Hi,

I'm at a bit of a struggle to find out which OS is the best for a major Hosting business.

Would you be able to help me decide, i need to know which has the best features, support (like mods and stuff) and anything else you can think of.

Chris

This topic has been beat to death.

There is no "best". It comes down to what you prefer, and what your target audience needs.

One way of segmenting the market is those who prefer a Windows environment, and those who prefer a Linux environment. If you want entry into both segments, then have both.

Of course there are stacks of ways to slice it up - like any business, figure out what your market is, what your differentiators are, and how you are going to get the market interested.

If your target audience is businesses then go for Windows, otherwise go for linux. It's always a good idea to start with one and expand into both fields. Good luck!

Almost 80%+ will be looking for a Linux hosting.

I would say Linux all the way although there is some demand for windows hosting. Most would be Linux IMO.

I think it always depends on what you will do with it. Why not offer both in your business?

Try Centos if you need a stable build. u will need to consider which panel u are using.

Hello,

It all depends on you how to start with , but all I suggest is to have a centos server with whm/cpanel as a control panel , its a good combination to have to start with a hosting business.

Centos 4.x or 5.x is a great selection. I also agree with the above on choosing WHM/Cpanel as a control panel.

There are alot of people who say Plesk, and those under budget say Directadmin. I can assure you WHM/CPanel is more powerful and affordable (with Plesk you pay for plugins such as spamassasin and firewalls...) whereas WHM lets you integrate them for free.

REgards

Linux is best because from hosting company sides, it is more easy to maintain, as long as you update it. But unfortunately, a lot of demands for windows and their ASP .Net

Both are equally easy to maintain, depending on what OS you have studied, etc.

Technicians trained in Windows only, will find Linux a little harder to maintain, just as it a Linux only guru would have a some trouble maintaining Windows.

Additionally, the demand for .NET frameworked application capabilities is not an "unfortunate" thing to say the least. .NET is not only a widely accepted framework for application development and deployment, but is very easy to develop, and understand.

You can actually grasp and begin programming in almost any .NET language, alot quicker than Perl or PHP.

The only downside of .NET is that it's not yet cross OS compatible...but there are tools and additions that are beginning to enable this. That part of it is moving forward a little slower than most .NET developers would like, but it's still moving forward.

would recommend linux but it's really what your trying to provide for your customers

A good reason for that is that Windows = a good chunk of change. Have you seen some of the hosting companies out there that are charging an arm and a leg for this? Reminds me of Cold fusion just freaks me out, so many want it but cant pay the price.

Identify your market in your business plan. It doesn't have to be a formal plan but you should have this in mind before you even worry about what services you'll be providing.

Once you have those services identified, figure out which platform is best.