Building an application is only part of the process; a platform to run your code on is just as important to know about. Environmental differences can cause unexpected bugs in your code and having a knowledge of of server architectures can be a vital asset to your tech stack. Servers need to perform a range of tasks, including manage domains and user groups, permissions, and run your applications – ultimately to provide a service to you.  These services can include web services like IIS or Apache, Databases such as SQL Server or MySQL, email services like Exchange or Postfix/Dovecot.

As well as having an in depth knowledge of desktop operating systems Windows XP – Windows 10, and Linux environments such as Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuse I have an extensive knowledge in both Unix and Windows Server. Windows server as always provides the advantage of managing everything through a GUI, giving your server management a little bit of ease, and being able to run some development tools natively is always a bonus.

Running a Unix server by comparison is a lot more hands on, but provides much greater flexibility when it comes to server architecture (As well as having the bonus of being free), and with the new territory of .Net Core Unix is becoming a more viable option in businesses. I am familiar with most Debian and Redhat bases systems – in fact this website is running on a CentOS system running in the cloud.

It is one thing to know that these services are available to you, but understanding the alternatives on both platforms, as well as how to set up and use these platforms is a valuable skill.