Vbscript or PHP? Requirements

RicardoSmith

Do you need a IIS server to use Vbscript? Or will it work fine on an apache box? Do you need the ChilliASP? Do you need ChilliASP with PHP? Or will PHP work fine on an Apache server? How about PHP on a IIs box.

I've written a few sites in ASP/MSSQL but the've always been on a IIs server. I've just started mucking about with PHP/MYSQL and I wondering if theres something on the hosting side I should be considering?

The Corinthian

While one can technically run ASP scripts off apache (using a third party app such as Chillisoft or InstantASP), I’ve heard a few stories about incompatibilities and general flakiness (COM support comes to mind).

At the same time, you can run PHP off IIS, but you won’t get all of the functions if you do that (plus, it’s CGI based, last time I looked, which has it’s own concurrency issues).

Thus as a rule, if you’re forced to use one platform over another, it’s generally better to use the technology that is native to that platform and visa versa.

RicardoSmith

Ummm. Bear with me will you. I find that most people when they talk of ASP actually mean VBscript on IIs. So I'm trying to get my head around the bigger picture. So PHP is ASP only on a Apache? But CGI on IIS? Can you elaborate on this please?

My experience thus far has been VBscript on IIS using MSSQL. But a few people have asked me to put together some db driven sites for them but the MS route is too expensive. So I've been just playing around with PHP/MySQL on IIs since that what I had handy. So far it seems quite similar. So I wondering what the difference in general are, and what the overall issues between the two are. Beyond the obvious stuff like the various difference in the actual language, or the use of com object and dll's etc.

So for example if I'm developing on PHP/MySQL on IIs will I have any issues when I go to get this running on an apache box?

The Corinthian

PHP, CGI, ASP, Cold Fusion, JSP and so on, are server side technologies whereby a glorified shell script is executed by a so-called application server before the final output is sent served out by the Web server.

In that they all to one degree or other integrate into the Web server and ultimately output though it, is where they share a common behaviour and purpose. After that the differences begin.

With regard to portability, this varies greatly, from case to case. Chillisoft ASP is always behind MS ASP for example, and COM support on Apache is, understandably, very limited with it. PHP on Win32 will be missing some of its function libraries and extras, such as support for dynamic basic authentication.

Databases can behave differently too, with MySQL tables being case sensitive on *nix and not on Win32. Win32 drivers for non-MS databases can also be problematic, I’ve found.

If you’re developing a PHP/MySQL app on Win32 and want to know if it’ll port, the answer is yes, quite well... with a few reservations.

RicardoSmith

At the same time, you can run PHP off IIS, but you won’t get all of the functions if you do that (plus, it’s CGI based, last time I looked, which has it’s own concurrency issues).

What are the concurrency issues you speak off? Are these not also common to PHP, CGI, ASP, Cold Fusion, JSP aswell?

The Corinthian

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
What are the concurrency issues you speak off? Are these not also common to PHP, CGI, ASP, Cold Fusion, JSP aswell?

As one of the older architectures CGI is a single-threading one (I think you get this as late as with CGI-Perl 5.6) thus cueing processes, while newer architectures and technologies will support multi-threading - allowing multiple processes to run at the same time. As such single-threading architecture will generally not scale as well as those that support multi-threading that will allow scripts to be accessed concurrently.

RicardoSmith

Is PHP on Apache/Nix multithreaded then?

The Corinthian

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Is PHP on Apache/Nix multithreaded then?

Threading is not really an OS issue, but one realted to the application server and even (in some cases) how you code your application - Java servlets can be developed as either single or multi-threading, for example.