The server infrastruture and additional components to build a website
Many of my clients ask some specifications about server infrastructure, what operating system they use, where we host the website, web applications to build the website, etc. Here are some brief explanations about server infrastructure and additional component to build the website.
Operating system
We use Linux operating system. Linux is a robust, secure and reliable operating server especially for servers. It is widely used as server on the datacenter or intranet. The combination of apache as web server, MySQL or PostgreSQL as database server and PHP as scripting language make this operating system is popular as the server infrastructure.
Based on netcraft.net (http://www.netcraft.net) survey, apache http server get 50.61% market share on the internet. MySQL is widely used as database server, it¡¦s fast robust and reliable as database server on the internet. Even Google use modified MySQL as their database servers.
PHP is no doubt as the most popular scripting language to build web applications. It is fast and easy to learn.
Web Hosting
Hosting is available on local server (Indonesia) or on USA.
The advantage and drawbacks
| Item | Local server | USA |
| Access speed | Faster access from local market but so slow accessed from outside Indonesia | Moderate access from local market and faster access from outside Indonesia. |
| Stability | 99% stable and 99.5% uptime uptime. Downtime occurs only by electricity failure | 99.9% stable and 99.9% uptime |
| Security | Moderate. Depends on operating system and firewall setup | Mostly monitored and hardened with additional fees. |
| Backup | Good backup but need additional fees for external backup to ensure data is safe if hard drive server is crashed | Good backup but need additional fees for external backup to ensure data is safe if hard drive server is crashed |
| Support | Good support from datacenter and we can go there directly to fix things | Good support but can not go there directly to fix things |
Note: uptime is calculated by how many times server up or online in one year.
Content Management System
Popular content management system are:
- Drupal, the most extensible, robust and secure content management system. Drupal is designed for community websites, web 2.0 enabled website, company website even for personal use. It can be extended by modules for various needs.
- Wordpress, the most popular content management system. This is the widely used by personal for blogging because its functions as blogging tool. Wordpress can be used as company websites or another needs. It can be extended by plugins.
