creating a web site and web platforms

[Garr]

My friend is starting a business and wants my help in starting a website up for him. First of all, should he pay for remote hosting like goDaddy or network solutions? or do you think it would be better for me (since I would be in front of the computer itself) to setup a server in his business thats tied to his verizon business fios account?

When picking a web server, should I go with Ubuntu server or openSUSE server or use windows server 2008 with IIS? I also happened to get a copy of Microsoft SQL server, but I'm not sure if he is going to need a separate dedicated database server (doubt it).

I've been messing around on my home PC with windows 7. I ended up downloading XAMPP, which is a package of Apache HTTP, php, mySQL, and phpadmin. I only tinkered with it for a couple of hours. Using phpmyadmin as a web based interface into a mySQL database seemed pretty cool. It took me a bit to get the whole thing working right in windows (MS processes were locking out apache and mySQL at times). 

I also had IIS installed (i have win 7 ultimate and i think it came with it) and it has a program called web platform installer, which is kind of like windows update I guess that has a bunch of web based technologies you can download. Things like JOOMLA!, wordpress, mySQL, php, DOTnetnuke etc.

Tons of choices and I don't have time to learn them all or even probably pros and cons. I would imagine the linux server choice would be the most secure and the only thing my friend would have to worry about is theft of the hard drive if he stores sensitive information. Although if I go with the windows route I bet I can teach my friend how to manage his own shit and update his website.

[-Spectre-]

My friend is starting a business and wants my help in starting a website up for him. First of all, should he pay for remote hosting like goDaddy or network solutions? or do you think it would be better for me (since I would be in front of the computer itself) to setup a server in his business thats tied to his verizon business fios account?

Depends ... Recommendation is get it hosted.

When picking a web server, should I go with Ubuntu server or openSUSE server or use windows server 2008 with IIS? I also happened to get a copy of Microsoft SQL server, but I'm not sure if he is going to need a separate dedicated database server (doubt it).

Whatever rocks your boat and depends on what you are going to use. Linux is cheaper when you get it hosted.

I've been messing around on my home PC with windows 7. I ended up downloading XAMPP, which is a package of Apache HTTP, php, mySQL, and phpadmin. I only tinkered with it for a couple of hours. Using phpmyadmin as a web based interface into a mySQL database seemed pretty cool. It took me a bit to get the whole thing working right in windows (MS processes were locking out apache and mySQL at times).  

I also had IIS installed (i have win 7 ultimate and i think it came with it) and it has a program called web platform installer, which is kind of like windows update I guess that has a bunch of web based technologies you can download. Things like JOOMLA!, wordpress, mySQL, php, DOTnetnuke etc.

Tons of choices and I don't have time to learn them all or even probably pros and cons. I would imagine the linux server choice would be the most secure and the only thing my friend would have to worry about is theft of the hard drive if he stores sensitive information. Although if I go with the windows route I bet I can teach my friend how to manage his own shit and update his website.

Use VM's if you want to play around in your PC. It should not take you too long to learn any of those Content Management Systems. They're pretty simple to get used to and there are tons of guides/tutorials/documents out there to help you out as most are open source.

[Merc248]

determine what sort of traffic you anticipate, ask yourself if you're willing to administer the website full time, and then go from there.

shared web hosting is fine, if you're looking at roughly < 500,000 hits per month.  but it starts breaking down when you take into effect that most web hosts (even the good ones) stuff around 150+ web hosts on one box; you'll start seeing performance issues, and even worse, you might get the occasional disaster that wipes out the entire box, taking down you site and all the other sites on the box along with it.

VPS's are nice; they give you full root access to the box and, more importantly, you get more resources dedicated to your slice than a shared web hosting solution would give you.  but again, you're looking at administering that box nearly full time (though i believe rackspace has managed VPS hosting solutions), and you're also needing to take into effect what sort of resources you'll actually be utilizing.

then you get into maybe leasing a full server box, or doing colocation or whatever.  this is the most expensive solution, but also the most flexible: you can do fancy stuff like load balance between several servers and whatnot.

but again, determine what sort of resources you're expecting to use.

i'd almost recommend you to look into getting at least two boxes, where one is hosting all of the front end web stuff (which is running apache or whatever), and another box for the back end stuff (this is where your mysql/mssql database would live.)