For those who are considering hosting your own help desk software, here are some sample system requirements. If you're unsure, ask for the system requirements from the help desk vendor, and pass the requirements to your hosting company for verification. You may also ask the help desk software vendor to make hosting recommendations that fit their requirements.

Windows Hosting Environment

• Windows 2000 (IIS 5.0) or Windows XP (IIS 5.1) or Windows 2003 (IIS 6.0)
• Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 (now 2.0)
• MS SQL Server 2000 or MS SQL Server 2005 Express or MS SQL Server 2005

Unix Hosting Environment

• Apache or IIS webserver
• Windows, Linux, BSD based OS
• PHP 4.x.x (5.x recommended)
• MySQL 3.3.x+ or MS SQL 2000+
• IMAP Extension Enabled

Most help desk software do not need a dedicated hosting environment, so a shared hosting environment will do just fine. That means it's very affordable for anyone who wants to host their own help desk software.

A dedicated server costs from $100/mth and up. But a shared hosting account can cost as little as $10 a month.

In a dedicated hosting environment, there isn't much difference in terms of server control, since both Windows and Unix will allow you to do whatever you want in a dedicated environment. The only major difference is a different set of skills is required to manage either one of the two servers.

But in a shared hosting environment, a Unix hosting environment will give you better control. For example, you can use mod rewrite and setup cron jobs (automated tasks) in a Unix shared hosting environment but not on a Windows shared hosting environment. These differences have been around for a long time until the rise of ASP.NET.

You may also ask the help desk software vendor to make hosting recommendations that fit their requirements.

These are technical considerations if you are looking to host your own web based help desk software. Do not be deterred as installing and setting up a help desk software is not as difficult as you think.

What type of software are you looking to download? Help desk software CD burning software Audio, video player Office software (e.g. MS Office) Free Internet browser Anti virus software