The vast majority of those who read this article use Linux on their computer, of these several we are the ones who use Linux on the servers that we manage, either the servers of our work / company or others that we have bought from an internet provider.
Although it is seen and proven that Linux triumphs in the server (and supercomputer) market, some still in my office or old friends ask me about Facebook: why do you buy servers with Linux and not with Windows, if Windows is easier to manage ? Those gentlemen, that is the question that concerns us 🙂
Servers, function or objective?
Servers are 'computers' that provide services, serve the user or client of certain services, in other words, the server's hardware resources (storage, processing and memory) have to be 100% focused, destined to meet the client's needs . Do you think it is logical or sensible to spend resources in a graphical environment with Windows Server? When a Windows Server is installed, the Windows graphical environment is installed Yes or Yes, which consumes resources, incorporates many drivers that it needs to use, graphics acceleration, consumes a not inconsiderable number of GBs from the HDD, etc.
All these resources that the graphical server environment with Windows is consuming will NOT be able to be used to serve the client a website, to make the database work faster or take less time, etc.
So, firstly, a server with Linux gives us the possibility of installing or not a graphical environment (which is not necessary at all, since in Linux everything can be done through commands), thus saving valuable hardware resources, while a server with Windows does not give us that option, it installs the graphical environment for greater 'convenience' to the administrator, consuming hardware resources that we can never recover. 
Security, protection
It is no secret that Linux is more secure than Windows, the reasons for why Linux is more secure than Windows and Pablo left them in an article a while ago. They are several and I do not plan to explain them all here but rather to mention a few:
- In Linux we have no need for cracks, keygens or other similar things that usually carry more viruses than a 16th century rodent.
- In Linux we have the so-called repositories, which contain almost all the software that we will need. While in Windows all the software is dispersed, so there is a greater chance that someone makes a mistake, is not reviewed by a large number of experts, and makes our system vulnerable.
- Windows is really slow when it comes to security updates, while in Linux we can have several security updates in the same week, correcting bugs, etc.
- The user system in Linux is without a doubt superior to that of Windows, the permissions, attributes, owners, in Windows leave much to be desired.
- In Windows you must have an antivirus, antimalware, antispyware, antiphishing, and I have several 'antis' not to mention, while in Linux a well configured firewall is enough.
In short, there are many reasons why Linux is superior to Windows in terms of security, I recommend reading the article mentioned above.
Price
Almost everything in the world today is moved with or for money, servers are no exception to the rule. When we want to buy a server with Windows, we see a price that is always more expensive than the one we see with Linux. Let's take an example of any provider, for example let's review the VPS plans of SeedVPS.com, if we see their plans to Windows and to Linux we come to the following conclusion:
- A VPS with Linux and 2Cores, 250GB of HDD and 1GB of RAM costs € 19 per month, that is, $ 296.4 per year.
- A VPS with Windows and 2Cores, 250GB of HDD and 1GB of RAM costs € 24 per month, that is, $ 374.4 per year.
- In other words, it is almost $ 80 more expensive to buy a VPS with Windows than to buy one with Linux.
As you can see, if we buy a Linux server it is significantly cheaper to buy one with the same hardware but with Windows.
Administration, configuration
As I mentioned at the beginning, there are not few who consider that managing a server with Windows is much, much easier than managing one with Linux. Here I can even agree with you, I do not intend to convince anyone that memorizing 15 long and complex command lines is something easier to do than opening a window and clicking 10 buttons, it is not my intention to deceive anyone.
The detail is that if we choose the simplest in the end we will pay for the error. I will give you a common example, which many network administrators have experienced. Backups, saves of configurations and logs: If we administer a Linux server and we need to make a backup of the configurations of 100 services, we only have to make a copy of the / etc / folder in another place and that's it, if we want to save the system logs, it would be enough to copy the content of / logs / elsewhere and ... voila, that simple. In Windows what would it be like? ...
If you manage a Windows server, how do you save the configuration of DNS, DHCP, Proxy, MailServer, etc? As the configuration of these is NOT saved in the same directory, as the configuration of many of these is not saved in plain text files, but is saved within an internal db of an .exe or something similar, make a backup of all the configuration of the server becomes something really tedious, heavy to carry out.
We would be forced to use a lot of external applications, for example, an application that dumps the proxy configuration (ISA Server) and copies it to another place, another application for DNS, and so on for each service. Yes, Windows can be simpler to manage for many but, at the important time, it becomes a system with too many, too many limitations.
Experience and knowledge above all
I will explain this very, very briefly, how many network administrators who use Windows know who also know how to manage Linux networks? … Few, very few, almost none in my case, while how many network administrators who use Linux know who also know how to manage Windows networks? … I would all say 🙂
Personally, it has been many years since I don't have to manage Windows servers (which I appreciate!), But if I had to manage a Windows Server again, it would not be complicated at all, I could adapt almost without blinking ... while, to some I know that I manage with Windows I give him one of my servers with Linux, and the first thing he will tell me is that I do not walk out the door, that I show him how Linux works because he has not the remotest idea of 'that' what you have the server installed.
And I wonder, is that a network administrator? … Someone completely incapable of managing a server using the most popular server operating system?
Personal opinion
I have been managing networks for several years, I started like many with Windows Server, which lasted less than 4 months on my servers. When I managed to install an FTP, HTTP, DNS, DHCP and also Proxy service on that P128 server with 3MB of RAM, and all that without consuming 128MB of RAM, on a server with only 100MB of RAM that was in my old company, It's day I said to myself: «God how I miserably wasted my time with Windows«.
I use GNU / Linux on my laptop with ArchLinux, on my smartphone with Firefox OS, on my servers with Debian, if I had a tablets I would also probably install Linux + KDE-Plasma for it or else use AndroidIn fact, if I had a hybrid between laptop and tablets such as Asus Transformer or someone else who reads in one of the sites that I frequently frequent (such as Manual PC o phronix) would also find some way to install some Linux distro to it. Anyway, the article ends here, I hope it has been, as always, of your interest.
If only he knew how to manage a VPS better ... a good LEMP tutorial is missing in CentOS or Debian 🙂
You can visit this tutorial, it is in English but very good 🙂
How To Install Linux, nginx, MySQL, PHP (LEMP) stack on Ubuntu 12.04
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-linux-nginx-mysql-php-lemp-stack-on-ubuntu-12-04
How To Install Linux, nginx, MySQL, PHP (LEMP) stack on CentOS 6
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-linux-nginx-mysql-php-lemp-stack-on-centos-6
It is one of the many tutorials of, for me, the best vps of all:
With only $ 5 / month ($ 0.007 / h) you have:
512MB Memory
1 Core
20GB Solid State Drive SSD (Super Fast)
1TB Monthly transfer
All servers come with 1GB / sec. network interface.
just great 😉
You can come in here, for more details.
Like GNUTransfer and then Alvotech, we haven't found any, I honestly say so.
If you want to avoid much of the administration, you can opt for a pre-installed solution, many companies offer VPS or Dedicated servers with LEMP already ready to use ...
Take a look at this offer:
http://www.netciel.com/es/stack-de-desarrollo-web/43-servidor-nginx-php-fastcgi.html
Very interesting and complete this post, I liked it a lot 🙂 Completely agree on everything.
A greeting !
Thanks for comment
brutal!!! I can only say that, very good article
Thanks to you, it has been a pleasure.
You are totally wrong, you can install windows server without a graphical environment only console mode, the console is more advanced than the common cmd, I have not tried it, it should not even reach the heels of linux but you cannot write something like that without knowing, I have a copy of Windows Server 2012 and the default mode does not include graphical environment.
Greetings.
And you also have to see that there are different types of servers, if we use them for web servers there is no doubt that any Unix is superior to Windows but when we talk about domain and exchange servers in Linux there are free alternatives but you get to mess around a bit.
Come on, there are many solutions that Microsoft has that are proprietary but they are business solutions. Unless you get a paid product from Novell or Red Hat, what large companies save in costs they end up spending on support due to the high knowledge required to manage something free that does not have "official" support.
PS: I am Linuxero but things as they are.
Without a doubt, Windows Active Directory is one of its best achievements, however I prefer to use alternatives like ClearOS or Zentyal, Linux distros almost 100% manageable from a web application. Samba4 has advanced a lot, but a lot in this aspect of achieving an AD, however it can also be installed through Kerberos + openLDAP + Samba as a lifetime, and Windows clients will not even notice if the server is a Windows Server with Active Directory or a Linux with 'something' more.
The Active Directory itself seems cumbersome on a graphical level. So far, I have not been able to make an active directory as it should in Windows Server 2003 (to see if with Server 2008 I can do it, but for now, I will be practicing how to make a shared folder through Samba).
GNU / Linux and BSD are good in themselves, both at the web server level and also at the database server level. The problem is what kind of database you are going to work with (PostgreSQL is a pretty good option in contrast to Microsoft's behemoth SQL Server), but even Oracle offers its database system support even for GNU / Linux (even if you hate the vestiges of Sun, Oracle always brings out what it has). In any case, the cost of investing in Novell and Red Hat OS's is usually very cheap compared to the services that Microsoft provides both in the short and long term, but at the end of the day, they are quite interesting alternatives.
Although when it comes to juggling, GNU / Linux lends itself to it, since many of the supercomputers out there these days use GNU / Linux and very few exceptions use HP-UX or legitimate UNIX (in fact, that yes it is a real headache to be able to manage it as you want).
I tell you Jesus, the best thing Windows has right now is called Active Directory, it is indisputable, but as always, we can have our own alternatives thanks to openLDAP and Samba (if we have Windows clients). In the end, Active Directory is nothing more than LDAP.
What can cost a little more work to set up a service like this? It can be, but I'm sure that once configured it will be much easier to maintain / update it. You know, the advantages of configuration files that can be "dropped", restart the service and walk.
We are going that I am Linuxero and I will always prefer to use the free alternative rather than the proprietary one, especially in SMEs where the economic value is fundamental, but there are also many things to see.
For example, once I recommended Nagios to use it in the presidency of the republic (Colombia) and I even made samples of them and they were delighted, but in the end they decided to buy a proprietary solution not for the sake of saving resources but for the support, many times they were it requires a company that is there supporting anything, that's why in the presidency they have Windows and Linux servers, but with Linux they have Red Hat solutions, more for the support of the company.
And with regard to economics, you always have to make an evaluation about it because even if Linux is free, sometimes you end up paying more for knowledge than for anything else, I have charged 50 dollars an hour for everything I do on a Linux server , be it configuration, support, etc. Sometimes it is cheaper to install a Windows, give two clicks and that's it, even if it is more unstable but at least it is something that many people can do, on the other hand, not everyone reaches for Linux. That is why I have made good money with Linux 🙂
The title of the post is «buy VPS (…)»And so far, I have not seen any VPS or Dedicated provider that offers Windows Server 2012, the one that offers the most Windows Server 2008, which brings the option to disable the graphical environment?
Very good article!! Linux is much better than Windows!
Excellent contribution! applause…
As they said, there are several errors and a biased view. Although, come on, it is to be expected, the editor writes in «DesdeLinux» ;-P.
A-Resources:
From Windows 2010, the "ServerCore" version that does not have a graphical interface can be installed. And I know that it is very complicated to use. VERY COMPLICATED. But it shows that very powerful.
B-Safety protection:
1-No need for cracks, etc: for services, in Windows either. They are part of the OS and are safely installed for that very reason. Nobody should install a cracked program on a server (or anywhere, you understand me ...). Cracks are usually used for user programs (office, photoshop, etc), not services.
2-Installation of decentralized software: as I explained in point 1, in the case of services this is not the case
3-Security updates: I do not know that Win is slow to receive them. What is horrible is the need to restart the computer when installing them
4-File permission system: in total disagreement. Currently Windows is much better and allows extensive control.
5-No need for anti-things: in theory it is not true, but in practice it can. What if it is not replaced is that in case it is a mail server, you will still need an antipishing.
C-Price
If you manage it yourself, obviously Linux is cheaper. If someone else manages it, no. An administrator with Linux knowledge will charge you more secure.
D-Backups
Whoever says that making backups in linux is easy sure never configured Bacula ... haha. Joke. The / etc directory is true. But I am sure that in Windows it is not as complicated as it appears. There are apps that do good jobs for little effort. And through Active Directory the configurations are replicated between servers effortlessly.
I love Linux, but things the way they are.
regards
In total agreement with you, I use linux for everything I love, but it does not mean that the other options are bad (Apart from Philosophical and economic factors), there are good things and there are bad things, I am bothered by closed posts and fans, when I don't even know have tested the product they criticize before a version 4+ years ago. I think you have to be objective and realistic on these issues.
I use 2 vps, one linux and another windows and both seem stable and usable to me, windows I use it for even a game server because the trinity core (private wow server) is always more updated and without patches for the windows version. I have also set up Mu Online server clients that require windows, and the truth is that I have never had any complaints.
PS: I have not advanced to active directory or anything like that, I am more a programmer than a server administrator.
I repeat what I said in another comment:
1. Cracks. Right, so everyone should (and it's not sarcasm) buy ISA Server with all the plugins that will be needed, as well as other services that Windows Server does NOT include in the core. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people do not think that way. Another example (not always to mention ISA Server) is either Kerios ... or a mail server with MDaemon, they are just examples of what I have seen, people hack a lot.
2. Kerios, MDaemon, security suites ... all this comes in a repository for Windows Server?
4. A matter of personal opinion or taste, whatever we want to call it ... I have never tried to encrypt a whole partition in NTFS, it would be necessary to see if it can be done and how it works.
5. On the anti-things, according to Microsoft Windows is the safest OS in the world, in practice many know the truth.
C-Price. Right, if someone else will manage your Linux server it may not be free, however, if someone is a "network administrator" why the hell does he need to pay someone else to do his job? Incapacity or mediocrity?
D-Backups. Bacula is just ONE application for it, a very, very complete one. However, I myself program my bash scripts that dump the DBs, copy configuration files, rotate the logs and save them, check the md5 of everything ... etc etc. I have never seen something so simple to do. While in Windows, a single application can save EVERYTHING important in the system? … I really doubt it.
Regarding the first:
Nor will I comment on this, because the "editor" as you call me, has neither time nor interest in discussing Windows Server with other people, no matter how erudite they are ... or believe crean
First: never criticize your abilities as a systems administrator, we all know how well you take care of desdelinux.
Second: unfortunately not everyone has your ability to write their own bash like you, and maybe not everyone has the desire to do it, you can call it "Incapacity" or "Mediocrity", whatever you want, but this world is full of them.
Third: Your answer about the vps that you have seen are only 2008, it is because you are never interested in looking for one with 2012 (I have not done it either), but if I have installed it, as you know the capitalist world in which we are gives preference to microsoft software in education before teaching how to configure Debian or CentOS.
Fourth: The only thing I criticize is the blind fanaticism that makes you publish and affirm certain characteristics of another system (no matter how contrary you are) that are not true, the rest of the post I did not read the truth. That completely wrong "Yes" or "Yes" discourages me, although I always like your posts for their technical style and your bash examples. But you should always carry the truth ahead and acknowledge when you are wrong.
Besides, the rest of us already know all the cons of Windows, if not I assure you that we would not be reading you, or @elav, or @usemoslinux or all the Writers who publish here.
Greetings and you seem very offended although it was not my intention, if I annoy excuse me, as you gave your opinion and mine.
Sorry if my previous comment seemed or was too ... abrupt, direct or even rude. The point is that the first thing you said, I considered it an offense or insult a little towards me, but more than anything towards the site.
Regarding the ability or not to write your own scripts in bash, right here I shared a fairly simple one ... without so many cycles or checks or anything: https://blog.desdelinux.net/script-para-backups-automaticos-de-tu-servidor/
Regarding publishing something without knowledge, in this article ... true, being honest I had no idea that Windows Server 2010/2012 allowed to install without a graphical environment, I honestly did not know. Which, now I have the doubt, does it allow to fully manage services such as Active Directory or ISA Server through that CMD? It is just a question that arose. On the other hand, thank you for what you say about my articles.
Your opinion didn't bother me, it really didn't ... I don't mind admitting that I was unaware of the CMD that brings the new versions of W. Server, what bothered me was the first thing you said, and I quoted in the other comment, I don't know ... felt like an attack on the site.
Well, the truth is that I never said what you mentioned, I only said the thing about blind vision but I never said "He's an editor of DesdeLinux».
Greetings and there is no problem this is my second website after google daily, I would never try to offend you, only that sometimes I think that Linux users are so closed by our tastes that we do not see what GNU / Linux lacks to really reach be the first, not on the server that we know we are doing very well, if not on the desktop, it seems to me that we must respect the competition and know how to differentiate their strengths, to know where to attack, as they do with us.
regards
@eVeR:
Powerful? In what sense? Can you run the applications I mentioned in other comments from that console? And if it is complicated, what is the point of using Windows?
You do not need crack for the applications that are already included, nor do you need it for the OS when it is bought legally. But how many do it? At least nobody in Cuba.
See, in Windows even to breathe you need to restart ..
WTF? I highly doubt that in Windows you have a file permission system that outperforms chmod. I doubt it, and please, if I'm wrong, prove it.
No third-party apps? Doesn't it seem strange, uncomfortable and unfair that Microsoft itself does not offer you applications to make a decent backup of its own services?
Hombe, I am more anti-windows than anyone, but something that must be recognized is that Windows has improved a lot, especially in terms of security. Even if we talk about desktops, the Windows 8 permission system does not compare with the Windows XP garbage, try replacing a dll in the System32 folder and you will see;).
Now since the issue is servers, I can tell you that the permission system is very, very different.
A well-managed Windows Server is stable and secure, what I hate is restarting for updates, although in Linux the only time I have had to restart is when the kernel update is done.
Very true what you say in the post, the truth is that in Linux everything is done by commands and there is no need to install a graphical environment
Thank you for your visit and comment.
The article should be corrected. Windows Server allows an installation without a graphical environment (as they have already pointed out) and can be managed with the cmd commands.
Sever Core mode does open the graphical interface (explorer.exe). The only thing that opens for you is the Windows console interface (or command prompt), and as powershell comes by default, you just type "ps" to be able to use Windows Server in console mode as it should (the Windows console as such and without Powershell it is a waste of time).
What I meant is that it can be installed without the normal desktop environment. A minimal graphical environment like Windows 3.1 appears. If you look at the article, it talks about "graphical environment" as if it were the desktop environment (graphical acceleration?).
From what version of Windows Server does it allow installation without a graphical environment?
I think there is Server Core from Windows Server 2008.
I had the opportunity to do a "without graphics" installation on Windows Server in its latest versions, and whoever thinks is crazy, that you can do the same as with a terminal in Linux.
My question is, as a Windows novice: Can ISA Server, Active Directory, IIS, and all Windows services be usable via CMD?
That is totally true, the linux console is much more powerful, but we all knew that.
So I wonder, what good is it to install Windows Server without a graphical environment if, in the end, we cannot use IIS, ISA Server, Active Directory and the rest that many already know? What's the point?
I repeat, it is only a doubt 😀
Whether Active Directory can be managed from PowerShell http://technet.microsoft.com/es-es/library/dd378937(v=ws.10).aspx.
Or here: https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing
What is the site that Walter comments without referrals in between.
Very good article itself, to be honest. But to tell the truth, Windows Server 2008 up has the server core mode, which only shows you a window in which it only allows you to use PowerShell (which is quite limited compared to Bash) and the truth is that not many times Windows Server allows you to make a backup like God Mandates (if you do, you would have to use Ghost, which in itself costs you a real silver for that purpose).
On the side of GNU / Linux, BSD and other POSIX family, by default the Bash console comes to you in most cases, since at least, to get help it is quite simple and in itself, it allows you to download a complete directory with source code and / or files of vital importance.
In the case of games, many South Korean F2P game servers such as Softnyx, Webzen and those of services such as Netmarble from CJ Internet and Hangame from NHN Corp. mostly use Windows Server with SQL Server so that they can work decently. Furthermore, this is not felt when browsing their respective web pages thanks to the fact that they have bandwidth in their favor. However, when maintaining these databases, they choose to deactivate the services at a time other than peak hours in order to prevent any damage that said database has suffered due to cheats and / or also for one or another important factor (in other words, they cannot do such work "hot", as this greatly influences the performance of the servers).
Until now, the only versions of Windows that can really be considered versatile are the "embedded" versions, since they allow us to choose the options we really want to use, and so far, these versions are the most used at the level of dedicated PCs for games. modern arcade games made by Japanese companies like Konami and Sega (Andamiro uses Linux in his dance machines as he had posted in a previous article).
After all, I am not surprised by the number of users who really want to try GNU / Linux because of the versatility they have, in addition to the fact that the F2P services offered by some companies in these parts such as Aeria Games and Valve's Steam work under GNU / Linux and BSD and have better performance regarding F2P connection, respectively.
I only read bad things about windows ??
take it easy!!!
EVERYONE knows that Windows is not the most efficient operating system, but that's not why it's bad!
Well, nothing more motivating than your post. We have all gone through there, I am putting Linux little by little and I give you all the reason in the world, servers with only 4 years old, they go like turtles, it seems as if they have a counter programmed to suggest to the administrator: I am old, change me already for a new one.
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/el-documental/documental-comprar-tirar-comprar/1382261/
(Good documentary)
I would just add that "the trap" that is hidden in cloud servers with windows is that they make you a plan that can fit in price, but windows is designed to consume resources, then you will have to expand your plan in the cloud: ram, disk, cores, ... and what you start by paying for something manageable, ends up increasing significantly.
Hello, could you help me, I want to buy a vps, but I am a newbie and I have no idea how it is, in Linux I am a newbie for a week I have it installed, because I am migrating from Xp.
Well I would recommend you if you would like to buy a vps in http://www.truxgoservers.com/
It has more than 350 forms of payment and more than 15 server locations
http://sales.truxgoservers.com/vps/index.php In vps economy the location already depends on the price, the cheap ones are those of the USA and Europe
Very interesting information. These are doubts that must be clarified so that the user can choose the one that suits him best, a greeting.