Frequently Asked Questions Listing - Linux web hosting

Linux web hosting
Q) What programming languages do your , accounts support ?
Q) Can Windows users see the website, if it is hosted on Linux?
Q) State the benefits of using Linux?
Q) State the disadvantages of Linux?
Q) Differentiate between CGI and CGI-BIN?

Q) What programming languages do your , accounts support ?

Ans) HTML, DHTML, XML, JavaScript, VBScript, Perl, PHP, Python, CGI based applications, and JSP (additional charge for JSP) . Please test all scripts locally before uploading them to our servers! Our servers are production servers, not development machines. Poorly written and untested scripts can potentially affect performance on the entire web server by consuming excessive processor and/or memory usage. Any scripts found to consume excessive resources will be disabled and the entire account may potentially be disabled or terminated without warning or refund. It is of utmost importance to provide reliable service to our customers. We cannot and will not allow scripts to degrade overall server performance

Q) Can Windows users see the website, if it is hosted on Linux?

Ans) Yes. Because the website will send out information using standard languages (HTML, XML) that a browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape can read it's no problem for someone using Windows to see a website running on a Linux server and vice versa.

Q) State the benefits of using Linux?

Ans) In terms of web hosting, Linux supporters will tell you that Linux offers a lower cost of development than Windows because it's plans are cheaper than Windows hosting plans. Why? Because most web hosts use Linux so they don't have to pay thousands of dollars to buy the operating system and associated tools to run the server or pay to upgrade their licenses every few years. Microsoft will tell you that the reverse is true however with the time and energy you spend supporting yourself offsetting any cost gains in the free OS. Linux is an open source operating system so if anyone wants to look at the code and change it is free to do so. This means when a problem is found such as a security flaw, anyone with the skills can fix it and send out the patch. With Microsoft, you have to wait for the company to fix it. You can't know or guess what they've done to fix that problem. What makes Linux such a popular choice, it's a large but answerable question. The ability to have total control over what you are doing and its reputation for stability and security are a large part of Linux which makes it at popular choice. Linux is also features a command-line interface which doesn't waste a lot of system resources. Thus, with 32 or 64 MB of RAM a Linux machine can still run multiple programs with perfect stability. The Linux/Linux community is very supportive. Think about your favorite sport and then imagine the team with the most rabid, loyal fans. Linux users are pretty similar except that if you show up at the game cheering for Microsoft 'flame' you instead of beating you up in the parking lot. On the flip side, if you are new to Linux you will generally be cheered on and encouraged as a new member of the family. Just make sure you read the instructions or try to find easily accessible information you need yourself before asking.

Q) State the disadvantages of Linux?

Ans) There is no clicking "Next, Next, OK, Finish" in Linux. Windows became popular by creating a graphical user interface that is easy to use. It is very much orientated towards ease of use. While a Linux fan will tell you this is a Linux advantage because the Microsoft way allows you to do a lot of things when you may not know the consequences of your actions, it can be intimidating staring at a blinking cursor on the command line not knowing what to do next. i.e. you will have to educate yourself a bit to use Linux. Linux is less popular and there is less software available. While Linux tools and applications are often free, there are less of them out there. Microsoft is a giant corporation with thousands of developers constantly working on creating new products or improving different aspects of the Redmond software empire while Linux enjoys less prolific software production.

Q) Differentiate between CGI and CGI-BIN?

Ans) CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. CGI is not a programming language, it defines the pathway of data between software and databases to the web page. CGI programs can be written using a variety of languages, such as Perl, C, PHP and others. CGI-Bin is the directory where executable files are located.