Apache + MySQL on Windows in production - how to convince people that this is bad

Question

MySQL

How to convince management that a bunch of Apache + MySQL + PHP on a Windows system in production is the way to big problems?

My argument based on the fact that this is more of a bundle for developers and carries serious problems with the relevance of updates and, therefore, with security, I stumbled upon a misunderstanding and an answer in the spirit of “well, it still works.” My authority as a system administrator was not enough to change the management's opinion on this issue. For this reason, I am trying to find references to authoritative (or those that seem authoritative to management) research on this issue.
Or maybe I'm wrong and there are some methods to ensure the stable operation of such a bundle under Windows systems, but I just haven't heard about them?

Answer 1

This bundle is not for web developers, it is a bundle of a home server "under the table" of yesterday's schoolboy trying his hand.
In the world of web development, most libraries, modules are written under unix, and only sometimes (or under duress) are ported versions for Windows. This leads to the fact that not everything can be found under Windows, and there are usually more bugs.

Answer 2

Try googling for "windows apache troubleshooting".
In general, Apache for Win 32 bit. If you need more than 4 GB of RAM, then difficulties will arise. Of course, you can put it on x64, but problems cannot be avoided.

Answer 3

Does it make sense to convince management? You can simply inform (better even in writing, or at least by email), in the opinion of a technical specialist, what such a choice is fraught with, what additional costs it will bring, and in what case. If the management decides to leave such a set, then let it remain when the mentioned problems with updates begin, then the management will have to endure downtime and pay for the work of a specialist to eliminate these problems, up to transferring the database to another server. On the other hand, if it is some useless “corporate portal” with 100 hits per day, then it can work for ten years on any office computer with Windows turned on, and no one will feel bad about it.

Answer 4

1. It all depends on how this server is “prepared” - configured, polished, debugged. I have seen and installed dozens of win servers, like under tomcats, under apache/*sql/php, under iis/asp.net, iis/php, and under Active Directory with various enterprise garbage like MS SQL or Exchange. and nothing, they have been in production for years, recently a friend transferred two dozen 2003 (yes, the first two servers from that batch and live in production since 2004 like clockwork) servers to fresh 2012R2 after a month of tests.
2. If you don’t know how to cook Windows - this does not mean that it is crooked and with bugs - this goodness is enough for Unixes, for nothing you have to roll up updates to servers and services once a week, regardless of win / linux.
3. If I were you, I would try to understand why this solution lives on this particular platform - maybe because the developers do not guarantee its work on LAMP, maybe it has components that live in .Net and twitch from under PHP a script that lives deep in the directory structure.
4. Maybe you are just following the general opinion "Windows is crooked trash"

Answer 5

From a technical point of view, Linux / Free is preferable because the situation with updates and software versions is much simpler. When I was on Windows, I had a problem finding some php_foo_5.2. 12 .dll, because php_foo_5.2 is on hand. 13 .dll was no longer suitable. On GNU/Linux everything builds and compiles without problems. Linux is better because it is more developer-friendly in PHP/MySQL (as well as ruby/python/lisp/ etc.) with its infrastructure. Windows is also friendly, but to other technologies such as ASP, MSSQL.
Therefore, for active development and support, Linux is more convenient. And for just "to work" and Windows will do. Probably. But just in case, you refuse responsibility for this application, you can write: 3

Answer 6

it is better to change apache to IIS + wincache for php is required, otherwise the brakes are incredible. The main problem under Windows was the work of php, which was not an optimized architecture, in which Windows created a process for each request. Now the situation has changed.
We keep the project on win 2012 + IIS8 + php + mysql because of one mandatory Windows binding. It was bad without the accelerator. Great with him.
There are thoughts to transfer to Linux and hang the binding as a web service on a separate hosting due to the fact that, nevertheless, Linux initially works better with php and its processes, but I want to test it all - does it make sense. Work with mysql was transferred to sockets - so faster.
Work through MS Web Platform Installer. There is no big harm, you yourself said that you cannot formulate it) And microsoft took over php with open arms - almost.