Which Web Server?

Written by Richard Lowe


If you've been lurking inrepparttar various forums and newsgroups devoted to webmastering, you could hardly fail to noticerepparttar 131875 heated debate going on at this time. No, it's not which isrepparttar 131876 best browser. This debate is about web servers. More precisely, which one is better: Apache or Internet Information Server (IIS).

To tell yourepparttar 131877 truth, I've used them both (and a few others as well) andrepparttar 131878 simple plain truth ofrepparttar 131879 matter is these two web server platforms are really functionally equivalent.

Ease Of Use

IIS is much easier forrepparttar 131880 novice as operators can maintain it from easy-to-use screens and forms. Windows 2000, onrepparttar 131881 other hand, costs a lot more than other operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD and Unix.

Straight Apache requires a huge learning curve to learn how to operate and administer. Everything is configured in extremely obscure text files, and these configurations are done by hand (although you can purchase add-on utilities to enable entry of much of this information from screens and forms.)

Security

The security model of IIS is one ofrepparttar 131882 best ever designed, based as it is upon NTFS (the security model of Windows NT and Windows 2000). This model is far superior torepparttar 131883 anything provided with Apache for non-Windows systems. Of course, on Windows, Apache can use NTFS as well.

Of course, IIS has been plagued with a number of vulnerabilities lately, and these are a concern. It's common to patch IIS at least monthly, and to install a new service release (a collection of patches) twice a year. Most ofrepparttar 131884 bugs were worked out of Apache (prior to version 2) long ago. Of course, withrepparttar 131885 release of version two of Apache you can expect a number of security and other flaws to surface - these are a normal part of a product's life cycle.

Customization

IIS does NOT haverepparttar 131886 equivalent of HTACCESS. The HTACCESS file in Apache is used to individually configure virtual sites (web sites) without restartingrepparttar 131887 web server. However, on IIS you have a very flexible method of configuration with ISAPI filters and other similar methods. Both methods (HTACCESS and ISAPI filters) are very obscure and for advanced webmasters.

Efficiency

According to several reports that I've come across lately IIS is more efficient than Apache. My own testing has led me to concluderepparttar 131888 performance ofrepparttar 131889 two is roughlyrepparttar 131890 same for static pages. PHP (the server side scripting platform common on Apache) tends to be more efficient than ASP (the server side scripting system for IIS) according to many sources, although I have tested neither for speed.

Hardware Requirements

I have run both web server platforms on large and small boxes of many different configurations, and I've found they require muchrepparttar 131891 same hardware. This is not surprising, sincerepparttar 131892 two platforms basically dorepparttar 131893 same thing.

When you configure Windows and IIS, it's a good idea to strip repparttar 131894 operating system of unneeded functions. This reducesrepparttar 131895 size box you need (as well as increasing security).

I've run both platforms on 64mb of memory with a single 5600 RPM IDE drive and 200mhtrz processors with reasonable response time (all things considered). I've also run them on dual 2gigahertz systems with 15k RPM SCSI raid 10 drives with incredible performance. The two platforms are equivalent in hardware needs.

Large Server Farms

Microsoft has worked hard on load balancing, so there are more options available for IIS and Windows 2000 for this than other operating systems. In fact, Windows 2000 clustering (the ability to run several servers usingrepparttar 131896 same disks) is very advanced and makes disaster recovery a breeze.

Disaster Recovery

IIS backup solutions (those which are provided with Windows 2000) are surprisingly weak. There is no way to back uprepparttar 131897 metabase (all ofrepparttar 131898 IIS configuration parameters) from one machine and restore it to another (which makes disaster recovery difficult). Onrepparttar 131899 other hand, with Apache it's just a matter of saving all ofrepparttar 131900 configuration text files.

5 Little Known Tricks To Boost Your Online Experience

Written by Shahnaz Rauf


Every trade has it's secrets... those little known tricks that are often easy to implement but known only torepparttar `initiated few`. Does this ring some familiar bells...repparttar 131872 master chef mixing in his secret ingredients. Okay so for those website owners, webmasters and people inrepparttar 131873 e-business arena, here are 5 `jealously guarded` secrets ofrepparttar 131874 e-wiseman: 1. Most of you may be aware that when writing headlines if you start it with a number say: 7 little known tricks... You can get your entry positioned atrepparttar 131875 top in directories that use alphabetical listings.

A lot of people know about this and have started using it, now how do you get aboverepparttar 131876 numbers?. Try enclosing your heading within quotation marks : "7 little known tricks...". Yes this works.

2. Often when you are surfing using those hit exchanges, a borderless window pops up - this has no border, menu bars or buttons at all. Sometimes it may even cover your entire screen including task bars leaving you no way to get out of it. It is simple : press `Alt plus F4` on your keyboard and you will be free.

3. How do you protect your email address from those spammers who unleashrepparttar 131877 power of `spam spiders` – robots that spider your website and capture your email address... One way is to give a `big gap' in your email. Say if your email address is xyz@abcd.com, your html code will look like this: mailto:xyz@ab cd.com It will be split on two lines but it will work perfectly, hence a big gap appears inrepparttar 131878 online version. 4. There are millions of websites out there, but one thing is consistently missing...your `e-business card`. Do you think you would have survived for any respectable length of time offline without your business card?... or can you make an appreciable impact online without it?

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