Microsoft web-servers primary market is clearly the market, where you have at least one server for yourself. In this configuration it also runs fast and easily, the only problem with running Microsoft web-servers is that there are lot of ActiveX objects that have memory leaks, which makes the web-sites break down if they get too many hits.
Since the particular ActiveX object is difficult to monitor, it is nearly impossible to make an automatic surveillance system, that tells if there is any problem with the web-site. There is a very easy solution to this problem: Restarting the server once a day will re-initialize all ActiveX objects, and restarting the server is what most serious web-service providers on Windows do.
The Linux/Unix group often manages this by starting a new program instance every time a program is needed. After use, the program is cleaned up. Only certain programs stay in memory, like database servers, PHP3 and the web-server itself. This approach gives a lower throughput, but makes the server stay stables for years.
Now, who needs a server for themselves? The biggest danish distributor of Microsoft software has a B2B e-commerce system, where most licenses are sold (huge turnover!). The web-site is hosted on a FreeBSD server with an Intel Pentium II processor, together with approx. 500 other domain web-sites!! The fee for running the server, including maintenance, backup and surveillance, is $30 a month. And it runs much more stable than if they would in-house the server. |
