Week 3: Clear

Photo courtesy of mayhem. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayhem/2939259129/lightbox/

        This week, the concept that was made clear to me, was the lecture on server hardware. There are several different server operating systems that people use, they are Windows, Linux, and Unix. I have heard Linux mentioned quite often before and now I know why, unlike the other server operating systems Linux is free. There is also different kinds of server software you can use depending on what type of server you are running. For an email server you would use Microsoft Exchange. For a web server you can use Apache, which is an open-source web server that is free or you can pay for Microsoft IIS.  For a database server, you could use Microsoft SQL or ORACLE both of which cost money or you can go the cheap route and get MySQL for free.

           In the business environment knowing the server operating system and the server software you need is paramount to running a smooth business. Once you have your business you can make the decision whether you want to have a free operating system like Linux or pay for the services of Windows server. Then you need to decide what type or types of server software you need whether it’s database, email or a web server. Then it comes time to choose the specific server software for the type of software you chose, which is also based on your business need.

            I found an article that looks at the five best home server software on the market. This article explains the technical prowess as well as the affordability of the five server software programs. It also breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of the software programs. The software programs represented in the article are FreeNas, Ubuntu Server Edition, Apache, Debian, and Windows Home Server. Here's the link http://lifehacker.com/5162026/best-home-server-software