Selecting The Operating Platform
Dedicated Servers > Guide > Server OS



Server OS ... Before Anything Else:

Dedicated servers are divided among the various operating systems that they run on. These include Linux, Windows NT, FreeBSD, Solaris etc with Linux leading the market share so far.

Since the target audience of this guide is hosting resellers planning to upgrade to a dedicated server, it's pretty obvious that they would have already built a customer base centered on one of these platforms. And the choice of OS for the dedicated server is automatically narrowed down to the one backing their current reseller plan.

For those of you venturing in web hosting business right from a dedicated server, this choice of server OS will depend on what exactly do you want to offer to your hosting clients. If you are planning to market Access or SQL server database accounts, your best bet is a Windows based server. On the other hand, if you are determined to offer PHP/MySql combination to your clients, Linux wins one more customer. By making a list of web based softwares and features that you would like to present, you could actually discern which OS allows most of those and go for it.

Popular features of Windows based servers:
ASP, .Net, Ms Sql etc

Popular features of Linux based servers:
PHP, MySql, Cpanel etc

Other Sections In This Guide:
Server OS ... Before Anything Else, Hardware Issues, Managed VS Unmanaged Server, Considering A Virtual Private Server, Data Center & Server Connectivity Issues, Web Server Administration, DNS & BIND Overview, Remote Administration