Windows 2003 server vs the Linux options (ubuntu/suse/redhat)

[johaseo]

Is there a huge difference between installation everything on a windows server 2003 instead vs installing everything on a Linux server?

I haven't installed my first non windows server yet .... so I'd like to know more about how much power I loose if I go with the thing I know: windows 2003 server

also if I install SMF on a windows 2003 server ... how big of an issue is it to move everything onto a linux/ubuntu/suse distribution?

[Vekseid]

Unless you run an immense forum you're not going to notice much difference.

Apache + MySQL + php run on windows just fine (for the most part). A few mods might not work until php 5.3 but most things should be okay.

[青山 素子]

Unless you run an immense forum you're not going to notice much difference.

Agreed with that, although you'll also lose time by having all the hotfix installs and reboots. Windows is generally much higher maintenance, in my experience. I wouldn't recommend using it as a server unless you have some specific technology that requires it (ASP.NET or other MS-only thing).

Also that GUI takes up memory and CPU even if nobody is logged in. This means you have fewer resources to the core task of serving (I don't have X run by default on Linux for this reason), but you'd really only notice it if you are heavily using resources.

In the end, you should probably go with what is more comfortable to you if you need something up quickly. Once that is done, learn about the other solution so you can have more options the next time.

[johaseo]

Thanks guys .... sounds good to go then .... looking forward to have my first SMF up and running soon

[pgordemer]

As much as purists on both sides will argue that XXX is better. I have SMF large installations on both windows and linux servers on our in-hosue server farm (100,000+) messages on 2 of them.

If hardware is equal, in reality the enduser performance is almost identical.

If you know SMF well, then the platform doesn't really matter. A few minor path changes and manually changing securities on directories and thats all. We routinely move them between servers for project and the enduser isn't the wiser.

[Dannii]

Me and my housemate were just discussing...

If you don't have ssh out of the box, you're a broken OS. Looking at you windows.