I have a server with Windows 2003 and I want to set it up so I can host websites on it? People are advising me to use Linux but I want to know how to do it on Windows first.

I suggest you start by checking out the Apache website (link below). Apache runs on either Linux or Windows and if you learn to install and configure it on one platform it'll make it easier to learn on the other.

Windows 2003 comes with Internet Information Server (IIS) version 6. If it isn't installed on your server already you can install it through your Control Panel (Add/Remove Applications - Windows Components).

In it's native form IIS will let you create HTML and ASP (Active Server Pages). You can also install a PHP interpreter on the Windows box, many instructions on the web to do this.

Make sure that you download the latest Windows Updates as there are always security fixes for IIS. And if you don't need them turn off the "Frontpage Extensions" as they are a common target of hackers.

Otherwise you can also install an Apache Web Server on your Windows 2003 box,this is a more common web server that is also used on Linux boxes.

The last answer is a good one for the installation of IIS on W2k3. Maybe I can speak to the choice of Apache vs. IIS. To me, which web server to install comes down to what software you want to run on it.

If you want basic HTML and cgi, both servers will run it fine and folks will argue for both servers for different reasons. If you want to run a server side application package here is a quick list of the best environments for them.

IIS:

Asp

Asp.net

Linux/Unix:

PHP

Ruby

Java

Both

Coldfusion (although I don't know why anyone uses it anymore)

Anyway, good luck!