Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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Pick an OS. Any OS In our Internet services department so far, we've made the bold decision to get on-line ourselves, providing a server and connection to a local ISP. (Later in the series we'll look at Web hosting services, but for now, we're a do-it-yourself bunch.) Our next step is to chose an operating system, an Internet services packages, and get going on our Web page designs. The choice of an operating system is tackled first, although the Internet service package does play into this choice a little bit. Let's start with a look at the choices: Windows, Unix, Linux, Novell, and Macintosh. Choosing Windows means going with the most popular operating system. There are a ton of Internet services packages available (Windows NT Server includes one as part of the package), and there's tools of every kind available. Going with Windows is the choice most people will take, simply because it's a well-understood system, requires little in the way of training to use, minimal maintenance, and it is compatible with our existing Windows 95 desktop systems. Unix and Linux have the same problems: they require a pretty hefty knowledge base going in. Sure, you can rig up a Web server with either operating system without knowing what's going on underneath, simply by following directions. However Unix security requires a good knowledge of the operating system (and we do need a secure system), and maintenance requirements are higher than Windows. Unix and Linux actually make a better choice for a Web server than Windows NT in pure performance terms, as the operating system is more efficient, but the knowledge base required rules it out for most VARs. Still, Linux is free, as are most of the Web tools, so we can't rule it out yet. Novell has a terrific package called InterNetWare which will do the job for us, too, and there is a fair bit of Novell experience around. However, most VARs don't understand NetWare and its spinoffs, so unless you're running a Novell house chances are Novell's operating system will be a stranger to you. Maintaining a complex operating system without knowing the underlying philosophy and architecture is silly. Finally, there's the Macintosh. It has been around for ages and is well known to be easy to work with. The problem is there are not the same variety of Internet services packages for the Mac as for other operating systems, and hardware costs are higher than for the alternatives, on the whole. There is no "best" operating system for our purposes. If you sell PCs with only Windows installed, stick to what you know best and go for Windows. If you handle Unix, Macs, or Novell, then those choices are all good, too. One system does not have an inherent advantage over another, but given a choice between all four the two favorites must be Unix (or Linux) and Windows. Unix and Linux have the pure power and strength, while Windows is easy to work with. Instead of debating which is best, we'll chose them all, one at a time. To start with, we work with Windows 95 and NT as our Web server operating system, and show how it can be set up. Then, later in this series, we'll come back to see how the other alternatives can be set up, too, and find out which was easiest and least trouble. To run a Web server with Windows NT, you really need the Server version of the operating system. It's more expensive than the Workstation package, but allows many more connections to the system. It also is better suited for use as a Web server, especially since it includes an Internet package already, the Internet Information Service (IIS). IIS used to be sold separately, but with version 4 of NT Server, Microsoft bundles it (obviously trying to push its use as a server platform). Are we going to stick with IIS as our Internet services package? It does the job, but there are better tools on the market. Since we have IIS included with our NT Server system we'll look at that in some detail later, but we'll start with a look at one of the best Web site development tools I know of, O'Reilly's WebSite Professional. If you use WebSite Professional, you can easily host your Web server on a Windows 95 machine, something that is attractive to VARs on a tight budget. If we use Windows NT, the Server version dictates some specifics about the hardware. You'll need a Pentium CPU. If your site is to get a fair amount of traffic, better make it a faster Pentium (at least 133MHz). For RAM, count on at least 32MB, with 64MB better. Disk space should be reasonable, but since most drives are over a gigabyte now anyway, we'll ignore that issue. You can use EIDE drives and CD-ROMs with NT Server, but SCSI is faster and provides better performance for the Web server. Still, if all you've got is EIDE, stay with it until you notice performance problems. (If we had chosen Unix or Linux, we could be using 80486 machines or even slower, as you'll see later in the series.) We'll start by looking at the simplest way to set up a Web server yourself, which is with WebSite Professional on a Windows 95 machine. Hardware is a fast 80486 or better, 32MB RAM as a realistic minimum, and at least 200MB free disk space. You'll also need to buy a copy of O'Reilly WebSite Professional, but it's cheaper than NT Server! Don't get the idea WebSite Professional is any less powerful than IIS. It isn't; it's just that it will run nicely on a Windows 95 server, so that's the way we'll start the next column, creating our Windows 95 Web server system with WebSite Professional. |
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