Linux and Windows Web Hosting Packages: What to Choose? Are There Mac Web Host Solutions Available?

Linux and Windows Web Hosting Packages: What to Choose? Are There Mac Web Host Solutions Available?

It is not a secret that newbie webmasters often get lost in the diversity of web host special offers and packages. One is offered to choose between Linux-based, FreeBSD and Windows platforms. How to make the right choice? Should the server platform match the OS on one’s PC? Do the Mac lovers need to seek for special Mac web host solutions?
We will help the beginner to understand the basics of webmaster’s craft and try to answer the most common questions a new webmaster may pose.
No Need to Match Your OS

First of all let us disperse the common myth that the OS you are running on your PC has to match the OS on the server you are going to use to create and manage your web project. That is so untrue. You do not have to look for the web host running the same OS as you are just because there is Windows or Mac installed on your machine. Your computer has nothing to do with the platform you are going to run your website on. Web host OS and the OS on your PC are two different things altogether. Let us make things clear and discuss the two aspects that trouble new webmasters separately.

1. It Is Not About Compatibility

There is a widely spread opinion that two identical systems have to be used on a computer and web host, otherwise the machines will not be compatible and it will be impossible to work on them. That is nonsense. Nothing from the server shall be running on your computer, nor is anything from your PC going to be run on the web host system. No matter what OS you are using, files and applications you want to run on your web host are not the things you usually manage on your PC.

2. It Does Not Make Things Easier

You might think that your experience with one of the OS will make it easier for you to manage the same system on a server. Wrong. Do not count on seeing the nice familiar Start menu button on a web host with Windows. There will be no such button at all, nor anything alike nice old Windows interface. You will need web editor software to be able to access files on the server. The user interface you are going to work with will solely depend on the OS running on your web host. And it is absolutely up to you what interface to choose.

How to Choose a Web Hosting Platform

The only criteria for deciding what web host package to take are your web project specific requirements and it has almost nothing to do with your personal preferences in what OS to run on a machine.

• Are ASP or .NET or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server Needed?

First of all, we advise you to decide on what technology your web project shall rely. Will it need such Windows-specific technologies as ASP, or .NET or Microsoft Access, or MSSQL? Does your website have to directly execute ASP or .NET code, or directly access Access or MSSQL databases? If the answer is yes, it will be a good idea to get a Windows web hosting package. Of course, there are ways to adopt these things for Unix-based systems as well, but using Windows web host will save your time and effort.

Note, if you have no idea what the mentioned above is about, you probably do not need it.

• Do You Need PHP, Perl, WordPress, Blogging Software, MySQL, etc?

This may sound a bit confusing. All you want to do is to launch a simple web project and now you have to go through all this terminology. What are these things anyway? 

To run a simple web project such as blog or personal online market without any complex requirements it is recommended to choose Unix-based (like Linux or FreeBSD) hosts. These hosts are the first choice of private and commercial websites. The large diversity on tutorial materials available on the Web makes it easy to configure and manage those servers.

If you insist on needing PHP, Perl or a MySQL database for some purposes, it also will be a good idea to go with Linux or FreeBSD. You can still run all those PHP, Perl and MySQL on Windows machines, but bear it in mind that things do not work quite the same way as they do on the Unix-based systems. You might need to adjust some scripts to run them under Windows.

Are There Web Hosting Solutions For Mac? 

As we have already mentioned, there is actually no need for such thing as web host solution accommodated for a particular OS. So, there is no need to look for specific Mac web hosts as actually there is no such thing.

Getting the Right Thing from the Right Place

Think carefully before deciding on what web editor to use. Remember that the most important criteria is whether the tool you are going to use is user-friendly, because if it is not, it will be hard to enjoy working on a project. The best option is to get a web editor that is capable of handling a lot of tedious and monotonous tasks automatically. It will surely save a great deal of your time. 

For beginners it is also strongly recommended to get acquainted with some guides on how to create a website. These guides usually describe the software you would need to start working on a website and also cover web hosting topic.

To Sum It All Up

To make the long story short, keep it in mind that there is no need to seek for web host to match the OS you run on your PC. However, if you need some specific Windows technologies, such as ASP, .NET, MSSQL or Access, you would probably better get a Windows web hosting package. In case words ASP, .NET, MSSQL or Access do not ring a bell, make your life easy by deciding in favor of Unix-based (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc) solutions. And remember, keep things as easy as it is possible.

Source : http://www.registerwebhosting.com/linux-windows-mac-hosting.php