3 Reasons Linux is One of the Top OSes for Web Hosting
While not nearly as widespread in the personal PC market, Linux has for years held a clear advantage in the area of server hosting. Linux owes its popularity to a number of factors, including industry preference, affordability, availability of developer talent, and ease of use with a wide variety of supporting software.
The Linux operating system provides an open-source solution – the basics of which can be learned quickly – that can be installed, customized, and maintained without much of an investment of time. These facts may help explain why the platform has flourished with both small and large-budget businesses and IT teams since its inception in 1991.
1. Installation and Popularity
The low cost of Linux and the broad support of the software development framework make it one of the most popular operating systems for web hosting servers. The use of Linux come
with no software licensing or support fees for small companies, contrary to other enterprise-level hosting alternatives.
Linux is also capable of supporting a larger number of web servers without much of a compromise in complexity, given the wide range of server-based applications that have been designed to work well alongside it. The decision to run Linux in web hosting servers, notably as a virtual private server, is simply a result of the support that the Linux software can provide.
The installation of a web hosting server generally requires a large number of financial resources, as it includes the purchase of computer hardware and the software to run the web hosting server. It could take at least one year to upgrade from Linux to Windows, depending on the complexity of the web hosting server.
Since it comes with no software licensing fees, it takes very little relative investment to start hosting a Linux hosting server. This is one of the reasons why Linux has steadily gained popularity as one of the top server hosting choices for businesses.
2. Support
Linux is supported by the Linux Foundation. It is made up of dozens of Linux technologies from the operating system all the way up to the database. Linux is also supported by large enterprise providers such as Red Hat.
Many developers have helped to improve Linux for its use in web hosting servers. Once installed, Linux is a fast operating system that boasts a strong community that can be relied upon to lend their experience for unique installation, maintenance, and business-related services when they arise.
3. Flexibility
IT departments have traditionally looked to Linux servers for many of their workloads, seeing as having both Windows and Linux operating in the same datacenter runs counter to most open-source- centric policies, and goes against a big part of the need to move away from proprietary enterprise-class software, and towards open source alternatives. In most cases though, Linux will be kept on the mainframe if Windows applications are not a necessity.
All things considered, taking into account hardware constraints, and the difficulty of finding appropriate developer talent for Windows-specific applications and databases, and the fact that Windows comes with its own ecosystem of tools, including Visual Studio, ASP Core, and DotNet requirements, Linux’s flexibility is an attribute that leads to its tremendous flexibility in a technological world where needs change quickly.
Ultimately, end-users can choose between a handful of operating systems, including, but not limited to Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix, or other alternatives. It’s up to the development team to consider which of these operating systems has the best selection of popular tools that are needed to build and serve robust applications quickly, modularly, and affordably.
Both Windows and Linux come with their growing pains. Businesses have their own competing devices and competing software packages. In the end, however, there is a reason why Google maintains tens of thousands of Linux-based servers to host their world-class tech services, and why other Fortune 500 and Nasdaq companies utilize Linux ecosystems to power their productions.
