I currently manage two virtual private servers or VPS’s of very similar stats, but one is Windows and the other is Linux. Both servers use around the same amount of bandwidth each month. Yet, the Windows server takes more work to keep it working. I spend at least 10 hours on Windows to one on Linux, most of the time on Linux is for optional upgrades and not necessary management.
The Windows server is far less stable and is constantly having
problems. IIS’s application pools have so many problems its not funny,
they really are not made for servers with a small amount of RAM. The
server uses up 90% of the memory at almost every second, its nuts.
Windows eats memory on the servers just like on the desktop.
On
the other side of the coin there is Linux. Apache with php and mysql
works great with a small amount of RAM on a server, it is optimal for
this situation. The server’s only major problem was when a database for
user tracking was not being cleaned out. This was my fault and not the
server. Once I found the problem was resolved it sped right back up and
runs like a charm.
It takes about twice as many resources to
run the same traffic on Windows than on Linux. This does not even take
into account the price of the software, only the hardware necessary to
support the server. There might be some settings I am missing on
Windows, but I have read just about every article I can find on the
subject. Thats another factor, you have to read much more for Windows.
I
can see why network admins like Windows, you have to always be around
because the servers crash. With Linux once the server is up and running
you can almost forget about it.
