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If you have been looking around for web hosting, you have surely come across the option of choosing whether to use Windows or Linux as a web hosting platform, and choosing the right one for you can be really confusing if you’re new to web hosting. Keep reading to find out all you need to know before you make a choice.

Everybody knows Windows: the operating system made by the software giant Microsoft, but not everybody knows Linux, the open source operating system developed by its users. Signing up for web hosting is basically renting a computer, so when you have to choose whether to use Linux or Windows, you are choosing what operating system to use on the server. Many beginners choose Windows because it’s made by an experienced software maker, but you should know that Linux is just as stable even more stable as windows most of the time. Now let’s find out what you get with each one.

Linux

Most web hosts use Linux as a platform. Not only because it’s easier to maintain, but also because it is open source (anyone can modify it to fit their needs) and it is also free, meaning that it is both cheaper for the end user and the web hosting company. Now, what do you get with Linux? You get the most basic options a website needs. Every Linux platform should be able to support the most popular publishing engines such as Joomla, Wordpress, or Mambo. The main features you get with a Linux platform are PHP and MySQL support, as well as the Apache web server. Because Linux is so stable, Linux platforms usually have the highest up time. Linux also supports lots of free applications and scripts, and you get better control of your files (which makes it more customizable).

Let’s find out what you get if you use Windows. ‘

Windows

Windows offers you much more advanced features and applications. Because it’s made by Microsoft, it integrates well with other Microsoft products. For example, if you made your website with FrontPage, or any other website builder made by Microsoft, hosting that website with a Windows server will be much easier than if you used Microsoft. You also get to use ASP, .NET, and other Microsoft programming languages, but that is for more advanced users. You will still be able to use Joomla, Mambo, and other similar engines, as Windows is compatible with PHP and MySQL. You don’t get the Apache server (a Wordpress requirement), you get the IIS Web Server instead. Some say that getting started with Windows is easier, but Linux web hosting has improved drastically over time.

Those are the most basic things you need to know about Linux and Windows web hosting. Choosing between the two can be a tedious task, but if you don’t need fancy programming languages and software, Linux should be enough. Windows, in the other hand, is better when it comes to integrating websites made with Windows software. Choose wisely!

Choosing a webhost can be really confusing when you don’t know what all those “technical” terms mean. Continue reading find out the basic features you need to know before you choose your web hosting provider.

Storage space and bandwidth

The first things you might want to look for are storage space and bandwidth. Storage space is important because it is the amount of disk space provided to you for storing your website on your provider’s server. Your website size may vary, but the average website size can range from 5-50 MB.
Bandwidth is probably the most important feature to consider, as it influences the amount of visits you can get. When a visitor gets to your website, your site is transferred from the server to their web browser. The higher the number of visitors and page loads, the higher the data transfer. Look for high bandwidth if you expect to have a large number of visits, or unlimited bandwidth if you get lucky.

MySQL features

Most content publishing applications such as CMSs (Joomla, Mambo, Expression Engine…) or blogging platforms (such as Wordpress) need PHP and MySQL to work on a web server. The MySQL dabatase system is a open source application that rapidly handles server databases, and phpMyAdmin is a PHP script that handles the databases. These features work with each other, so they are very important!

FTP features

Transferring files to a server through an online interface is difficult and annoying, so you would want a third-party application that helps you through it. To be able to do so, a web server needs to provide you with a special FTP account username and password that you can use with a third party application. Also, you could need something called “anonymous FTP” if you want visitors to upload their files to your web server without having access to all your files, so look out for this if you need this feature.

Email

It’s common for websites to have their own email account for contact and support. This represents a problem if you don’t have the proper email feature. Email forwarding is a feature that allows you to redirect every email that comes on one account to another one: for example if your website address is john@website.com, and you choose to redirect it to john@normalmail.com, every email that gets to the first address is redirected to the second address. Then there are autoresponders, who automatically respond to received emails with a specific message, spam filters, and mailing lists (which are important if you choose to provide a newsletter.)

These are the basic features you need to know about web hosts. Yes, there are many more, but for beginners, these are the ones that matter the most. Just remember to verify that your chosen server meets the requirements of the publishing engine, or application you want to use (if you want to use one), and that it has the appropriate amount of storage space and bandwidth. Good luck when choosing your host!