One of the biggest questions a new CEO has to answer when starting up a web business is “What OS should I use?”. Once again, more questions need to be asked before making that decision. So before we begin with the questions, lets make sure we all know what we’re talking about. The operating system (OS) is a layer in computers that exists between the hardware and the software. The OS’s job is to move information and instructions between programs and the hardware components. A quick example is going to a web page. First you tell the web browser to go to www.toptenwholesale.com. The web browser then tells the OS to talk to the network card and passes on the information of what site is needed. The OS then handles the transaction between the network card and the remote site and passes the returned information back up to the browser, which then displays the page.

Onto the question at hand. In the small to mid-size business range you’ll find three choices for your OS. They are Windows (ms), Mac and linux. Each has pluses and minuses depending on what the computer is doing. Lets take a look at each by the machine type.

Desktop:

Windows: As much as I hate to say it, Microsoft Windows seems to be the best. The only reason, I repeat, the only reason to use Windows is because everyone else in the business world is using it. I have found the Windows OS to be the most frustrating and dangerous OS implementation out there. How many of you have lost productivity when your Windows box crashes and has to be re-installed? How many of you have gotten a virus or worm running Windows, potentially stealing important data? My advice is to run PCs, with Windows, behind a firewall and never ever run outlook (unless its the web based version).

Mac: I like mac a lot. The newer machines run a rock solid OS called X10. Unfortunately, the biggest gripe I hear from businesses that use mac desktops is that they can’t run/open files sent to them from the rest of the business world. The only exception I have found to this are graphic houses (companies that specialize in print and graphic media). Mac has always had “emulators” that try to run like Windows, but they’re just not there yet.

Linux: I really love Linux on my PC. But I am a geek and spend countless hours tinkering and learning about my computer. Once again, the lack of linux support and the domination of Windows makes it so that this is not the best option for a company. Although, if your looking at your bottom line, you might want to consider it. Linux is a free software where as Windows runs between $80 - $250 per license.

Server:

Linux: Hands down the winner!! Once again it is a “free” (redhat charges a license fee for their enterprise release) solution that works great. Linux is a form of UNIX, which is an OS thats been around since the 60’s. I’ve had my own personal web server up and running for over 2 years!! (To those of you in the Windows world, believe it or not, but you don’t have to reboot your box every time something goes wrong or something needs to be changed). Another wonderful thing about linux is the community support. There are literaly thousands of websites that will give you howto’s (documents on how to set up or run) and chances are, if you have a problem, you’ll find a link to someone who had the same exact problem and found a solution.

Windows: HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Ok, I needed that laugh. So far I have found only two reasons why a company would ever run the Microsoft server software. 1. The company enjoys wasting time and money on expensive and faulty software. 2. A slick Microsoft salesperson convinced them that its what the company needs. Either way, if you decide to run Microsoft, you’ll need a very expensive system admin (who will usually only be able to reboot the box to fix the problem) and you’ll be shelling out hundreds if not thousands for the software license.

Mac: I haven’t heard of anyone running server software using macs, but it should be very possible seeing how the 10X os is a unix operating system. I imagine that at some point Apple will be getting into the server market, but we shall see.

Hi All,

That’s an easy one. Computer systems should be thought of as layers. At the top (of course!!) you have the developers. They write the code/software that is run on the OS (operating system) layer. The SysAdmin, short for system administrator, makes sure that the OS layer can talk with the software layer above and the hardware layer below. The hardware layer, also part of the SysAdmin’s domain, consists of all the guts of a computer (CPU’s, RAM, hard drives, network cards etc.)

A better question to start this entry out should have been “Do I need a SysAdmin”?
In order to answer that question, we need to take in a few factors

1. Competency of your ISP’s System Administration services

Chances are you’ll be able to judge that based on the money you pay. The more expensive ISP’s tend to have standard hardware and a certified staff of SysAdmins. The less expensive, well let’s just say I’ve had an experience with a ‘really cheap’ ISP where I specifically asked the admin (whom I was dealing with) to ‘NOT’ change anything in a configuration file, as I had just spent an hour trying to get it to do what I wanted. He placed me on hold and came back 5 minutes later. “Ok, I fixed the issue and I updated your config file”, he said. Long pause…. “You mean the one I just asked you to ‘NOT’ modify”, I asked. Another long pause…. “Uuhh sorry about that” he replied. My next question. “Did you copy the config file before you changed it?” This is basic System Administration 101. Copy before you change!!! Needless to say, it only took me a half hour the second time around to get my config file working.

2. Size of your system.

If you’re a small house with only one or two boxes running your websites, chances are your doing just fine with the ISP’s sysAdmins. If, however, you have more than two boxes we start to brush the area where you might want to consider a part-time sysAdmin. Or work something out with your ISP were you get a ‘personal’ sysAdmin. As your site grows, you really want to have a person who is intimate with your hardware and any customized configurations. This way, if the you-know-what hits the fan (as it will always do at the worst possible moment) you won’t waste valuable time as the sysAdmin becomes familiar with your system.

3. Desires of your software developers.

If your developer(s) say they need a sysAdmin, get one!! My worst job experiences involved a start up company where I was brought in to help speed up delivery of the software. I kept explaining to the CEO that I had limited experience in maintaining a box and that my sysAdmin skills were at a level below what we needed. (One of the best quotes I heard on this, “sending in an inexperienced system administrator is like giving a ball pin hammer to a three year old and letting him play in the garage next to the Porsche”). Needless to say, we launched a new product that brought down the entire site. It took 4 hours for the sysAdmins at the ISP to get back to us to tell us that the application I had written was hogging too much memory. It took me less than a minute to find the code line and change it. When the CEO brought me in to “talk” about the problem (meaning why/how did I trash the system) All I could say was , ‘this is a situation which would have never happened had we had a “real sysAdmin”‘. He tried to retort and I explained that once I knew what the problem was, it was fixed. I then asked him how I was supposed to have found this problem before we launched. He just stared at me blankly.

HeadGeek

Aaron

Hi All,

I’ve been working in web/internet technologies for over a decade now and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across a very sad situation. Most small businesses, who’s sole form of revenue comes from the company’s web page, do not make use of a sandbox.

What is a sandbox? In the toddler sense of the word, its a safe place to go and play. If you fall down, it doesn’t hurt (unless you nail the cement side with your head). In the computer sense, it is almost the same thing, except there are no cement walls. A sandbox in its purest form is an exact duplicate of the production environment. Its purpose is to allow a developer to write new code and debug current code, without the risk of bringing down the productions site. People of the non-geek type are really unaware of how the smallest code defect can, under the best case, prevent the web page from displaying and, under the worst case, send the data to the wrong place. Imagine billing a customer only to find out that the credit card and card info were from a different account. I’ve seen it happen. In most cases, another developer, such as myself, will have to spend hours upon hours trying to restore the data to its appropriate state (after the bug has been located). Unfortunately, in some rare cases, I’ve had to go to the boss and tell him, ‘the data is beyond repair’. Believe me when I tell you, the sandbox is worth the extra expense.

I’m convinced, how do I get a sandbox? Most likely, if your a small house, your hosting your box in a dedicated hosting environment. This makes things easy in that all you have to do is call the isp and tell them you want to setup a sandbox for your system. If they don’t know what a sandbox is, send them to this blog, or better yet, find one that does. If your looking to save money (aren’t we all?) then you can request a box that is less powerful. Ram and CPU changes will not affect the nature of the sandbox. It should have the same OS and modules (php, asp) installed. If you’re a larger house, your probably hosting on a co-located server (A box you own that rents space and a connection at the isp). If this is your situation, you probably have a system administrator (sys admin) who can easily create the sandbox once you explain what you need. If you don’t have a sys admin, see my next blog!!

I have a sandbox, now what? Now you can safely send your geeks into the realm of the development. They can try anything and not worry about it. Once your geeks are satisfied that their code is production worthy, you “push” the code to the production environment.

HeadGeek.

Aaron