform is always higher.

Therefore, if you don’t have any business requirements that can be exclusively accomplished only on Unix hosting environment, Unix hosting can be a better bet. Moreover, if you happen to be a developer, Unix hosting environment will give you the choice of making changes to the codes and also getting complete access to the root level of the web server.

Last but definitely not the least, Windows hosting can’t match the offerings of Unix hosting environment, while vice-versa doesn’t hold true in majority of the cases. Hence, this gives an unfair advantage to Unix hosting over Windows hosting environment.