Companies with the necessary resources may prefer to host their own web servers. The main advantage of this is that it allows the web server database to be integrated into other systems that the company already has. A conceptual diagram is shown above, though in practice the two servers will usually run on the same physical hardware.
Vanguard Software provides scripts for two of the most popular web server environments:
- The PHP scripting language and the MySQL database provider.
- The ASP.Net scripting language and the SQL Server database provider.
Typically the first environment is found on Apache servers, and the second one is found on IIS servers. between them, these two platforms account for over 75% of all web servers, with Apache being over twice as popular as IIS. Apache is open source and runs most of the larger web sites such as Google and Facebook, but IIS offers more integration with other Microsoft products, and is popular with small businesses.
We provide not only the scripts used to perform the web server transactions, but also the scripts needed to create the MySQL and SQL Server databases. Detailed instructions for setting up a self hosted web server can be found in the user manual.
A separate license must be purchased in our online Store for each mobile device that uses a self-hosted server. Some features of the mobile app require in-app purchases. These are not included in the price of a subscription, and have to be bought separately.