Mapserver on Linux vs Windows

[Tim Bowden]

On Sun, 2006-03-05 at 12:45 -0500, Ed McNierney wrote:
> Tim -
> 
> Sounds like a good plan.  The biggest variable (assuming the hardware is the same) is the layout of your data sources.  It's important to think those through to get the best performance.
> 

Ed, Could you elaborate on the 'layout of your data sources' bit.  All
our data is in various sde boxes.  Given the dispersed nature of our
data sets (geographically and custodianship) we don't have much leeway
as to how we can set things up; All sde boxes are behind on site
mapserver ogc client boxes which in turn act as ogc servers to a central
mapserserver which will be accessible to authorised users.

> The other thing to keep in mind is where your shop's expertise lies.  Do you have equal skills and experience with both operating systems?  If not, it is likely to be a good idea to stick with what you know.  That's how I generally advise users who ask "should I use Windows or Linux"?  I have yet to see an apples-to-apples comparison that showed any significant difference between the two operating systems.  But the effort and expense associated with learning or trying to manage an OS you don't know probably outweigh any potential performance differences.
> 

This project is being run by a consortium led by Computer Associates so
almost any skill you can think of is here somewhere ;-)  It's big enough
that the client will have a gis/IT admin team assigned to the project.
Whatever skills are missing will be acquired by the client in due
course.  It's a whole of govt approach to gis data dissemination which
is made all the more exciting by the central spot held by GIS FOSS.

>      - Ed


Tim Bowden

-- 
Mapforge Geospatial
Level 3/ 267 St Georges Tce
Perth 6000
Western Australia