Topic awaiting preservation: Looking for a stable server (Page 1 of 1)

I'v been asked to set up a servey by my school to gather info on classes people want to take next semester.
My feel is that a web based app would work best and I want to install a good server so it can run independently and be accessed at any system in the school.

Any recomendations for a good stable free server?

kalan, like 'allen' with a 'k'

uh...possibly one located in your building?

There's no such thing as a good AND free server... It's one or the other.

"Nothin' like a pro-stabbin' from a pro." -Weadah

Apache's a good stable free (web) server

and both debian and the various bsds are pretty decente free [server] operating systems,
and have a tolerable level of maintance.

Though you'll still need to buy the hardware ;-)

The operating system is more important thatn the server software in creating a stable platform. You need to use a UNIX based OS (like Linux) if you are looking for stability.


As Mabry said, Apache is very stable on either Linux or Windows, but since the Linux OS will be more stable than Windows, I would recommend you put it on Linux.




-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

I've been running Apache on W2K for a year (or 2, 3?) now and it's had zero stability issues. The only down time to speak of is when I set up a new virtual host, then I just restart the Apache service which takes 3 or 4 seconds. I've had 2 going, 1 on P500 and one on a Celeron 500 both with 256MB RAM, both perform perfectly.

Granted this is a test server that gets only traffic from me tho

JKMabry: I'm glad to hear of your success with W2K, Josh. I don't have a W2K server right now, but when I was using it (about two years ago), I had had to re-boot the system about every other day to prevent freeze-ups. I use both UNIX and windows and have found UNIX machince to be more stable than windows over the long run. Of course, I hear windows is getting more stable all the time.

Id don't want to start a religeous war here. I do use windows as well. It has just been my experience that UNIX (Linux) is generally more stable under load.

I'm sure there are other valid opinions out there.

-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.


[This message has been edited by hyperbole (edited 02-08-2004).]

FreeBSD for the server!

I know people push linux for the server, but in my opinion linux is more of a desktop OS as opposed to a down and dirty server OS. If you want to go with a linux server maybe you might want to think about slackware as it is one of the only Unix's that I would trust running a server. This isn't saying that Linux isn't far better than Unix, I would trust all of the Linux distributions above and beyond windows, it is I just don't trust Linux distros in comparison to FreeBSD.

I would actually love comments from linux users on this issue, linux on the server has been interesting me for a bit of time.

For the software, you can't go wrong with installing Apache/PHP/MySQL, that is a great little combo there.

-Dan-

WarMage:
I have only had extended exposure to RedHat and VALinux. That's not to say I haven't used other UNIXs, those are the only two distributions of Linux I have used a lot of. Of the two VALinux is much more stable than RedHat. We used both when I worked for BroadWing Communication. We were supporting the uu.net and GridNet POP servers on Linux servers. The servers ran 24 hours a day seven days a week and had very few problems with either system.

I have also had limited exposure to the Mandrake distribution of Linux. Up until 1998 I had used many other versions of UNIX: System V, ucb, QNX, SunOS, Solaris, MassComp UNIX, Lynx, ISO. Until that time, I also felt that Linux was not a stable as the other UNIX distributions. However, in the mid to late '90s a lot of work was done to Linux to make it more stable. I feel that todays Linux distributions (at least the ones I have used) are at least as stable as any other UNIX distribution I have used.

As a matter of fact, for a really rock solid distribution of UNIX QNX is one of the most stabe I have used. Their implementation is POSIX compliant. However, it is a bit quirky and somewhat expensive compared to other impelementations. QNXs big advantage is that it and Lynx are the only versions of UNIX currently available that suppor real-time programming. (MassComp was also a real-time implementation of UNIX, but the company foled in the early '90s)



-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

Can you not install it on your school's Internet web site??? Most all schools have their own web sites these days...email your sys. admin for details...usually they will have the answer's you need.

hyperbole: Thanks for the information!

kalan: Did you get anything figured out yet? Do you need further information?

-Dan-