Why Linux Hosting is Cheaper than Windows Hosting?

Most of the data that we get across the web, via websites, email services, etc. are essentially stored or hosted on servers. These servers run on various platforms (operating systems). The two major operating systems are Unix-based Linux and Microsoft Windows. Apart from these, Ubuntu and Debian OS are also used, though less. About 2/3 rd of all servers use Linux, whereas the remaining 1/3 rd mostly use Windows.

All the big companies like MNCs and especially the IT companies use web hosting extensively. For them, this brings in the question which server should we choose, based on its operating system? Thus make a choice based on the OS functionality which suits their use and most importantly cost of hosting. In the following section, the cost factor of the Linux and Windows servers will be discussed along with their overall features, which will help to answer which is cheaper and why.

Now the cost value of hosting server depends on a lot of factors. It is calculated based on the feature of Operating System like interface, availability, security, nutshell, etc. We will see all these factors for both Linux and Windows hosting server and conclude which one is cheaper.

Linux Hosting is one of the most common web hosting techniques used by web developers. Linux servers have a rather simple user interface, with functions used through Linux commands. These servers are widely known and preferred for their stability, which is resistance to crashing and need for less frequent reboots, and also for their security.

Linux hosting services contain various tools, like cPanel, that provide users with web platforms for installing content management systems and databases. cPanel allows users to install a variety of software through a simple interface, but most of all, with simple clicks. Applications such as phpBB, Joomla, Drupal, etc. These tools help the user to jump right into the creation of blogs, websites, bulletin boards, etc.

Other than this, these servers also have the functionality of configuring an Apache or NGINX web servers and software packages like Perl, PHP, Python, and MySQL, which help developers in creating databases. Linux is an open source platform which in many cases can be downloaded for free.

On the other hand, the Windows operated server uses a more graphical approach towards interfacing with the user, with menus that contain various options to choose from based on the required actions. Corporate environments generally use Windows servers, due to their many preinstalled essential applications that are ready to use. Also, Windows servers can be used as Sharepoint and Exchange Servers.

Windows servers also host a variety of unique tools. Microsoft Web Installer (Web Platform Installer) is one of these great utilities. Some of the other components of windows servers are MSSQL, ASP, ASP.NET, and IIS, etc. Web Platform Installer helps the user in the simple installation of the components into their server for better functionality. Much like cPanel for Linux, Windows also contains Plesk and Windows Web Application Gallery, which contains applications for blogging and content management. Also, to use Microsoft applications, a Windows server is the only option.

Talking in terms of stability, reliability, and security, Windows servers fall behind on the Linux servers. In the stability department, Windows servers are known to require frequent reboots due to their frequent software updates and thus tend to provide a low uptime compared to Linux. Security has also been an issue with Windows. The BitLocker Hacks across the world had majorly affected Windows, whereas Linux ones faired quite well during the crisis.

Taking into account all the above factors, and adding to it the fact that Linux is an open source software, meaning that the user can modify it as per their requirement (adding and modifying components to the software legally), and that some versions are available free, makes it a good choice for developers. On the other hand, Windows is a proprietary closed software, meaning the user can’t change the kernel, thus limitations form modifications. Also, Windows is quite expensive as well.

This has an indirect implication that Linux Hosting is cheaper than Windows Hosting. The reason is that Linux is a more fundamental, basic software, which requires a rather advance skill set and knowledge to manage the server. On the other hand, Windows is a more user-friendly software, thus making it easier to use for beginners.

Some Important Points:

◉ In terms of user-interface, Linux offers a more basic, developer-friendly interface. On the other hand, Windows offers a more feature, beginner-friendly user interface.

◉ Linux offers features like Perl, PHP, and MySQL to create web content, whereas Windows generally offers ASP.NET and other Microsoft specific applications for content creation.

◉ Linux is an open source software and some versions can be downloaded free, whereas Windows is a closed source (premium) software with a paid subscription.

◉ Linux Hosting is generally preferred by experienced web developers whereas Windows Hosting is preferred by most IT companies due to flexible use by developers of all stages.

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Difference between Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting and Cloud Hosting

Web Hosting: Web Hosting, as the name suggests, is a type of hosting that makes files that comprise a website available for viewing online as well as allows or enables organizations and individuals to post a website or web page on the internet. It basically provides storage space for websites connected to the internet.

WordPress Hosting: WordPress Hosting, as the name suggests, is basically a type of web hosting especially optimized for WordPress CMS (Content Management System). It offers resources optimized for the platform and is pre-configured to host a WordPress-powered website efficiently and all technical aspects of running WordPress are managed by the host.

Cloud Hosting: Cloud Hosting, as the name suggests, is basically a type of web hosting that allows one to utilize resources of multiple rather than single sever and become very popular over the past few years. It also stores website data on multiple servers. It also allows for easier load balancing among multiple server environments.

Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting  

Web Hosting	WordPress Hosting	Cloud Hosting
Multiple sites share space on a severs the single physical server in web hosting.	Website share sever with other WordPress installed in WordPress Hosting.	It is a virtual of server that contains all files of website.
It is generally optimized to increase Website performance and post website on the internet.	It is generally optimized to increase WordPress performance and security.	It is generally optimized to increase the web experience to customers.
It is planned to solve issues of different clients i.e., shared facilitating.	It is planned to optimize WordPress website for speed and structured explicitly for WordPress based clients and site proprietors.	It is planned to facilitate access to applications and data from any location worldwide and from any device using internet connection.
It provides features like disk space and bandwidth, support and uptime, affordable hosting plan, etc	It provides features like one-click staging area for WordPress, essential plugins pre-installed on the website, a support team with advanced knowledge of WordPress, etc.	It provides features like giving access to control panel, flexible pricing structure, provides assistance whenever required, etc.
It is less costly as compared to WordPress Hosting.	It is more costly as it provides extra features as compared to web hosting.	It is a more flexible and more cost-effective handy-add-on.
It does not provide any handy-add-on services to help the website run smoothly.	It provides handy add-on services to help website to run smoothly.	It does not provide any handy-add on services to help the website run smoothly.
It provides several advantages like improved site performance, high reliability, and uptime, etc.	It provides several advantages like ease of setup, beginner friendliness, predictable server usage, WordPress-specific server usage, etc.	It provides dedicated resources such as processing power, memory, storage space, etc., from pool of servers as well as maximizes uptime and increases performance.
It is less secure as compared to WordPress hosting.	It is more secure as compared to web hosting because of increased protection against some threats.	It is safe, more economical.
It gives control over all aspects of the website which can be essential for experienced users.	It does not give control over all aspects of the website therefore it can be essential for new beginners.	It gives control over all aspects of website which can be essential for experienced users.

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Difference between Web Hosting and Web Publishing

Web Hosting: Web Hosting, as the name suggests, is a type of internet hosting that allows one to make their website available to users through WWW using the internet. It simply provides space to the website on a web server so that files or data of the website can be stored. It is the best way to increase the growth of business and user experience.  

Web Publishing: Web Publishing, as the name suggests, is the process of creating a website and placing it on the webserver, and published content may include text, images, videos, and other types of media. Its main aim is to facilitate communication simply by adding context through style, emotion, and space. It is also known as online publishing.  

Web Hosting vs Web Publishing

Web Hosting	Web Publishing
It is a process of using server to host website.	It is a process of publishing or uploading original content on Internet.
Its process includes proving space in server to store web pages, make it available for viewing online, etc.	Its process includes uploading files, updating web pages, posting blogs, posting content to web pages, etc.
It allows for advanced level of customization.	It allows customization from beginner to advanced levels depending on platform.
It provides space in internet for website.	It makes website available to view on your domain.
It does not come with premade website.	It provides ready-made themes to develop website.
It allows for one-click installs and endless customization of self-hosted WordPress, Scalar, and Omeka.	It is limited to WordPress and NYU-approved theme and plugins.
Its main aim is to provide storage space for website or application on server on internet so that it can be accessed by other computers connected to internet.	Its main aim is to communicate ideas and concepts between people.
Its component includes Web Browser, FTP Client, Database Server, FTP Server, etc.	Its component includes domain name planning and registration, web hosting, web design and development, etc.
It allows one to store website online, provide technical support, data management, more security, etc.	It allows one to include colorful designs, photographs, and text in webpage for less cost.

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Web Host - Features / Services

Web Hosts provide different plans and services. While searching for the right web host, select the plan and service that you need the most.

List of few services provided by Web Hosts.

1. Domain Registration

2. Sub Domains

3. Databases

4. Third party software's

5. FTP Access

6. Hot Link Protection

7. Bandwidth

Domain Registration

Almost all web hosting providers provide domain registration. Few hosting providers domain registration free with the hosting account.

Sub Domains

Sub domains is used to create second-level domain names under your primary domain name. The sub domain will point to a folder inside your public _html directory. Eg: if you are using a forum for your website, you can create a sub domain http://www.forum.xyz.com.

Databases

Databases are used to implement forum, customer orders etc. If you need to implement most of these items you need more number of database support for your domain. The most common database available for web servers is MySQL. MySQL is a free database. The other databases include MSSQL, PostgreSQL and GNU SQL. In windows server Ms Access is also used.

Third party software's

Most of the web hosts provide Free Third party software's like phpbb, fantastico, etc. The website owners can use these software's for there website.

FTP access

There is mainly 2 types of FTP access to the web server. Commonly FTP access is used by web masters to upload files to there website. It will ask for the username and password to connect to your server. After the connection is set, you can add your files to the server.

Anonymous FTP is an other type of FTP access. This is mainly used to post files to the public access directories. Password is not needed for Anonymous FTP.

Hot Link Protection

Hot Link Protection is used to protect your files and images. This will protect your files and images from others to link directly to your web server. Hot Link Protection will prevent others from using your bandwidth.

Bandwidth

Each access of your website will send the data from your web server. This is measured in terms of bandwidth. If you have a large number of visitors, you will need high bandwidth. The website will get automatically suspended if the website cross the bandwidth limit. To prevent this check your bandwidth usage regularly. If need go for a better plan.

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Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 with their difference

Web 1.0:

Web 1.0 refers to the first stage of the World Wide Web evolution. Earlier, there were only few content creators in Web 1.0 with the huge majority of users who are consumers of content. Personal web pages were common, consisting mainly of static pages hosted on ISP-run web servers, or on free web hosting services.

In Web 1.0 advertisements on websites while surfing the internet is banned. Also, in Web 1.0, Ofoto is an online digital photography website, on which user could store, share, view and print digital pictures. Web 1.0 is a content delivery network (CDN) which enables to showcase the piece of information on the websites. It can be used as personal websites. It costs to user as per pages viewed. It has directories which enable user to retrieve a particular piece of information.

Four design essentials of a Web 1.0 site include:

1. Static pages.

2. Content is served from the server’s file-system.

3. Pages built using Server Side Includes or Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

4. Frames and Tables used to position and align the elements on a page.

Web 2.0:

Web 2.0 refers to world wide website which highlight user-generated content, usability and interoperability for end users. Web 2.0 is also called participative social web. It does not refer to a modification to any technical specification, but to modify in the way Web pages are designed and used. The transition is beneficial but it does not seem that when the changes are occurred. An interaction and collaboration with each other is allowed by Web 2.0 in a social media dialogue as creator of user-generated content in a virtual community. Web 1.0 is enhanced version of Web 2.0.

The web browser technologies are used in Web 2.0 development and it includes AJAX and JavaScript frameworks. Recently, AJAX and JavaScript frameworks have become a very popular means of creating web 2.0 sites.

Five major features of Web 2.0 –

1. Free sorting of information, permits users to retrieve and classify the information collectively.

2. Dynamic content that is responsive to user input.

3. Information flows between site owner and site users by means of evaluation & online commenting.

4. Developed APIs to allow self-usage, such as by a software application.

5. Web access leads to concern different, from the traditional Internet user base to a wider variety of users.

Usage of Web 2.0 –

The social Web contains a number of online tools and platforms where people share their perspectives, opinions, thoughts and experiences. Web 2.0 applications tend to interact much more with the end user. As such, the end user is not only a user of the application but also a participant by these 8 tools mentioned below:

1. Podcasting

2. Blogging

3. Tagging

4. Curating with RSS

5. Social bookmarking

6. Social networking

7. Social media

8. Web content voting

Web 3.0

It refers the evolution of web utilization and interaction which includes altering the Web into a database. In enables the upgradation of back-end of the web, after a long time of focus on the front-end (Web 2.0 has mainly been about AJAX, tagging, and another front-end user-experience innovation). Web 3.0 is a term which is used to describe many evolutions of web usage and interaction among several paths. In this, data isn’t owned but instead shared, where services show different views for the same web / the same data.

The Semantic Web (3.0) promises to establish “the world’s information” in more reasonable way than Google can ever attain with their existing engine schema. This is particularly true from the perspective of machine conception as opposed to human understanding. The Semantic Web necessitates the use of a declarative ontological language like OWL to produce domain-specific ontologies that machines can use to reason about information and make new conclusions, not simply match keywords.

Below are 5 main features that can help us define Web 3.0:

1. Semantic Web

The succeeding evolution of the Web involves the Semantic Web. The semantic web improves web technologies in demand to create, share and connect content through search and analysis based on the capability to comprehend the meaning of words, rather than on keywords or numbers.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Combining this capability with natural language processing, in Web 3.0, computers can distinguish information like humans in order to provide faster and more relevant results. They become more intelligent to fulfil the requirements of users.

3. 3D Graphics

The three-dimensional design is being used widely in websites and services in Web 3.0. Museum guides, computer games, ecommerce, geospatial contexts, etc. are all examples that use 3D graphics.

4. Connectivity

With Web 3.0, information is more connected thanks to semantic metadata. As a result, the user experience evolves to another level of connectivity that leverages all the available information.

5. Ubiquity

Content is accessible by multiple applications, every device is connected to the web, the services can be used everywhere.

Difference between Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

Web 1.0	Web 2.0	Web 3.0
Mostly Read-Only	Wildly Read-Write	Portable and Personal
Company Focus	Community Focus	Individual Focus
Home Pages	Blogs / Wikis	Live-streams / Waves
Owning Content	Sharing Content	Consolidating Content
Web Forms	Sharing Content	Smart Applications
Directories	Tagging	User Behaviour
Page Views	Cost Per Click	User Engagement
Banner Advertising	Interactive Advertising	Behavioural Advertising
Britannica Online	Wikipedia	The Semantic Web
HTML/Portals	XML / RSS	RDF / RDFS / OWL

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Difference between DNS and DHCP

Domain Name System (DNS):

In DNS, with the help of DNS server, domain names are translated into IP addresses and IP addresses are translated into domain names. The architecture of DNS is given below:

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP):

Like DNS server, it does not map domain names into IP addresses or IP addresses into domain names, DHCP server is used to configures the hosts mechanically.

Let’s see the difference between DNS and DHCP:

DNS	DHCP
DNS stands for Domain Name System.	While DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
It works in 53 port number.	While it works in 67 and 68 port number.
The protocol supported by DNS are: UDP and TCP.	While in this only UDP protocol is used.
DNS is decentralized system.	While DHCP is centralized system.
In DNS, with the help of DNS server, domain names are translated into IP addresses and IP addresses are translated into domain names.	While in DHCP, DHCP server is used to configures the hosts mechanically.
With the help of DNS, we don’t need to remember the IP address.	It is reliable IP configuration.

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