What is the difference between Unix and NT systems ?
Shared or virtual hosting is usually available in two varieties:
UNIX and NT. What is the difference between hosting on these
operating systems?
NT servers are designed to accommodate advanced Microsoft
applications. NT servers therefore integrate back office
offerings such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL with basic Web
services. NT servers also offer specific programming
environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic
Scripts, MS Index Server and Cold Fusion, which mainly link
database applications to the Web.
NT servers do not provide an interactive shell, but are
accessible through GUI-based remote administration packages such
as PCAnywhere. Such packages allow you to log into the server's
desktop as chief administrator as long as you have full control
over your server.
We only recommend NT hosting if you intend to run your own
dedicated server. The quality of hosting degrades rapidly if the
Web host attempts to run an NT server as a shared hosting system.
Since NT servers provide unparalleled levels of support,
security and integration for the Microsoft family of products,
we recommend that you only select NT if you need to link a
Microsoft-based service to your Internet hosting requirements.
NT is rather complex and labor-intensive and should only be
selected if the webmaster has extensive experience in
maintaining Windows systems remotely and requires product/Web
integration.
A lot of hosting solutions are also provided on the UNIX
platform. This is because the UNIX platform is specifically
designed to accommodate heavy Web traffic and server load. UNIX
servers are robust and are recognized for their ability to host
multiple sites and serve out gigabytes of traffic.
This platform is also preferred by most webmasters due to their
technical requirements. Most webmasters outsource their
e-commerce solutions, and therefore don't need to configure
complex database systems on their pay Web sites. UNIX servers
also provide a wider degree of flexibility due to their shell
environment. Shell environments are interactive, text-based
systems that allow webmasters to interact and customize their
services in real-time from any computer system worldwide. Unlike
NT systems, UNIX is not limited to special remote administration
programs. A typical UNIX system can be accessed from any
computer connected to the Internet without special or expensive
software.
But the most favored reason that most webmasters choose the UNIX
platform is because of its uptime. Most UNIX systems with heavy
traffic can provide 99 per cent uptime. NT servers with heavy
traffic usually cannot make this same claim, unless specially
configured. For this reason, average webmasters should select
UNIX as their OS.
If you don't know which platform you need, then most likely you
do not require NT hosting and you should select one of our UNIX
hosting plans. The only time you would need to use NT hosting is
when you are using the specific NT applications noted above.
Microsoft FrontPage may be used on both the UNIX and NT
platforms as since most hosting firms support the Microsoft
FrontPage server extensions on both.
For More Articles Please Visit
http://www.Hosts2002.Com/articles.html