Re: arguments against php / mysql?

Mallen Baker wrote:

Hi - the company we're talking to about doing some work on a simple site / database is trying hard to persuade us that Windows-based PHP / mysql is not the route to go. The arguments are as follows:

Windows-based PHP might not be the way to go. We've deployed PHP as CGI under IIS, and, while it did work, there were things Linux/Apache gave us that you can't get under Windows (IIS or Apache) (good URL parsing, for a start). It was workable enough, but was not very fast.

1. XXX's experience that MySQL is less than 100% stable when running on a windows platform (main problem being unexpected database shutdowns while applications are being used).

If we're going on experiences, then our experiences is that *anything* on Windows doesn't stay up 100% of the time (not saying other OSs are necessarily better, but you'll find pros and cons on both sides). Just because something isn't 100% doesn't mean you shouldn't go with it. We've run various SQL Servers on Windows and normally had to reboot every 1-2 months as a preemptive strike against a crash. We had unexpected database crashes with MS products on MS servers. By XXX's logic, we shouldn't use MS SQL Server either. But people do use it. 2. The fact that the

recommended mode for running PHP on a windows platform (the CGI binary) uses technology that is now reasonably old and will consequently result in a hit to the server performance and memory management and the associated possible lack of scalability.

As others have said, the Apache module under Windows seems to work better. 3. Loss

of verity - the powerful search engine bundled with Cold Fusion. Searches may be significantly slower on the new site.

Depending on what you use. MySQL has full-text searching which, while not perfect, does a pretty good job with most of the stuff we've thrown at it so far (speed and size).

I have had some experience using php/mysql on linux/apache - but don't have enough information to know whether this advice is sound or not. Can anyone please advise - is there anything in these arguments? If so, are there ways around the problems. We very much want to use these technologies due to the open source aspects.

There's always an answer - depends on how much work you want to do. Yeah, CF/Verity might be nice to start with, but who's doing the coding? If XXX is doing it up front, will they be around to make changes quickly/as needed? Or will the maintenance drop to you? They may have a reseller program which means they'll make a couple hundred bucks off the sale of CF and want to push that. (just a guess - you haven't given any more info). For the money you'd spend on CF, you could do worse than to buy a machine to run LAMP on and go with that. If they only want to push CF at you, and you want PHP, give us a call. :) Michael Kimsal http://www.phphelpdesk.com 734-480-9961 Guaranteed PHP support when you need it