are websites platform independent?

[PammyBoy]

Hello All,

I'm new to web servers and was wondering, if I have an already made website and would like to host it myself, does it matter if I make my own web server running apache or IIS? My website contains a lot of CGI and Flash. What i'm asking is, are websites platforms independent? Would I be able to put any existing website on a Linux box? Thank you in advance. Tek-tips is a great site! Keep the helpful tips coming.

Tom

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

Websites themselves are platform independant, but the syntax for the scripting languages they use can differ between platforms.

Hope this helps Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[PammyBoy]

So you're saying the CGI and flash might need to be modified if they were originally written on an IIS machine and I want to move the website to an Apache machine?

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

The cgi might, flash is run from a plug-in on the client's side so the server platform is irrelevant.

Hope this helps Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[RhythmAce]

For the most part, you should be able to transfer your pages from IIS to apache with no problem. In the case of cgi scripts, there are some differences but that is more depentent on the OS rather than the server. For example, linux and Win32 use differnt types of mail servers so the script must be written for that platform. Otherwise, if you are using a perl/cgi script, it is passed to the perl interpeter. Linux has its own perl interpreter as does Win32. That way they can use a common language. You may have a bit of a problem if you have ASP pages but you can convert them to php if you have a lot of them.

 

[PammyBoy]

Wow! Thank you to both of you for the info.

Tom