Migrating From MS/IIS to Linux/Apache?

Mixhaus asks: "I'm trying to promote the Linux culture in my company. I want to migrate or at least start all new web projects on a Linux/Apache setup. Currently all the development is done on IIS/ASP with MSSQL 7.0. Has anybody done this kind of migration before? Any suggestions?"

"These are some of the questions that come up to my mind:

• Be able to migrate IIS to Apache first, and still be able to access the MSSQL databases (FreeTDS?)
• Use a scripting syntax similar to ASP so that the programmers don't have much of a headache learning new stuff (PHP looks like a solution).
• Migrate MSSQL 7 to MySQL, PostgreSQL or other (Which one is better for web development?)
• Web log reports (I need to generate reports on the web site usage. What weblog report generators are available for Linux? Which ones do you use? Are there any that generate graphs, charts, etc..?)

Thanks to the whole Slashdot Community!"

Comments

My opinions...

[Carnage4Life]

These are some of the questions that come up to my mind:

Be able to migrate IIS to Apache first, and still be able to access the MSSQL databases (FreeTDS?)

Use a scripting syntax similar to ASP so that the programmers don't have much of a headache learning new stuff (PHP looks like a solution).

Java Server Pages will solve both problems. Sun has worked very closely with the Apache project on making JSP run well under Apache including giving away code and contributing to projects a la Tomcat. Here's a site to give you a quick overview of JSP.

Migrate MSSQL 7 to MySQL, PostgreSQL or other (Which one is better for web development?)

Depends on what kind of Web development you are doing. For the kind of work I have done which is both mission critical (eliminating MySQL) and requires speed (eliminating PostgreSQL) commercial databases have always been the correct solution to solve my problem. Both IBM's DB2 and Oracle 8i are available for Linux and are also very friendly with Apache and Java.

If your site does not traffic in mission critical data (e.g. a bank, major e-commerce company) then MySQL may be the solution that you seek. It is quick, fairly easy to use and heck, slashdot uses it.

Web log reports (I need to generate reports on the web site usage. What weblog report generators are available for Linux? Which ones do you use? Are there any that generate graphs, charts, etc..?)

Look on Freshmeat.


(-1 Troll)

Web Logs

[Echo|Fox]

I highly reccomend Webalizer for your web logs. It's the best I've seen, since it has an incremental feature, so deleting/cropping your Apache logs doesn't faze it, and it really tracks everything you could possibly want: views/hits/files/visits, referrals, search engine keywords, daily/hourly stats, generates pretty graphs, the works. I've got it cronned to run every hour, and it parses my logs in a few seconds on a p166. You can grab it from FreeBSD ports, or at its webpage here.

Good suggestions here, but not complete.

[broken77]

Here are a few technologies to consider (using Perl):

• Apache::ASP
• Embperl
• Mason
• Template::Toolkit

There are many more, but these are the ones I would consider for people who already know ASP. Apache::ASP looks like a very mature and solid product, as does Embperl. I would trust either of those.

Also, is there a business need to convert the existing ASP code to work with the new platform? If so, you might consider looking into ASP2PHP, if you're already considering PHP. The author says that it will convert most of the code to PHP.

Also, I can tell you that there is (sort of) a project in the works right now to build an ASP to Apache::ASP/Perl converter and/or interpreter. To follow this, just keep an eye on the mod_perl mailing list at one of the archive locations. It will probably be called VBScript::Parser. See http://perl.apache.org/#maillists for a list of searchable archives. Most of them are updated weekly.

Also, I've noticed some comments along the lines of "JSP is without a doubt the best/fastest technology out there". Uh... Where is your proof on this? I have a suggestion, go to the mod_perl mailing list and make this statement. See where it gets you. According to them, "It's widely accepted that server side Java solutions such as JServ, JSP and JRUN, are far slower then mod_perl solutions" (http://perl. apache.org/perl_myth.html#Java_does_away_with_the_ need_for).

That being said, I think that JSP is a fine technology, and there is nothing wrong with using it. I'm about to embark on a project myself using JSP. Just don't try to tell people it's the "Holy Grail". That's more than arguable.