Asps-Apache versus IIS and database access

[teach1]

long question. I'm teaching beginning web dev. class. Text is geared toward Personal Web Server and IIS for creating ASP's and updating databases. Problem: college thinks IIS is too dangerous and has removed it from labs. They say I must switch to Apache web server. I need super quick idea of differences in building asp's in Apache versus IIS. Is syntax major different? For student's benefit, would like to stick with text as much as possible. Would really appreciate any input or help possible.
thanks teach1

 

[vpekulas]

Acctually Apache won't be able to run ASP's unless you
have something like Chilli ASP. If you do, then the sytax is exactly the same.

 

[Ovatvvon]

Will apache run on Win-Servers along with IIS? If so, does apache also run php or jsp? (Unfamiliar with apache, obviously huh?) -Ovatvvon :-Q

 

[vpekulas]

I guess that you can always divide your HDD, one part for ISS one for Apache, I don't see why you would do that though. Chose one or the other. You can always run Active Server Pages on Apache via ChiliASP (

http://www.chilisoft.com/),

it's $495. That's what I would do. I heard only good things about this software. The only thing is that you wouldn't be able to use ODBC, but that's another story.
JSP is will run almost on any platform, including Apache. PHP will run on apache as well, never tried it though.

 

[vpekulas]

RE - PS: differences in building asp's in Apache versus IIS.

Another and probably easiest thing you can do is let your students write the ASP code in some texteditor and send it over LAN to one computer which would run ISS or PWS - can even be a notebook, so they would see the results. I suppose that all your students will work with the same DB.

 

[teach1]

Thanks for all the good info. I'll go check out the links and will probably be back with questions afterwards.
thanks for your help.
teach 1

 

[teach1]

Would any of you care to give an opinion as to whether or not IIS is going away? So far it seems to me many businesses are using it and I feel like we're being unfair to the students not to teach them to work with it. But some say due to security issues, IIS is over and everything will be Apache, etc soon so why worry about IIS anyway.
Any thoughts? thanks teach1

 

[Ovatvvon]

From the sounds of it, Apache won't run ASP unless you install additional software (i.e. Chilli ASP) which probably won't be as detailed as IIS. Granted, IIS has had problems, but so has many portions of every operating system...not just windows. Windows is just emphasized and publicized much more than others due to Microsoft's dominent presence in the economy.

Almost every type of program/software has it's bugs, and when found, they are fixed. The security issues with IIS (i.e. Code Red Worm, Nimda, etc) happened, and they are worked through and resolved. I find IIS to be a very powerfull and enjoyable program to work with. It's not going away on my server's any time soon, nor do I believe it will within the economy either.

Just my thoughts...take 'em for what they're worth.
-Ovatvvon :-Q

 

[vpekulas]

I agree with Ovatvvon. MS had a few bugs in IIS and they still probably do, but that's not a reason to get rid of IIS. It's all about the way you administer your servers.
You take good care of them and they will perform as expected.

I'd even say that Apache isn't the best choice of Unix-like systems. RedHat is supposedly the best thing out there.
In my opinion ever since MS released IIS 4 their market share slowly grows. And of course you will find it much easier to set it up. You have to be quite advanced to set-up the Apache server.

 

[teach1]

Okay, You've given me good points to use in fighting this battle with our lab support people. Also looks like the volume of activity in this forum bears witness to what you're saying. Wish me luck and thanks for the help. bye teach1

 

[link9]

Lemme guess... those same folks are die-hard Netscape fans, too? Am I right?

A couple things.

(1)
Check statistics on hacks. See which OS is hacked the most.

Every OS gets hacked, has holes, and needs to be patched regularly to secure infrastructures.

(2)
IIS is the 400-pound gorilla.

In school, we learned networking on Novell's NetWare, and any webserver stuff I was lucky enough to experience was Apache. Care to guess how many times I've ever used that? Not once.

http://www.chilisoft.com/chiliasp/default.asp

is where you get Chili!ASP for Apache (and other webservers), but teaching a student on another piece of software other than the one that is used in the VAST majority of companies for networking (IMHO) is just doing them a disjustice.

In my case, I studied theory and worked through hypothetical problems on paper and in the classroom, but when it came time to get down to some hands-on application, I really wish that we had worked with Microsoft products. It would have made my transition into the working world much easier.

Really, it's a symptom of the "working man" syndrome in academia, and the general loathing of "corporate america" that leads to this shunning of the most popular products in today's economy. I guess I can see the basic drive of the movement, but just disagree wholeheartedly with the application of it.

**kachink**

 

[Ovatvvon]

Well said Paul! *here* *here* -Ovatvvon :-Q