On 12 February 2015 at 00:38, Mathieu Basille
<basille.web@ase-research.org> wrote:
> Platform
> ========
>
> Linux is the platform of choice:
> * Easier administration (install/configuration/upgrade), which is also true
> for addons/dependencies (starting with PostGIS, but also GEOS, GDAL, PL/R);
> * Better performance [4];
> * More tuning options (limited with MS systems);
It has to be said that Linux isn't the only choice there. For example,
FreeBSD (or NetBSD/OpenBSD) are popular choices for Postgres database
servers as well and they perform great and have splendid documentation
(an area where I often find Linux a little lacking). They might even
be a bit more stable.
There are also still several commercial UNIX flavours. I can't say how
any of these alternatives (in combination with PostGIS) compare to
Linux though, nor whether PostGIS is even available on all of these,
but I suspect they're at least on par for performance and stability.
Of all of these, Windows is probably the least suitable OS for the job.
Which is the most suitable depends on quite a few things, not in the
least how likely you'll be able to get experienced support for them.
If you're new to the OS and you have to support the system yourself
for any length of time, I think that good documentation is a factor to
take into account.
Am I biased? Definitely.
--
If you can't see the forest for the trees,
Cut the trees and you'll see there is no forest.