From Research Computing

Acronyms

LAMP is an acronym for Linux Apache MySQL PHP/PERL/Python

WIMP is an acronym for Windows IIS MySQL PHP/PERL/Python

Case study: LAMP versus WIMP

Here is an excerpt from an email exchange on the mediawiki-l email list concerning a comparison between MediaWiki (which you are now viewing) under Linux with the Apache web server, and MediaWiki under Windows with the IIS web server (it can be done, but it isn't recommended). The conclusion: MediaWiki runs four times faster under Linux than Windows. In this test, the LAMP server had only half the CPU speed and half the RAM of the Windows server! This suggests a performance improvement with LINUX of eight times that of Windows.

"... Comments have been made around the company about the wiki performance
being a bit lackluster. *sigh*...
 
On the Windows 2000 / IIS server, I get:
 
- Served by intrawiki.envisionware.com in 1.22 secs.
 
On the Linux Fedora Core 2 / Apache laptop, I get:
 
- Served by ntop-internal.envisionware.com in 0.35 secs.
 
The Mediawiki code just seems MUCH slower on Windows 2000. Maybe LAMP
(Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) is the way to go, and WIMP
(Windows/IIS/MySQL/PHP) is not just an acronym? *wrysmile!*"

I posed the obvious question about the setup.

> Question: is this comparison between LAMP vs WIMP implementations
> of the same software being made on molecularly identical hardware?
> The LAMP configuration is about 3 1/2 times faster than the WIMP
> configuration.

This is the reply.

The comparison is on vastly different hardware. The LAMP hardware is a
Pentium 3 laptop at 850Mhz, 200MB RAM. The WIMP hardware is a Pentium 4
server at 2+ Ghz, 512MB RAM.
 
This actually makes the speed of the LAMP implementation even more stunning;
at  half the CPU and half the RAM, it's consistently 4 times faster than the
WIMP server.
 
- Troy Thompson

External Links

LAMP versus WIMP in German (http://kefk.net/Open_Source/Projekte/WIMP/index.asp)