Servers

[ignoramus]

what is a "physical" site

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

sexist !

Not sexist at all.  Her name is Adrienne, she works just round the corner at Santeez Café, and she's adorable.

Boru

[polymath257]

If you have folders on your computer that are 'shared' with other computers, your computer is acting like a 'server' for those files.

A 'server' is a very, very general designation. You can put a 'web server' on your PC using, say, nginx or apache2. You won't get traffic unless you have a public IP address, but you can display pages for your home network.

There are 'file servers', 'ssh servers', 'mysql servers', etc, etc, etc. Any time your computer offers a service to another computer, it is a 'server'.

Knowing about "IIS" and "Apache" were a revelation to me; even though I used both extensively, and currently using an IIS server.
But non is dedicated I think; all packaged and executed as whole systems. Meaning is: IIS has its ssh capabilities, database capabilities...etc. At least that's how I understand it.

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The depends a bit on what you mean by the term 'whole system'. I am not as familiar with IIS, being a Linux guy. But apache can *interact* with other server programs, like ssh and mysql, but doesn't itself provide an ssh or mysql server. If you want a more streamlined web server, nginx is a popular one.
And, of course, you can have the variety of file servers: NFS, SAMBA, etc. There are DNS servers to provide IP addresses, mail servers to deliver email, etc.
Also, in each type (web, mail, file, database, etc), there are multiple protocols (specific techniques for that type of server) and multiple programs that implement each protocol.
But I also know that things are more integrated in the Windows environment.

[WinterHold]

what is a "physical" site

An actual site with all its files.
Instead of purchasing space on an external server; you host it locally on your own machine, and assign a domain name to it.

It should be the same..the server software will allow users to connect to my computer and view "my physical website -the files of the site from html to scripts-.".

Since your machine is connected to the internet, and the domain name is assigned, anybody can connect to you through the same exit you're connected to: the internet.

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sexist !

Not sexist at all.  Her name is Adrienne, she works just round the corner at Santeez Café, and she's adorable.

Boru

Be charming and "host her" after having a "debugging" session with her regarding the two of you in the cafe.

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Knowing about "IIS" and "Apache" were a revelation to me; even though I used both extensively, and currently using an IIS server.
But non is dedicated I think; all packaged and executed as whole systems. Meaning is: IIS has its ssh capabilities, database capabilities...etc. At least that's how I understand it.

---

The depends a bit on what you mean by the term 'whole system'. I am not as familiar with IIS, being a Linux guy. But apache can *interact* with other server programs, like ssh and mysql, but doesn't itself provide an ssh or mysql server. If you want a more streamlined web server, nginx is a popular one.
And, of course, you can have the variety of file servers: NFS, SAMBA, etc. There are DNS servers to provide IP addresses, mail servers to deliver email, etc.
Also, in each type (web, mail, file, database, etc), there are multiple protocols (specific techniques for that type of server) and multiple programs that implement each protocol.
But I also know that things are more integrated in the Windows environment.

If you took the microsoft approach; you have the IIS software already installed with the OS; all you have to do is to download VS . Heavy as hell, but VS allows you to connect to the SQL server -both the local one; and the one on the host you deal with-, unlike apache that require you to install WAMP or MAMP alone, PHP alone then mysql alone. I feel things with Windows are more contained, and that is not the only advantage -C# and Razor are splendid-.

I only dealt closely with the FTP protocol to transfer files to the server, but the connection is also managed by VS -I think IIS would be running in the background-.

Apache is much lighter; if you ask me. I think seriously about migrating to it

[bennyboy]

Can you host a physical site using a virtual server if you bought a domain name?

That question doesn't make sense.

But let me say that I run an Azure site, which is a Microsoft-hosted virtual computer. You can choose any flavor you want, and you can change the details. Need 100Gb and a Windows Server 2017 running on two virtual CPU cores? No problem. Need 10Tb and 16 cores? Go to your billing portal, and thirty minutes later, everything's backed up and online with the new stats. And it's a fully functional version of Windows that you can access remotely; you can set up the IIS exactly how you want it, set up any number of FTP or SQL servers you like.

It's about $100 / month, but any dedicated physical server will cost you about 2x or 3x that, and will almost for sure have hardware that's worse that Microsoft's virtual servers, and shitty service as well.

[Tiberius]

Yep ^^^ what he said....nothing to do with hardware at all. In fact I had several webservers (apache) all running virtually.

Kev, is apache still a "thing" ... I've been out of the game for a while.

Yeah, Apache2 is still a thing, but NGINX is very popular (mostly because it has better performance).  I’m using NGINX myself on my VPS.  I like its configuration syntax better (it’s almost YAML-like).

NGINX FTW.

This site uses it and has for years. Wouldn’t dream of going back to Apache.

[bennyboy]

Yeah but. . . Windows is Windows.

[KevinM1]

Which makes me happy that .NET Core apps can be hosted on Linux now.... :p

[bennyboy]

The thing I'm enjoying right now on my Windows server is the .rdp administration. Connecting to a fully-functional Windows, with its desktop layout, access to all of the .NET libraries, the ability to install my own apps on the server. I really feel so free now, I can do any kind of programming that I'm familiar with, and I don't have some 2-bit bullshit like Godaddy, or like the private company that hosted my physical rack in the past.

Azure has freed me from all hardware concerns, and I can just get down to the work of doing cool stuff. Like. . . I've actually been getting little endorphin rushes every time I turn another corner expecting a limitation-- and finding the door wide open.

[Tiberius]

“Server GUI” should be an oxymoron.