[lug] Web development costs for NT/IIS vs Linux/Apache

[D. Stimits]

Ferdinand Schmid wrote:
> 
> John Karns wrote:
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I'm currently in an advisory situation where the client is negotiating
> > the development of a web based learning program.  Unfortunately the MS
> > platforms are very dominant in this country (Colombia), and Unix / Linux
> > skills are rare indeed.  Even the ISP's here are NT based, and it shows
> > with eradic service and low BW.
> >
> > The idea is to use Apache + PHP or perhaps AOL Server + Ars-Digita on
> > Linux with an SQL back-end to dynamically generate much of the text.
> > Flash animation is also planned.
> >
> > I would be most appreciative in receiving input re cost comparison in
> > terms of development time for the two platforms.  Although the project is
> > slated to be done on Linux of course, the development peoples' experience
> > is on the MS side.  Assuming a developer had equal facility with Apache +
> > Linux + Postgres as with NT + IIS + SQL Server, in general terms how would
> > the development time compare?
> 
> I don't see any dev speed advantage for NT over Linux.  Yes, the ms

FYI, Apache forking is done prior to an incoming connection. The
overhead is spent *prior* to the actual connect, unless new hits are
coming in so fast that the reserve pool of httpd processes haven't kept
up. Total overhead goes up by forking this way, but actual
responsiveness can also improve (I believe the thread overhead for IIS
is spent at each hit moment).

> developers will need to learn dealing with Linux systems - but only on a
> very high level.  Our company had only Windows developers and we started
> using Linux systems for server development on a recent project.  Getting
> our developers up to speed on the Linux systems was almost immediate.
> Java is the same on both systems and so is C++.  There were very few
> issues that cost us extra time.  All I had to do is spend some time
> answering Unix/Linux questions as they arose.  While initially critical
> the developers now love Linux!  They can't believe that our Linux based
> dev server never needed to get restarted in the past 1/2 year!
> For obvious reasons we are keeping the developer workstations on NT.
> The developers each also have a VNC session to our high powered Linux
> test server.  A few people on a 1 GHz Athlon system with a 15 kRPM
> SCSI-160 disk seem no load, even with Apache, Jakarta-Tomcat,
> Postgres... all running at the same time.  FYI - this machine typically
> has over 5500 files open so I had to increase the /proc/sys/fs/file-max
> limit.
> 
> >
> > Secondly, since Apache, PHP, and Postgres are also available for the MS
> > platform, I am curious as to how practical it might be to do development
> > on the MS side for implementation on Linux.  This way it would eliminate
> > the need for the developers to learn Linux admin and system manipulation
> > which might expedite the project a bit.
> 
> Postgres on NT does not always seem to be the latest version.  I can't
> speak for PHP since we are using Java and JSP for our dynamic content.
> 
> > IOW, what kind of compatibility issues might be encountered in the
> > characteristics of the three applications on the different platforms?
> > For example if Apache is implemented with forking processes on Linux but
> > thread based on NT, there might be noticable performance differences which
> > would affect design considerations.
> 
> Again - our developers really like the stability and absence of reboots
> so they don't mind using a Linux type development environment.  And at
> least in this country avoiding the MS licenses saved us a fortune of
> money!
> 
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > John Karns                                              jkarns at csd.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> > Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> 
> --
> Ferdinand Schmid
> http://www.archenergy.com
> 303-444-4149 x231