I've got my first computer I want to use as for server services only and I want to use to too host my files/games/etc. but I also want to sell my hosting services too for fun and to make a few extra bucks. (5 bucks a month kinda thing) So I get it and my server runs perfectly fine so far! But since I want to sell my hosting services there are a few things I ask myself Windows XP or Ubuntu Server Edition?

What I want to host:
(Web Hosting, Game Server Hosting, FTP)

I'm guesting I could use Wine on Ubuntu if my client's server software runs on Windows, but idk if thats a safe bet.

Can someone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

They are two completely different products, designed for two completely different things.

Windows XP is an operating system designed for an individual user. The server equivalent is Windows Server 2003. If you were to offer online services for Windows clients, you would use neither and go with the current Windows Server.

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution, which is designed as a multi-user system. They work great as servers, but they require a little more knowledge to administer them properly.


What do you offer people that they couldn't get elsewhere? Shared hosting can be found for free or very cheap, and provided by people with both experience and proper infrastructure.

Most residential internet service contracts preclude you from running 24/7 servers at all, let alone hosting for other's, which is akin to subleasing your internet service to 3rd parties.

Even ignoring that... how much (upstream) bandwidth do you have? I don't imagine you can serve a multilayer game and... anything else expecting reasonable performance.

My hosting costs me 8 bucks a month and I have, essentially unlimited bandwidth and storage space (in part because my contract has recieved generous upgrades as a loyalty bonus), fault-tolerance on many levels (hosted at two physical sites, each with access to redundant power grids and generators and redundant tier-1 internet backbone connections), automated backups, great support and lots of server software I can install with 1 click (they've done all the hard work already).

Host your own sites and maybe a few for friends just for fun and learning, but you''re dreaming if you think you can charge anything.

Well this would be more like a small website hosting company or a personal hosting. People I know in person kind of setup. Example: family owned businesses, friends who want their own website or private ftp server and with no high restrictions or a small game server.

My connection speed is 5047 Kbps, which isn't too bad and I still have to do more testing running game servers, but I'm still debating if I should change OS.

I guest I could do some more research on Ubuntu's Server Edition on how to use it before I jump into it then and decide if I want to make the switch.

Using Wine on Ubuntu to host windows games is generally not needed, even Windows only games tend to get Linux server software.

Personally i'd only recommend going with Linux if:

a) you allready know how to use it or want to learn.
b) you don't have a Windows license for the machine in question
c) you need features that doesn't exist in Windows XP.

For hosting a few websites and a game server or two Windows XP will be just fine, just make sure you disable any unnecessary services and applications and configure the firewall properly. (Block all ports except those used by the services you're hosting) (This goes for Linux aswell ofcourse)

windows Xp only allows 10 connections, its really only meant as a quick dev test environment.

Quote:

Original post by RivieraKid windows Xp only allows 10 connections, its really only meant as a quick dev test environment.

the limitation is on outgoing connection attempts and is at 10 concurrent attempts, for a web/ftp/game server its not an issue unless your websites need to fetch data from a remote host extremely frequently.

Basically you can have as many open connections as you want, for outgoing connections you just have to wait for the first 10 to actually connect before you attempt to open a new set.