Which Server to use ?

[JayCub]

Hi Guys a friend of mine is considering using a server for use at a head office for upto three centers..What is the opinion of people on using Windows Server or a Linux Server and as it's a small type of company what edition is best to use, as it's Salons and light work outs for clients it will be mostly client based database used to combine all information from the various studios..

I have never set up a server and only used the trial version of Microsoft Enterprise to see the O/S in action...

Thanks in advance for your help

[hellnoire]

Linux is normally used for servers, Microsoft's easier to set up but I could also set up a XAMPP server on Linux pretty easy following the official directions.

So it depends on your budget as well. But I'd lean towards a Linux server so you can use XAMMP for your Apache/MySQL and it wouldn't take you too long to set up. Just use something like Debian Stable or Crunchbang.

Just my two cents.

[JayCub]

Thanks Paul for getting back to me i will point him in the direction of Linux, I did mention it to him before and the budget isn't that high, as he is used to installing networks a Linux server will suit him down to the ground


As always Paul i appreciate your replies

[hellnoire]

If he follows all the directions on the official XAMPP site, for Linux, it gives you the complete setup and it works great for a web database. Yes, you'll need to secure it, but that shouldn't take him too long.

[sandeep]

I actually went the full route and tried doing a manual server with CentOS or Fedora and installed Apache, PHP, MySQL + phpMyAdmin with all the extra server trimmings.

I tried these out on a virtual machine before going live.

Here's a few easy to understand howto's

For a CentOS Server (Recommended OS for a Linux Server)
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-centos-5.5-x86_64-ispconfig-3

For Fedora Server
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-fedora-13-x86_64-ispconfig-3

For Ubuntu Server
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx-ispconfig-3

Hope those help a bit.

[JayCub]

Thanks for the update sandeep, i will read them and give him the extra options, or maybe i will make it a project of my own..

[Ande]

You might want to do both.
A MS server to handle Active directory requests
Linux servers for data and remote processing.

I've always found that a mix is best, not depending on a single technology. Of course that got by the wayside if you don't run windows desktop; but that would be very unusual in today's business world.

[JayCub]

Thanks for your input Ande, as a windows user i would be tempted by MS as the learning curve is easier, on the other hand i like the idea of Linux, so maybe the road to go down is Linux first, followed by MS, food for thought, thank you all for your suggestions..

[sandeep]

What I like about Linux is that it uses next to nothing RAM especially if you're running a small server you'll expect to hardly use all of it, I have 4GB in my little home one and it uses only 1GB max since there's no display manager or anything, it's all command line based. Once I've installed all the control panels and everything, which is a upside for linux as there are a lot of free server control panels out there. The links that I gave you especially the CentOS one help you to configure a server panel with the installation.

Windows on the other hand uses more RAM and the only upside I can see from it is that you can use RDP to remotely manage your whole server without a terminal or something.

But it's your choice, as said in the above post you can do a mix of both.

[JayCub]

Appreciate the update sandeep and keeping me in the loop, hope the moderators, make a sticky thread for your shutdown timer and i looking forward to your next release..