The Linux operating system was originally programmed by Linus Torvalds and his team of developers. It is a member of the Unix family of operating systems and it is available for free to anyone, licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is "open-source" software.

The term "Linux Hosting" relates to those hosting services which are running in servers using one of the versions of Linux. The flavor that is most widely deployed in the global hosting industry is Red Hat Linux. You can find more information about Red Hat at www.redhat.com. As a hosting platform, Linux defines a series of programs that float around it in terms of hosting features. Some of these programs are: MySQL, apache, php, SSH, java, among others. You can safely expect these software packages to be available whenever you sign up for a Linux web hosting plan.

There are also some common misconceptions about Linux hosting as well. Some people believe that running your websites on a Linux platform is inherently more secure than running them on a Windows platform. This is absolutely not true, as the overall secure state of any given system is defined by the policies and procedures around that system. Out of the box, both platforms offer some level of security. Proper protection strategies need to be put in place in order to secure critical business assets.

Your decision to go with an open-source platform such as Linux, has to depend on the specific needs of the website, web application or web service that is going to be brought online. So, you need to look at disk space requirements, compatibility with development and programming tools, database engine capabilities, web server features and scripting languages supported. This is what really defines which way you should go.

One very attractive characteristic of Linux hosting plans is their price. They are always priced lower than Windows hosting plans and this is understandable because of the licensing considerations behind Microsoft operating systems. If you are running tight in terms of budget for your online services, then Linux hosting can help you save some bucks in a regular basis. But be sure to never sacrifice stability and performance for cost.

For administering your linux hosting plan, you need to access a control panel. For the Linux platform, the most widely deployed control panel software is CPanel. You can find more information about it at www.cpanel.net. We wrote an article some time ago with more information about hosting and the control panels used for administering it; make sure you check it out.

If you would like our recommendation about providers of hosting plans running in the Linux platform, pay a visit to Exabytes. Way better than the competition and provide excellent customer service.

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