I started with a Linux web server, because I wanted to improve my
unix skills. Now my company runs on it. But I wanted to learn how to
program in VB.net & ASP.net, so I went out and bought a Windows 2000
web server, which
is now also in production.  I would like to use PHP on both the unix
and the
Windows servers, to allow transparent use of PHP scripts we develop.
I'd also
like it if I could transparently run the VBscript/ASP on both the unix
and
the windows boxes, so these kinds of scripts can be used on either
platform.What I want to know is:

1) Can this be done fairly well (not too many bugs running on the
'other' platform.

2) What would be the best software (most stable) and least expensive,
that I could install on each server (on the unix to support the VB,
and
on the NT to support the PHP)?

Or should I just standardize on either Windows servers or Linux! All 
techno-geekery-predudice aside, is one MARKEDLY better than the other?

I Know Opensource is nice (for linux), but I love Windows 2k, as I'm
an MCSE, and love this VB.NET.

Can I have it all? And how?

That's what I want to know.

---

Request for Question Clarification by studboy-ga on 30 Jan 2003 15:20 PST

Hi

To run PHP on Windows, I would go with the 
binaries on http://www.php.net/downloads.php or
the so-called "ActivePHP" (they changed the name now) from Zend
http://www.zend.com/store/products/zend-engine.php
They are both free of course.

To run VB.NET and ASP.NET on Linux, take a look at
the Rotor
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2002/07/01/rotorlinux.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/rotor/linuxsscli19062002.tar.gz

or Mono

http://www.go-mono.com/
http://www.go-mono.com/asp-net.html

projects.  They are free ports of .NET CLI to Linux.

Is this what you are looking for?  If so let me know
and I can type up a formal answer.  Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by studboy-ga on 30 Jan 2003 15:23 PST

And I think keeping Windows is the right move--going all Linux
is too much of a risk in my opinion--Microsoft products,
though not perfect in all aspects, do have their places and virtues...
let along the fact that this 500 lb Gorilla has a piggy bank larger
than anyone out there.

---

Request for Question Clarification by legolas-ga on 30 Jan 2003 15:57 PST

I don't really want to give an "answer" to this question, as my answer
would be, "ditch the Windows Server", and I don't think you'd be happy
with that terse of a response :) But... I'm sorry, but studboy-ga's
commment just rubbed me the wrong way. Microsoft technology is NOT
better than Linux--and it certainly isn't better because Microsoft has
"a lot of money". If that were true, Windows wouldn't crash on a daily
basis, and I wouldn't make any money fixing people's software problems
on Windows OS's. The simple fact is that Apache on UNIX drives the
VAST MAJORITY of the Internet. There is a pretty obvious reason why
the large marjority of web sites and ISPs the world over use some form
of UNIX--and it's not because they have more money or better
marketing.

Oh, and Apache on UNIX has more market share than Netscape, Microsoft,
and *all other* http servers COMBINED!

For more information on the statistics, take a look at:
http://www.netcraft.com/survey/

Hi terragold-ga, 

Thank you for your question. Here are the results of my research :


PHP on Windows (2000) :
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Here are some links that talk about the viability of using PHP on
Windows. The general consensus is that it is OK for development, but
for production, you will want to go with Linux:

+----

PHP and Zend : May 22, 2001 
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,8586,00.asp

"The Windows version of PHP, unfortunately, cannot be taken seriously
for production environments. We were unable to get the ISAPI version
working and had to test with the CGI version. We scanned the comments
on the official PHP support forums and found that the ISAPI code
frequently fails and that, even when it works, PHP extensions tend to
fail because they aren't thread-safe. PHP on Windows should be used
only for development. Developers seeking to use the Windows version
should check out http://php4win.de/."

+----

PHP for Windows Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Web_Languages/PHP/PHP_Windows/Q_20430522.html

"Can someone give me more information on how advisable/viable it is to
have a PHP-MySQL solution running using Apache on Windows 2000 server?
I would appreciate it if you could point me to articles on
performance, potential problems, etc."

"If you are planning on hosting, I would recommend Linux over Windows
because of cost, speed, and stability. If you are "stuck" with the
Windows platform, I would still recommend using Apache over IIS,
unless you need ASP support."

+----------------------------------------------------------+

Here are the resources you will need to install PHP on Windows 2000 :

+----

Installing PHP on Windows 2000
http://members.cox.net/vermis/installing_php_w2k/installing_php_w2k.html

+----

PHP Downloads
http://www.php.net/downloads.php

"All Windows binaries can be used on Windows 95/98/Me and on Windows
NT/2000/XP."

+----

FAQTs - Knowledge Base - faqts : Computers : Programming : Languages :
PHP : Installation and Setup : Operating Systems : Windows
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/37

+----

Since the recommended Web server for PHP, even on Windows, is Apache,
you might like to install Apache beforehand :

Installing Apache on Windows 2000
http://members.cox.net/vermis/installing_apache_w2k/installing_apache_w2k.html

+----

The usual package is PHP, MySQL and Apache. Here is a good tutorial
for installing and configuring this combination :

Real-World Windows 2000 Configuration Getting Apache, PHP, MySQL, and
phpMyAdmin to Work Together, Part 2
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/1441631

+----

Personal note : as a Web developer, I run PHP with Personal Web Server
on my Windows 98 development server and have not had any problems.

+----------------------------------------------------------+

As for the topic of cross-platform bugs, it is a non-issue for PHP,
because it was designed to be cross-platform :

Zend.com : What is PHP?
http://www.zend.com/zend/aboutphp.php

"PHP offers excellent connectivity to most of the common databases
(including Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, ODBC and many others), and offers
integration with various external libraries, which allow the developer
to do anything from generating PDF documents to parsing XML. Another
key advantage of PHP, when compared to other scripting languages such
as ASP or ColdFusion, is that it is open-source and cross-platform,
suitable for today's heterogeneous network environments.

PHP is the natural choice for developers on Linux machines running
Apache server software, but runs equally well on any other UNIX or
Windows platform, with Netscape or Microsoft Web server software. PHP
also supports HTTP sessions, Java connectivity, regular expressions,
LDAP, SNMP, IMAP, COM (under windows) protocols. It also supports WDDX
complex data exchange between virtually all Web programming
languages."

+----------------------------------------------------------+

Google Search Terms :

reliability "php on windows"
"php for windows" OR "php on windows" reliable OR reliability OR
stable OR stability
installing php windows 2000
installing apache windows 2000
php cross platform bugs

+----------------------------------------------------------+




.NET on Linux :
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+

O'Reilly Network Rotor Comes to Linux [Jul. 01, 2002]
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2002/07/01/rotorlinux.html

This article talks about installing the FreeBSD version of Rotor on
Linux, and what is required to get it working. Microsoft provides only
the Windows XP, FreeBSD and Mac OS versions at their site :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/002/097/msdncompositedoc.xml
.

Apparently there is also a Linux version here :
The source code for Rotor on Linux is at
http://www.oreillynet.com/rotor/linuxsscli19062002.tar.gz.

+----

DotGNU Project
http://www.dotgnu.org/

"We're building something that could be called an "operating system
for the internet" - a collection of tools that allow software
components to interact with each other over the internet. The most
impressive parts are currently DotGNU Portable.NET which builds a C#
compiler, class library, and related development tools, and
phpGroupWare, a multi-user web-based GroupWare suite, which also
serves to provide a good collection of webservice components, all of
which can be accessed through XML-RPC so that you can easily integrate
them into webservice applications of your own."

+----

Southern Storm Software, Pty Ltd : DotGNU Portable.NET
http://www.southern-storm.com.au/portable_net.html

"The goal of this project is to build a suite of free software tools
to build and execute .NET applications, including a C# compiler,
assembler, disassembler, and runtime engine. The initial target
platform is GNU/Linux, with other platforms to follow in the future."

+----

.NET on Linux
http://www.devhood.com/messages/message_view-2.aspx?thread_id=49154

Thread :
"I read somewhere that .NET applications can be run on Linux. Is this
true? And if so how does it work?"

+----

Mono project
http://www.go-mono.com/

Mono FAQ
http://www.go-mono.com/faq.html#basics

"The Mono Project is an open development initiative sponsored by
Ximian that is working to develop an open source, Unix version of the
Microsoft .NET development platform. Its objective is to enable Unix
developers to build and deploy cross-platform .NET Applications. The
project will implement various technologies developed by Microsoft
that have now been submitted to the ECMA for standardization."

It looks like, at this point, the components you are interested in,
the ASP.NET and VB Compiler, are not ready yet :

" Question 9: When will you ship it? 

Different parts of Mono will achieve usability at different stages,
once we are comfortable with the compiler, we will release "Mono
Core", which contains everything needed to develop applications with
the base class libraries, this will happen soon and in the meantime
you can download daily snapshots of our work. Also the full ASP.NET
support is close to completion. "

+-

VB Compiler - Mono
http://www.go-mono.com/mbas.html
 
"MBAS is a CIL compiler for the Visual Basic language, an extended
version of VisualBasic.NET. It's based on the MCS compiler and still
in heavy development, though many language features are already
supported."

+----

Overall, looking at all the links on this topic, there seems to be
quite a recent flurry of excitement over the whole idea of porting
.NET over to Linux. But everything seems to be in the "academic"
stage, and you can try experimenting with it, but I wouldn't use it
for anything more than development and testing.

+----------------------------------------------------------+

Google Search Terms :

".net on linux"

+----------------------------------------------------------+




Linux versus Windows server performance and reliability :
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+

As far as "the big showdown" between Windows 2000 and Linux servers,
here's an excellent detailed analysis :

Linux, OpenBSD, Windows NT / 2000 Server Comparison: Contents
http://geodsoft.com/opinion/server_comp/

"Conclusion : In my experience, NT servers never quite measured up to
UNIX servers, and my mirrored server experiment settled the matter.
Windows 2000 is way too little, too late to matter."

+----------------------------------------------------------+

Google Search Terms :

Linux Windows 2000 web server performance reliability

+----------------------------------------------------------+




Here's my conclusion :
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+

If you're developing only, use Windows 2000 for BOTH PHP (incl.
Apache, MySQL) and .NET.

If you're going live (production), use Linux for PHP and Windows 2000
for .NET.

Later, for production, when the Linux version(s) of .NET are more
established, migrate over. This means you can go fully with Linux
which is much more reliable.

Cross-platform compatibility for PHP is excellent.

Cross-platform compatibility for .NET at this point is unknown since
it is still experimental/academic.

+----------------------------------------------------------+



I hope this helps! If anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to
post a Request For Clarification. Thank you for using Google Answers!


Regards,

kyrie26-ga