In the world of web hosting, there are two major operating systems that make up the bulk of servers: UNIX-based OS’s and Microsoft’s Windows. UNIX has a larger presence than Windows, but still, a large number of servers utilize a Windows operating server, usually one of the versions of Windows Server. UNIX-based operating systems are more often used due to a relatively lower price (most releases/versions of UNIX-based operating systems are free to use), and the perception that Windows systems are slower and less stable than UNIX-based ones.

 

Windows is still widely used, however. A Windows system is often more familiar than UNIX-based ones, as it is the overwhelmingly popular choice for desktop PCs. Windows also is capable of supporting not only its own proprietary server, scripting, and database software, but also a wide variety of third party software.

 

Microsoft, by default, uses Internet Information Services (IIS) as its web server. It comes built-in with support for HTTP/HTTPS (web pages), FTP (file transfer), SMTP (email server), and NNTP (Newsgroups). IIS is integrated closely with Active Server Pages, or ASP, Microsoft’s scripting environment. ASP supports several programming languages, most importantly the .NET framework. .NET is a programming language created specifically by Microsoft for ease of use in programming. .NET includes a large library of predefined functions and processes to simplify and speed the coding process.

 

Windows servers typically use either MS Access or MS SQL databases for use in its sites; however, there are many other pieces of software that are Windows-compatible, such as MySQL. MS Access is most often used with smaller applications, or those used exclusively on the local machine, as it does not scaled well with large networks. MS SQL is Microsoft’s implementation of the SQL database language, and performs much of its own resource and computer management tasks. MS SQL easily supports a large number of users, databases, and transactions.

 

Also See:
What are the different PCI Compliant Merchant Levels?
How do I become PCI Compliant?
What is SSL?
What is Dedicated Server Hosting?
What is DNS?

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