Web Hosting and Server Options

Having decided whether to opt for a shared web server or a dedicated web server - the next decision you need to make is choosing which type of platform to use from those offered by your hosting company.  The idea of web server platforms refers to the systems software used in web servers to provide HTTP interfaces to peripheral devices and applications. Two HTTP server programs dominate the market as web server platforms; these are those produced by Apache and Microsoft. Other web server platforms include WebSTAR for Apple computers, Zeus, Eagle and UNIX Solaris - all of which are near niche players compared to Apache and Microsoft.

Apache HTTP Server.

Commonly referred to simply as Apache, it is one of the many Open Source projects. Subsequently; and typically, this means that the Apache HTTP server will have been installed onto a computer running a version of Linux. By using a combination of Open Source systems, web hosting companies can reduce the costs that they charge for hosting web sites. The name ‘Apache’ given to these servers is not particularly to do with it being at the frontier of ‘web’ technology, but that when it was first developed it required regular patches to keep it running; making it literally a patchy service! Apache was one of the first server technologies and, like the other surviving ones, is still constantly undergoing revisions and upgrades. However, possibly because of its open source nature, any bugs or security fixes are quickly corrected and Apache is widely regarded as the most stable and secure of web servers. Apache supports nearly all of the technologies to be found on the internet, even offering proprietary Microsoft FrontPage extensions; along with HTTP protocols and scripting etc. Just to add to the confusion - Apache can be installed on server platforms running Linux, UNIX or even Windows! Currently about half of all websites are run on Apache HTTP servers. Apache is invariably thought of as a cheap web hosting option; whereas in reality it should be thought of as being the best value for money.

Microsoft Internet Information Services.

This Microsoft product, commonly referred to as IIS, is Microsoft’s response to serving HTTP content. Being from Microsoft it is designed to integrate with Microsoft’s other server products and applications software. Microsoft IIS first arrived on the scene in 1995 and, with the backing of the mighty Microsoft corporation was largely responsible for the development of sophisticated media servers alongside the conventional deployment of HTML documents. Being a proprietary package Microsoft, of course, wants to extend the reliance of users on their IIS technology - so you can only deploy IIS onto a Windows based server. Furthermore, Active Server Pages (ASP), which provide a virtually Windows like graphical interactivity at the web interface; were developed by Microsoft and will therefore only work on IIS web servers. IIS accounts for about 35% of all the web servers.

Choosing between Apache and IIS.

If your website isn’t an eCommerce one, or you’re not concerned with creating web forms and interactive pages - it really won’t matter whether you choose an Apache or Microsoft web server from the web hosting company. However, if you do need interactive pages, databases, shopping carts and accounting etc then your website will need to employ server-side scripting languages. At this point you need to decide which of the following you’re most comfortable with. Using Microsoft tools like ASP you’ll have to have a Microsoft IIS web server. Alternatively, if you prefer using Open Source software, and can get to grips with Common Gateway Interface (CGI) languages like C or Perl - then an Apache web server will be the logical choice. Two other server-side scripting languages worthy of mentioning are: ColdFusion, which is the obvious choice for anyone developing their website from Adobe Dreamweaver. However, being part of the Adobe family of software it comes at a price. The other option is to use Hypertext Preprocessor, PHP, which is another Open Source general purpose scripting language.