What type of server and Which operating system Do you require?

Web hosting providers off er a wide range of server types and operating systems, but for most users the choices are pretty simple.
Types of servers:

Web servers fall into two broad categories:

1. Shared servers
2. Dedicated servers

In a shared hosting environment, your website is on a server with hundreds or even thousands of other websites. Dedicated servers host your content exclusively (there are a number of diff erent types of
dedicated servers, but those aren’t important in this context). Hosting a website on a shared server costs a lot less and off ers all the features most websites will need, so choosing a shared server makes sense for
the vast majority of sites.

However, there are two factors in particular that can affect the performance of your website on a shared server:

1. Overcrowding 
2. Lax security

It’s important to check what policies a web hosting provider has to deal with each.

How many sites a server can support depends on the size and power of the machine, and in each case web hosting providers have to balance service with profi tability. They need enough sites to make their money,
but too many sites will slow down the server and leave less room to cope with spikes in traffi c. Poor-quality providers will sacrifi ce service for profitability.
 
The other issue is how good the provider’s security measures are. If another website on the shared server gets hit with a virus, you don’t want it to infect your site or bring down the entire server. With adequate
security in place, these issues can be avoided—that’s what separates good web hosting providers from the poor ones.

Operating systems:
Just like your computer at home or at work, web server hardware runs on an operating system. The two most common systems off ered by web hosting providers are:

1. Linux/UNIX
2. Windows

Both will run HTML fi les just fi ne, so the key in deciding which one to choose is whether your website requires soft ware such as a content management system.

Generally speaking, if soft ware uses a language called PHP, you’re bett er off on a Linux operating system; if the soft ware runs on a language called ASP or ASP.net, your site belongs on a Windows machine.

If your website needs to interact with Microsoft products such as Sharepoint or Access, a Windows system is required.