Linux Web Hosting
Linux Web Hosting
Linux web hosting is typically provided by most mainstream web hosting businesses since it is cheap and easy to provide. The different Linux distributions that Linux web hosting can be based on are free in most cases, the only costs being that of the hardware needed and any commercial third-party software. Since Linux is a free operating system, there are many different control panels that allow web hosts to offer Linux web hosting to the general public, the most popular of which is cPanel; other examples of control panels commonly used for Linux web hosting include:
• Plesk (produced by Parallels)
• LXAdmin (produced by LXLabs)
• cPanel / WHM.
• Webmin / Virtualmin.
Linux web hosting can be used to host both static HTML websites and dynamic websites. Although it is dependent on the type of web hosting package you have, you will be able to host any web pages that you have built using the PHP scripting language and will be able to utilize the MySQL server for databases in your Linux web hosting account. Perl and even in some cases Java scripts can also be hosted under a Linux web hosting account, although it does depend on the settings and hardware of your web host’s Linux servers.
Linux web hosting is generally cheaper than Windows web hosting since there are no software licenses required for the basic running of a Linux web hosting server. If you want to run a Windows Hosting Server, you first have to buy a Windows license which in itself can cost more than £100, which you could easily use to buy a control panel license for your Linux web hosting server. The main software that is installed on a Linux web hosting server by default includes:
• Apache Web Server
• MySQL Database Server
• Email Server (either Exim or Sendmail in most cases)
• PHP Scripting Engine
• CentOS Linux.
• Ubuntu.
It is now common knowledge that applications developed using the PHP scripting language with a MySQL database backend run better in a Linux web hosting environment when compared to a Windows hosting environment. The main reason for this is that Linux allows you to customize PHP more than you can in a Windows hosting environment, allowing you to tweak PHP to enable or disable components that you may not necessarily need if you are only hosting one or so website within your Linux web hosting account.
The most common Linux distributions used for Linux web hosting are Ubuntu and CentOS, although the latter is the most popular and more or less any distribution can be used in a Linux web hosting environment. Both Ubuntu and CentOS are free Linux distributions, making them perfect for use in a Linux web hosting environment; CentOS is also based on RHEL making it even more popular amongst web hosting veterans.
There are many advantages of being hosted in a Linux web hosting environment when compared to a Windows hosting environment. The main advantages include:
• More secure servers – there are more or less no known viruses able to affect Linux Servers, although there are thousands of viruses with the ability to affect Windows machines
• Better uptime – unlike a Windows Servers, a Linux web hosting server doesn’t need restarting every few days to keep the machine in running order or after new hardware or software has been installed
• Easier problem solving – if a problem does happen to occur with your Linux web hosting server, it should be much easier to solve than on a Windows hosting server – most problems on Window servers normally result in an entire system reload.
Linux Web Hosting Servers in general are able to run much faster than other types of web hosting server. The main reason for this is that Linux web hosting doesn’t use as much memory as say Windows does, meaning that there is more left for the server to utilize at times of high load – the same can be said for the server CPU.
If you only want to host a basic website then you should consider taking out a Linux web hosting package with a well known web host. Linux web hosting packages are generally the cheapest available, meaning that you will be able to get value for money.
