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While hosting a website, the owner has to decide whether he wants to host his website on the Windows platform or the Linux platform. While Windows web hosting seems to be a natural choice, Linux is catching on fast all over the world.

Some of the advantages of Linux web hosting are: cheaper than Windows, support for PHP scripts and MySQL databases and some hosts may offer telnet accounts at no or little additional cost. In many circles Linux is believed to be more secure than Windows, and for that reason it is also the more popular choice for web designers and programmers. Linux web hosting also offers users many configuration and customization options.

Another great thing about Linux web hosting platforms is the other fact that it’s completely free with an extremely small cost of distribution. Along with that come completely free applications to help the server you are on run more efficiently and with more stability. Some of these you are no doubt familiar with and probably use very often: FTP, HTTP Server, DNS Server, File Server and more.

On the other side of the coin is Windows based hosting, which is generally more expensive, but it does support ASP and, usually for an extra fee, can support Cold Fusion, Access databases and SQL Server databases.

Database types available for Linux, depends mostly on the web hosting provider you select to host your website. There are many flavors of databases that run on Linux, but the most prevalent among web host providers are mSQL, MySQL., and PostgreSQL. These databases are all relational in nature, and allow highly optimized communication with your website for quick retrieval of information.