Tell us about Adhost’s background. Will: In '96, when we started off, we were a UNIX shop. We were using FreeBSD with Apache backends, and we were primarily doing static site hosting. Today we host sites on Windows and Red Hat, as well as on FreeBSD. When we first got into hosting, the Microsoft platform was Windows NT 4.0 with IIS 3.0.
What drove you to add Windows-based hosting in addition to a Linux-based offering? Will: The biggest factor was that there was a lot of demand for it. We knew in the NT 4.0 days that even if the product was lacking in some areas back then with regard to Web hosting, Microsoft would get it right in the long run.
We had a lot of faith in their ability to recognize areas where they needed to improve and then to follow up on them. One of the other things that we really liked about the Microsoft platform then and now, is their ability to look at the hosting environment in a holistic manner. We had a lot of faith in their ability to put together a holistic solution, and so we made a strategic decision to meet the demand for Windows early on.
How would you contrast the ways in which Red Hat and Microsoft engage with you as a partner? Will: We have been quite pleased with our interaction with Microsoft at the partner level. They recognize that by helping our business succeed, it’s going to be good for their business as well, and Microsoft really does help us grow our business.
With Red Hat, I do not feel the relationship is as hands on. I do not get calls from the Red Hat partner network saying, “Hey, how can we help you grow your business?” I think of the relationship with Red Hat as more of a support and software contract than a true partnership, whereas Microsoft does approach it as a true partnership.
How do you feel that Windows has evolved from a hosting perspective? Will: They have made so many good changes that it would be hard for me to pinpoint a single set of them. But I would say that one of the biggest is the evolution of ASP.NET.
One of the challenges we have as a hosting provider is that we offer a shared hosting platform where multiple customers load their own applications onto a single server. We need to be able to easily isolate those from each other, so if we have a poorly behaved application, it doesn’t affect other customers’ applications in a negative way. ASP.NET is architected for exactly that scenario.
Another area of evolution has been IIS. Getting configurations mirrored and matched is much easier than before, and isolating a single user is much easier than it used to be with previous IIS releases.
Has Microsoft been a good partner in terms of providing timely support? Will: We honestly don’t have to call support very often. We are able to answer most of our own questions with our experience, or through the documentation that Microsoft provides.
But what I do like about Microsoft is that when you buy software from them, they know they have a responsibility to maintain and support it. There’s no ambiguity with Microsoft. They will work until the problem is resolved because that’s a clear part of the relationship.
With Linux and FreeBSD, you hope someone answers your questions, but no one is required to. Since you offer custom development solutions, have you seen any trends in terms of customer demand in this area? Will: In almost all instances, when customers come to us with a preference, it’s for Windows.
We have also found that when we are developing a site, the development process is generally less expensive if we choose to build it on Windows. Quite frankly, when it comes to custom development, we have an easier job evangelizing and selling Windows platforms.
What are some of the key day-to-day management differences you see between Linux and Windows based hosting environments?
Will: Let’s talk about user management—Authentication, Access, and Authorization. In order to do that in a LAMP environment, you have to have a Kerberos or RADIUS server, or something similar to that, in the background doing authentication.
But the people who authored the Kerberos software are not directly attached to the Apache project, so you are taking modules from all over. That leaves you in the position of being the integrator. And that requires you to have a great deal more intimate knowledge of the LAMP stack from an operational standpoint.
On the other hand, with Microsoft it all comes completely integrated and ready to go. Once you get Active Directory set up with groups and permissions in, and your group policy objects set, you can set up a secure infrastructure quickly, because IIS, SQL Server, and all the other software is fully integrated with Windows and Active Directory.
We are able to leverage Microsoft’s development expertise in providing integrated solutions to these types of problems. And if there is a bug or vulnerability in their code, they address it quickly and we just get the patch.
Any final thoughts? Will: I have seen a remarkable amount of growth on the Microsoft side in the 13 years that I have been doing this, and I honestly expect that to continue to be the case. We are excited about where Microsoft has taken Windows, and we look forward to great things. I do not say that lightly. If you would have asked me those questions ten years ago, I would have been more dubious, but I am really happy to see that Microsoft has moved forward their Web technologies as much as they have.
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