A particular service where in lots of individuals and organizations can place their relevant websites with the assistance of WWW or World Wide Web, is said to be a Web Hosting Service. This service is a different type of internet web hosting service. Most of the companies generally offer a small space that they have in order to make their clients use this space. Even, these companies offer internet connections normally in a data center. These companies are usually known as web hosts. For the servers to be made available in their data centers, web hosts even offer data center space and internet connections. This particular process is known as collocations.
These days, there are lots of web hosting service providers which offer advance web hosting services. These advanced web hosting services are quite friendly and excellent performance features which are actually suitable for faster performance, better storage facilities, greater bandwidth and high traffic volume. Most of the advanced web hosting services comes along with some of the best features. It even provides greater bandwidth capacity, improved capacity of data transfer and high speed data transfer facility. Moreover, extra disk space is even being offered to the clients.
Web hosting service also provides quick access to control panels in order to manage difficult websites. It even allows setting up a new website, mal accounts and domain names along with other facilities and tools. By using the advanced web hosting services all the clients can create many email accounts along with many mailing facilities which assist them for proper managing of the mail account. Some of the other included features provided by advanced web hosting services are the mailing lists along with POP3 email accounts, auto responders, SMTP email and Web mail.
One of the main aspects required in web hosting is the web page and a small scale file for hosting. In these pages one can easily upload Web Interface Files and File Transfer Protocol. On a normal schedule these files are transferred to the net with the help of processing. There are many internet service providers who can provide these services for free. If anyone requires to open a personal web site hosting then it is either available for free or even may be cheap. However, most of the business web hosting is quite often available for high price.
Startlogic is one such web hosting service provider which offers web hosting services for a reasonable price which is almost 5.95 dollars per month. The main aim of Startlogic is o perform excellently and offer a very good internet server uptime. If a person is new to web hosting or having limited budget can in fact benefit from this service provider because it provides many great services of web hosting. Startlogic Personalogic is one of the latest plans offered by Startlogic. It is a small web hosting plan which is specially designed for new comers and beginners that look for web hosting plans with excellent features they want.
This particular plan comes with some of the features which include 600GB monthly bandwidth, web-mail client, free setup, host 10 exceptional websites, 30 days money back guarantee, 50 mail accounts, 60GB storage space, audio video streaming, vdeck 3.0 control panel etc. All this is available for only 3.95 dollars per month. View startlogic review and startlogic coupon site at www.startlogicreview.org . So, if you are a beginner then just visit Startlogic and benefit from the offers provided by them.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Pricing Of Web Hosting
Get What You Pay For
Why bother paying for hosting when there are plenty of companies offering free hosting? Well, in web hosting, when you pay nothing, you often end up with nothing.
Most free web hosts offer limited services. Even though they are not charging you to host your website, they still need to make money. The most common way to do this to place advertising on your site. You probably will have no control over what kind of ads show up. You won't be consulted when those decisions are made.
Sometimes free hosts will place restrictions on the content you place on your site. For example, you may not be allowed to sell things or have certain types of content, such as videos or music. Worst of all, your web site could disappear overnight. New companies offering free hosting pop up almost everyday, but they also vanish with astonishing regularity. When your hosting company vanishes, your web site goes with it.
Do You Need A High-Priced Web Host?
You'll need to use a reliable web host if you are serious about having a web site. Prices range considerably -- some companies offer rates as low as $2 a month, while others charge over $100. The highest rates don't always translate into the best service. Some of the lower-priced hosts offer a reliable, stable environment that allows your website to be accessed around the clock for years.
Generally speaking, though, the more you pay the more you get. Higher rates should bring you services such as more storage space, more bandwidth to handle Internet traffic, and extras such as databases, email accounts, mass mailers, and the ability to add custom scripts. Higher rates can also mean better technical support, in the unlikely event you have problems with your website.
What is a Web Server?
When you're ready to make your move, it helps to understand some of the technical details about the service you're buying. Every host has dedicated computers known as servers, which connect to the internet and "serve" pages any time they are requested. So, whenever anyone wants to see a certain web page by clicking on a link, the request is sent to the particular server where that web page is stored. The server responds by sending HTML data across the internet, and eventually back to the person who requested it.
A web server must have fast connections to be able to serve pages quickly. For the greatest speed and reliability, try to find a host that has multiple high-speed connections, as well as reliable back-up power supplies in case of power outages.
Remember, you are trying to build a business, so you'd better be prepared to pay to keep the other business in business. Otherwise you may both soon be out of business.
Why bother paying for hosting when there are plenty of companies offering free hosting? Well, in web hosting, when you pay nothing, you often end up with nothing.
Most free web hosts offer limited services. Even though they are not charging you to host your website, they still need to make money. The most common way to do this to place advertising on your site. You probably will have no control over what kind of ads show up. You won't be consulted when those decisions are made.
Sometimes free hosts will place restrictions on the content you place on your site. For example, you may not be allowed to sell things or have certain types of content, such as videos or music. Worst of all, your web site could disappear overnight. New companies offering free hosting pop up almost everyday, but they also vanish with astonishing regularity. When your hosting company vanishes, your web site goes with it.
Do You Need A High-Priced Web Host?
You'll need to use a reliable web host if you are serious about having a web site. Prices range considerably -- some companies offer rates as low as $2 a month, while others charge over $100. The highest rates don't always translate into the best service. Some of the lower-priced hosts offer a reliable, stable environment that allows your website to be accessed around the clock for years.
Generally speaking, though, the more you pay the more you get. Higher rates should bring you services such as more storage space, more bandwidth to handle Internet traffic, and extras such as databases, email accounts, mass mailers, and the ability to add custom scripts. Higher rates can also mean better technical support, in the unlikely event you have problems with your website.
What is a Web Server?
When you're ready to make your move, it helps to understand some of the technical details about the service you're buying. Every host has dedicated computers known as servers, which connect to the internet and "serve" pages any time they are requested. So, whenever anyone wants to see a certain web page by clicking on a link, the request is sent to the particular server where that web page is stored. The server responds by sending HTML data across the internet, and eventually back to the person who requested it.
A web server must have fast connections to be able to serve pages quickly. For the greatest speed and reliability, try to find a host that has multiple high-speed connections, as well as reliable back-up power supplies in case of power outages.
Remember, you are trying to build a business, so you'd better be prepared to pay to keep the other business in business. Otherwise you may both soon be out of business.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Should I Resell Web Hosting?
As nearly every web host provides the option to purchase reseller accounts, the Internet has seen a significant increase in 3rd party hosting companies looking to develop a stable recurring income. With a market filled with competition you have probably asked yourself, "Should I become a reseller?"
Points to think about before deciding
Before taking the plunge and signing up for a reseller account maybe you should ponder these points:
Do I have the time to market my services? - To stand out among the many webhosts you will be required to market your services. Be prepared to spend time every day marketing your new hosting company or learning of various techniques to market your services.
Am I prepared to offer support to my clients? - To effectively support your clients when they have a question about web hosting or if something is not working you should either have experience with web hosting or the company that is providing reseller services should provide this support. For instance 561Hosting provides free support to resellers thus eliminating the need to be an expert to provide services to your customers.
Am I in this for the long haul? - As you advertise your services and become more visible to the Internet community you will no doubt start to land customers. Be sure that you are committed to providing these services indefinitely because your customers have put their trust in you and are counting on you to be around.
Is it worth it?
Selling hosting services can be a very rewarding business that you can run from the comfort of your home. Please be patient and market your services everyday and before long you will have several clients and may consider upgrading to a dedicated server account. But that's another article...
Points to think about before deciding
Before taking the plunge and signing up for a reseller account maybe you should ponder these points:
Do I have the time to market my services? - To stand out among the many webhosts you will be required to market your services. Be prepared to spend time every day marketing your new hosting company or learning of various techniques to market your services.
Am I prepared to offer support to my clients? - To effectively support your clients when they have a question about web hosting or if something is not working you should either have experience with web hosting or the company that is providing reseller services should provide this support. For instance 561Hosting provides free support to resellers thus eliminating the need to be an expert to provide services to your customers.
Am I in this for the long haul? - As you advertise your services and become more visible to the Internet community you will no doubt start to land customers. Be sure that you are committed to providing these services indefinitely because your customers have put their trust in you and are counting on you to be around.
Is it worth it?
Selling hosting services can be a very rewarding business that you can run from the comfort of your home. Please be patient and market your services everyday and before long you will have several clients and may consider upgrading to a dedicated server account. But that's another article...
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Site5 Web Hosting Review
I have been hosting some of my websites with Site5 for about a year now. I also have other websites hosted in other web hosting companies. Here is my review for site5 based on my own personal experience with them
Why I choose Site5
I got to know about Site5 through the webhostingtalk forums. At that time, I was searching for a reliable and reputable cheap web hosting company for a couple of my new websites. And I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about Site5 and so decide to try them out. Since they have a 60 day money back refund, I figure if I did not like it, I would ask for my money back. Anyway, I was basically testing their web hosting on my new websites so I was not terribly affected.
Site5 Hosting Plan
Site5 only offer two types of hosting plan : shared and reseller. So I took the superhosting extreme package. Basically here’s the brief web hosting package details :
Diskspace : 8GB
Bandwidth : 500GB
Multisite Accounts : 5
Unlimited : domain pointers, ftp, mysql
It also comes with fantastico, cpanel. All this for about $109 annually which is pretty cheap. Please note this hosting plan is no longer available and is replaced with multisite dynamite plan. It is basically the same as my previous plan except for more diskspace and bandwidth. As I’m writing this, they have a promotion where you can get this hosting plan for 2 years at only $149 which I consider to be a good deal.
Unique Features of Site5 hosting
One feature I like about site5 hosting is the multisite accounts. It is basically a full featured control panel for each domain. Unlike other shared web hosting companies which uses domain pointers, a multisite accounts exists on its own with its own subdomains, domain pointer, ftp, mysql etc. This help me to organize my websites better especially if you have a lot of domains. You can set the diskspace and bandwidth from the main pool of your web hosting account.
The other feature is the flashback which allows you to undo any changes you make to your website. It is a life saver especially when a website breaks down and you do not know the cause.
Things that can be improved
Though I like Site5 and would recommend it to friends, there are a few things that could make it better. One of them is the upgrade option. I recently upgraded my hosting plan to multisite dynamite and was told I had to shift to another server. The problem was I had to do the data transfer myself. With 3GB of data to transfer, not to mention the dozens of ftp, mysql and email accounts, it was a real hassle. Something I am sure their staff could have easily completed in a short time.
The other thing I didn’t like was I could not request for more IP addresses. If you know about SEO, then you know how having multiple IP addresses can be useful.
In all, I would still recommend site5 due to its cheap web hosting plan, good support and high availability.
Why I choose Site5
I got to know about Site5 through the webhostingtalk forums. At that time, I was searching for a reliable and reputable cheap web hosting company for a couple of my new websites. And I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about Site5 and so decide to try them out. Since they have a 60 day money back refund, I figure if I did not like it, I would ask for my money back. Anyway, I was basically testing their web hosting on my new websites so I was not terribly affected.
Site5 Hosting Plan
Site5 only offer two types of hosting plan : shared and reseller. So I took the superhosting extreme package. Basically here’s the brief web hosting package details :
Diskspace : 8GB
Bandwidth : 500GB
Multisite Accounts : 5
Unlimited : domain pointers, ftp, mysql
It also comes with fantastico, cpanel. All this for about $109 annually which is pretty cheap. Please note this hosting plan is no longer available and is replaced with multisite dynamite plan. It is basically the same as my previous plan except for more diskspace and bandwidth. As I’m writing this, they have a promotion where you can get this hosting plan for 2 years at only $149 which I consider to be a good deal.
Unique Features of Site5 hosting
One feature I like about site5 hosting is the multisite accounts. It is basically a full featured control panel for each domain. Unlike other shared web hosting companies which uses domain pointers, a multisite accounts exists on its own with its own subdomains, domain pointer, ftp, mysql etc. This help me to organize my websites better especially if you have a lot of domains. You can set the diskspace and bandwidth from the main pool of your web hosting account.
The other feature is the flashback which allows you to undo any changes you make to your website. It is a life saver especially when a website breaks down and you do not know the cause.
Things that can be improved
Though I like Site5 and would recommend it to friends, there are a few things that could make it better. One of them is the upgrade option. I recently upgraded my hosting plan to multisite dynamite and was told I had to shift to another server. The problem was I had to do the data transfer myself. With 3GB of data to transfer, not to mention the dozens of ftp, mysql and email accounts, it was a real hassle. Something I am sure their staff could have easily completed in a short time.
The other thing I didn’t like was I could not request for more IP addresses. If you know about SEO, then you know how having multiple IP addresses can be useful.
In all, I would still recommend site5 due to its cheap web hosting plan, good support and high availability.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Price Of Web Hosting Continues To Drop
The price of web hosting continues to drop as competition continues to increase.
Web hosting is a relatively new industry which did not exist fifteen years ago. All web sites were being hosted by local internet service providers. Only large companies used to have their own websites. Things are very different now. Not only do the small and medium sized companies have websites but more and more individuals have websites as well.
There are businesses now that are thriving on the internet. Thousands of individuals also have their own websites as the internet becomes a major source of information. Work from home concepts are catching on and the internet is changing the way people do business. The trend of people owning more than one domain name is increasing. Some internet entrepreneurs have fifty or hundred web sites each.
The first impression one gets from looking at current trends is that the future of web hosting looks bright. It is going to be a period of competition for market share in a fiercely fought out market. Everyday more and more small and medium businesses are looking to build, improve or maintain a web presence. These changes will be beneficial to the well-managed and fast growing small and medium sized web hosts.
Personal websites are expected to increase as well. Reducing costs and relatively easy site building tools will bring more non-techies into the market.
Price will be the big changing factor to look at. Competition will be fierce as web hosting companies continue to offer more features, but price always seems to be the first feature most people look at.
In the years ahead, web hosts will find that to stay viable and profitable, in a market place that is growing ever more competitive that they must not only offer fully featured plans, good connectivity and reliability, but also be willing and able to respond to the diverse queries from their customers.
Why are web hosting prices coming down?
One reason is that some of these web hosting providers are newer companies. They are probably trying to get business or their operational costs are lower than the other web hosting companies. In early days the infrastructure cost was very high, but that has been reduced significantly.
Newer players in the web hosting industry invest comparatively less. So how do cheap web hosting providers manage this? Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Cheap web hosting providers capitalize on this fact. Moreover now there is much more business then ten years ago. Big volumes at lower margins work in this industry as well.
Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that it can be overwhelming for the average person. Some web hosts have a cheap upfront rate and then charge you additionally for almost every other feature. Customization is becoming more popular where you pay only for what you use. It is important never to compromise on quality.
Anyway we will continue to see the prices of web hosting going down in the future as competition stays fierce.
Web hosting is a relatively new industry which did not exist fifteen years ago. All web sites were being hosted by local internet service providers. Only large companies used to have their own websites. Things are very different now. Not only do the small and medium sized companies have websites but more and more individuals have websites as well.
There are businesses now that are thriving on the internet. Thousands of individuals also have their own websites as the internet becomes a major source of information. Work from home concepts are catching on and the internet is changing the way people do business. The trend of people owning more than one domain name is increasing. Some internet entrepreneurs have fifty or hundred web sites each.
The first impression one gets from looking at current trends is that the future of web hosting looks bright. It is going to be a period of competition for market share in a fiercely fought out market. Everyday more and more small and medium businesses are looking to build, improve or maintain a web presence. These changes will be beneficial to the well-managed and fast growing small and medium sized web hosts.
Personal websites are expected to increase as well. Reducing costs and relatively easy site building tools will bring more non-techies into the market.
Price will be the big changing factor to look at. Competition will be fierce as web hosting companies continue to offer more features, but price always seems to be the first feature most people look at.
In the years ahead, web hosts will find that to stay viable and profitable, in a market place that is growing ever more competitive that they must not only offer fully featured plans, good connectivity and reliability, but also be willing and able to respond to the diverse queries from their customers.
Why are web hosting prices coming down?
One reason is that some of these web hosting providers are newer companies. They are probably trying to get business or their operational costs are lower than the other web hosting companies. In early days the infrastructure cost was very high, but that has been reduced significantly.
Newer players in the web hosting industry invest comparatively less. So how do cheap web hosting providers manage this? Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Cheap web hosting providers capitalize on this fact. Moreover now there is much more business then ten years ago. Big volumes at lower margins work in this industry as well.
Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that it can be overwhelming for the average person. Some web hosts have a cheap upfront rate and then charge you additionally for almost every other feature. Customization is becoming more popular where you pay only for what you use. It is important never to compromise on quality.
Anyway we will continue to see the prices of web hosting going down in the future as competition stays fierce.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Cheap Web Hosting - Choose The Right Company
You have carried out the hard part and that’s creating the web site. The next step is to get it hosted as to allow the public find your site. So why do so many first time web host seekers fall into the trap of a bad web host company? Well there are a number of factors to consider and none bigger than the price. We all want cheap web hosting but unfortunately price is not always what you should go for.
You have to be more aware of the web hosting company that you choose. If you have a budget stick to it, if you see hosting for little or nothing and find yourself thinking “how do they make money” stay well away, the chances are your web site will be hosted with very little bandwidth resulting in a very slow accessible and unprofessional web site. You may also find that the customer service is little or none.
You need to clearly outline your own requirements to the web hosting company, if you do not do so you are at fault and not in any position to point the finger at others. If you make a list of requirements such as particular files you need etc you can send your requirements to multiple hosting companies and see who comes back with the greater service.
If you have more than one web site to host such as affiliate marketers it is not a good idea to put all your sites with the one web host company server to start with, you need to be 100% confident with the service, so start with one web site first as a test. Remember if you do host all your websites with one host company, all it takes is one problem to bring all your sites down and could result in lose of revenue for you. At least if you have some web sites hosted by another company they will still be online.
Some web host companies offer testimonials on their own web site from valued customers recommending them. Seeing is not believing, call these customers and get a face value recommendation for yourself.
What if I have problems?
Lets be honest, problems can occur and they maybe your fault and sometimes the web host company is to blame. Problems with technology can occur any time but it’s how the hosting company react to the fault that will determine if you stay with them or not. If you find your web site dropping off line or downloading slowly at a regular basis simply change to another web host company. On going problems not fixed is a very bad sign and it shows arrogance towards their customers. Support is vital from a web host company and it should be 24 hour if it’s a large organisation.
Virus Problems and Hackers
It is up to the web host company to ensure that your files are protected from virus and hackers at all times. There has been plenty of companies who have had their web sites hacked only then to find out that the web host company had not got the latest patches and security software applied. First timers to web hosting should always ask how often updates and what software is used to protect web sites.
Tips:
In business your web site can be a large source of revenue or sometimes your only source. Always do your own backup of the web site. If the web host company experience problems and for whatever reason has no backups available your whole business could be on hold. Backups are vital so do it as regular as possible or face the consequences. Some companies have testimonials on their web site from customers, do not be afraid to call these guys for an up to date reference.
If you where taking on an employee you would check all references, this is similar. Always get the full contact details of the web hosting company, many people simple go online and have an email address only as the contact. If their email goes down and you need to contact them you should have their full details at hand. Always shop around for the different web hosting plans and compare, you will find large differences, after you settle with a budget ask the necessary questions before you sign up.
You have to be more aware of the web hosting company that you choose. If you have a budget stick to it, if you see hosting for little or nothing and find yourself thinking “how do they make money” stay well away, the chances are your web site will be hosted with very little bandwidth resulting in a very slow accessible and unprofessional web site. You may also find that the customer service is little or none.
You need to clearly outline your own requirements to the web hosting company, if you do not do so you are at fault and not in any position to point the finger at others. If you make a list of requirements such as particular files you need etc you can send your requirements to multiple hosting companies and see who comes back with the greater service.
If you have more than one web site to host such as affiliate marketers it is not a good idea to put all your sites with the one web host company server to start with, you need to be 100% confident with the service, so start with one web site first as a test. Remember if you do host all your websites with one host company, all it takes is one problem to bring all your sites down and could result in lose of revenue for you. At least if you have some web sites hosted by another company they will still be online.
Some web host companies offer testimonials on their own web site from valued customers recommending them. Seeing is not believing, call these customers and get a face value recommendation for yourself.
What if I have problems?
Lets be honest, problems can occur and they maybe your fault and sometimes the web host company is to blame. Problems with technology can occur any time but it’s how the hosting company react to the fault that will determine if you stay with them or not. If you find your web site dropping off line or downloading slowly at a regular basis simply change to another web host company. On going problems not fixed is a very bad sign and it shows arrogance towards their customers. Support is vital from a web host company and it should be 24 hour if it’s a large organisation.
Virus Problems and Hackers
It is up to the web host company to ensure that your files are protected from virus and hackers at all times. There has been plenty of companies who have had their web sites hacked only then to find out that the web host company had not got the latest patches and security software applied. First timers to web hosting should always ask how often updates and what software is used to protect web sites.
Tips:
In business your web site can be a large source of revenue or sometimes your only source. Always do your own backup of the web site. If the web host company experience problems and for whatever reason has no backups available your whole business could be on hold. Backups are vital so do it as regular as possible or face the consequences. Some companies have testimonials on their web site from customers, do not be afraid to call these guys for an up to date reference.
If you where taking on an employee you would check all references, this is similar. Always get the full contact details of the web hosting company, many people simple go online and have an email address only as the contact. If their email goes down and you need to contact them you should have their full details at hand. Always shop around for the different web hosting plans and compare, you will find large differences, after you settle with a budget ask the necessary questions before you sign up.
Monday, March 22, 2010
A Comprehensive Mini-Guide To Web Hosting
What is web hosting: In the simplest words, web hosting is putting up your website or domain on the World Wide Web (www) Network. ‘Putting up’ is termed as hosting. Web hosting is done in order to give access to the world to your site (your page or the contents). Web hosting is done with the help of a server, which is connected to the internet.
In order to have your page/site connected to the web, you will have first to name it. The page/site name is called domain name. There are free domains where you need not pay for hosting, but here you have very restricted services. Hence, it is good if you have a low cost domain hosting if you have a low budget, but paid is preferable to the free services. Domain names usually end with .com. However, there are other suffixes like .org, .edu, .info, .in, .net and so on, which are as popular. Some suffixes indicate the business they are in like .edu will definitely be educational; .au is from Australia, .ro from Romania, and so on. When you choose a domain name, you must keep in mind that it will represent you on the web. So, choose a simple and concise name, preferably one that reflects or is your brand name. Simplicity is as important as accuracy as people will need to remember it to get back to you. It should not be too difficult to remember.
Once you decide on the domain name, you will have to turn your attention to the other factors required for a good web hosting decision, i.e. capacity of storage for your domain, traffic transfer capacity, customer support services, and reliability of the servers.
For storage capacity, you will need a minimum of 500 MB, which will be up gradable by your web host when you feel you need it. This usually involves a hike in the web-hosting price as well. With regard to traffic transfer or bandwidth, most web hosts offer about 100 GB traffic transfer per month which is okay for a small to medium website. Please take care that this is included as without the traffic to your website, your site will be dead. Some web hosts who charge very less for hosting will have additional prices for traffic transfer. Be sure you know about it and agree to it. Once you are with a web host, changing is cumbersome.
The most critical factor is service support. In order to have a good traffic and build good rapport your website should be always functional. In case there are some problem in accessing, opening of pages, or downloading, the web host should be able to settle the problem as fast as possible as time will cost you money and business rapport. Ideally, they should provide you with round the clock, seven-days-a-week service for paid services.
Last but not the least; their server’s reliability is synonymous with the reliability of your site in the eyes of your customers. If your site throws up ‘server not available’ all the time, your customers will shift their business elsewhere. Hence, you have to ensure that your web hosting is done by reliable and up-to-date servers, which can and will provide round the clock service with adequate back up in case of any interruption. They have to assure you to deliver 99.5% uptime, and their backup plans.
In order to have your page/site connected to the web, you will have first to name it. The page/site name is called domain name. There are free domains where you need not pay for hosting, but here you have very restricted services. Hence, it is good if you have a low cost domain hosting if you have a low budget, but paid is preferable to the free services. Domain names usually end with .com. However, there are other suffixes like .org, .edu, .info, .in, .net and so on, which are as popular. Some suffixes indicate the business they are in like .edu will definitely be educational; .au is from Australia, .ro from Romania, and so on. When you choose a domain name, you must keep in mind that it will represent you on the web. So, choose a simple and concise name, preferably one that reflects or is your brand name. Simplicity is as important as accuracy as people will need to remember it to get back to you. It should not be too difficult to remember.
Once you decide on the domain name, you will have to turn your attention to the other factors required for a good web hosting decision, i.e. capacity of storage for your domain, traffic transfer capacity, customer support services, and reliability of the servers.
For storage capacity, you will need a minimum of 500 MB, which will be up gradable by your web host when you feel you need it. This usually involves a hike in the web-hosting price as well. With regard to traffic transfer or bandwidth, most web hosts offer about 100 GB traffic transfer per month which is okay for a small to medium website. Please take care that this is included as without the traffic to your website, your site will be dead. Some web hosts who charge very less for hosting will have additional prices for traffic transfer. Be sure you know about it and agree to it. Once you are with a web host, changing is cumbersome.
The most critical factor is service support. In order to have a good traffic and build good rapport your website should be always functional. In case there are some problem in accessing, opening of pages, or downloading, the web host should be able to settle the problem as fast as possible as time will cost you money and business rapport. Ideally, they should provide you with round the clock, seven-days-a-week service for paid services.
Last but not the least; their server’s reliability is synonymous with the reliability of your site in the eyes of your customers. If your site throws up ‘server not available’ all the time, your customers will shift their business elsewhere. Hence, you have to ensure that your web hosting is done by reliable and up-to-date servers, which can and will provide round the clock service with adequate back up in case of any interruption. They have to assure you to deliver 99.5% uptime, and their backup plans.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Affordable Linux Hosting Plans
The success of your small-business web site depends a lot on how you choose partners at each step of its development, right form designing your small-business website to hosting it over the net.
When you are at the start of your business, you don’t need a big website and a huge disk space on the server and probably look for companies offering affordable web hosting plans.
Let’s say, you have got your Domain Name (www.yourdomain.com). Its time to check for a good hosting service provider to have your files uploaded in the domain.
If you go for a Linux Based Hosting Plan, make sure you have the following included in your plans:
1. Control Panel - This is the nucleus of your website. In a Control Panel, popularly known as CP, you can literally do anything. The moment you signup for a hosting plan, you must be provided with a CP to manage your web space.
2. POP3 email Ids & Aliases - yourname@yourdomain.com is an example POP3 ID. You must be provided with ample of POP3 email ids depending on your package size for better mail administration.
3. FTP Accounts & Virtual FTP - This is your online folder where you upload your files, delete them, and update them. Make sure you have handful of FTP sub-accounts to provide your clients/users with password protected directories. This is very much useful wherein your clients/users can use the FTP to upload /download files from designated password protected folders.
4. Backup - Most quality hosting service providers take automated backups. While choosing your hosting plan, make sure of this.
5. Web Statistics - Say, your website has been launched and you get NIL Visits or More than 100 Visits per day. Whatever the case may be, visitor analysis plays a key role in the success of your website. You can view the Report using Statistics Application that run in the server backend.
6. Bandwidth - Choose the hosting plan that gives enough bandwidth for your website. Even though you cannot judge at the beginning, as time progresses, you can easily calculate the bandwidth required.
7. PHP & Mysql Support - All the Linux Plans support PHP & Mysql. Make sure you get this free of charge when you buy the hosting plan. Few Hosting Providers may charge extra for MYSQL Database Support & PhpMyAdmin.
8. Webmail & SMTP - Email becomes key part in your life once you launch the website. Check if the hosts provide WEBMAIL (mail.yourdomain.com) to check your mails through a web based interface using Squirrelmail or Horde. Corporate users prefer downloading mails thru Email Clients such as Eudora or Outlook Express. Only if SMTP or IMAP support is enabled you can use this option. Hence check if SMTP support is provided.
9. SPAM ASSASIN - No email user is free from a spam attack. Hence you need to have Spam Filters installed on the server where your website resides.
10. IP - If your website requires SSL Support (https ://), make sure you get a DEDICATED IP. Most of the websites are hosted on shared IPs. Ask your Hosting Provider about the extra charges involved in getting a dedicated IP and SSL Support. Note: For SSL (https ://), you need to buy a Digital Certificate.
These are the basic ingredients of Linux hosting plans
Choosing your hosting provider is perhaps the most crucial element in the success of your website. You need a good hosting partner for hosting your well-designed web pages on the server to be viewed by your potential customers.
The right web partners help you to get good footing on the net from the very start of your small-business, be it in the terms of building your brand image and presence, search engine optimization or providing small business hosting solutions
When you are at the start of your business, you don’t need a big website and a huge disk space on the server and probably look for companies offering affordable web hosting plans.
Let’s say, you have got your Domain Name (www.yourdomain.com). Its time to check for a good hosting service provider to have your files uploaded in the domain.
If you go for a Linux Based Hosting Plan, make sure you have the following included in your plans:
1. Control Panel - This is the nucleus of your website. In a Control Panel, popularly known as CP, you can literally do anything. The moment you signup for a hosting plan, you must be provided with a CP to manage your web space.
2. POP3 email Ids & Aliases - yourname@yourdomain.com is an example POP3 ID. You must be provided with ample of POP3 email ids depending on your package size for better mail administration.
3. FTP Accounts & Virtual FTP - This is your online folder where you upload your files, delete them, and update them. Make sure you have handful of FTP sub-accounts to provide your clients/users with password protected directories. This is very much useful wherein your clients/users can use the FTP to upload /download files from designated password protected folders.
4. Backup - Most quality hosting service providers take automated backups. While choosing your hosting plan, make sure of this.
5. Web Statistics - Say, your website has been launched and you get NIL Visits or More than 100 Visits per day. Whatever the case may be, visitor analysis plays a key role in the success of your website. You can view the Report using Statistics Application that run in the server backend.
6. Bandwidth - Choose the hosting plan that gives enough bandwidth for your website. Even though you cannot judge at the beginning, as time progresses, you can easily calculate the bandwidth required.
7. PHP & Mysql Support - All the Linux Plans support PHP & Mysql. Make sure you get this free of charge when you buy the hosting plan. Few Hosting Providers may charge extra for MYSQL Database Support & PhpMyAdmin.
8. Webmail & SMTP - Email becomes key part in your life once you launch the website. Check if the hosts provide WEBMAIL (mail.yourdomain.com) to check your mails through a web based interface using Squirrelmail or Horde. Corporate users prefer downloading mails thru Email Clients such as Eudora or Outlook Express. Only if SMTP or IMAP support is enabled you can use this option. Hence check if SMTP support is provided.
9. SPAM ASSASIN - No email user is free from a spam attack. Hence you need to have Spam Filters installed on the server where your website resides.
10. IP - If your website requires SSL Support (https ://), make sure you get a DEDICATED IP. Most of the websites are hosted on shared IPs. Ask your Hosting Provider about the extra charges involved in getting a dedicated IP and SSL Support. Note: For SSL (https ://), you need to buy a Digital Certificate.
These are the basic ingredients of Linux hosting plans
Choosing your hosting provider is perhaps the most crucial element in the success of your website. You need a good hosting partner for hosting your well-designed web pages on the server to be viewed by your potential customers.
The right web partners help you to get good footing on the net from the very start of your small-business, be it in the terms of building your brand image and presence, search engine optimization or providing small business hosting solutions
Friday, March 19, 2010
1and1 Hosting - Raising the bar
First, I have to admit. I'm a terrible customer. I'm a demanding perfectionist who rarely feels that he is getting his money's worth. This is especially true of hosting providers. In the past four years, I've had to change providers at least six times because I felt that I was not getting what I paid for. This brief commentary is somewhat of a treat for me as I finally get to say something good about a hosting provider!
A little over two years ago I was reading up on the latest technologies in one of my favorite publications, eWeek, when I ran across a nice, full-page ad from 1and1 offering an introductory offer of free hosting for three years. Wait! What! No way! This has got to be too good to be true! Off to the trusty computer I go...
Sure enough, it was the real deal. 1and1 was indeed offering free web hosting for three years to introduce its new public sector hosting service. Well, like any good cash-strapped college student, I stepped right up and got me a piece of the pie. I've got to say, the pie was good too!
After roughly two years of hosting with 1and1, with minimal problems I should say, I started to notice that I was getting dangerously close to the bandwidth allowance my free package had to offer. No big surprise there; these things happen when you're trying to establish an online presence and you offer free downloads. It was time to upgrade my hosting.
At the time, there were no great specials going on at 1and1 so I decided to shop around. That was a tremendous mistake! What I got was a course in how *not* to run a hosting service. I will be polite, this time, and not name and companies, but let's just say stay away from cheap reseller hosting accounts! The uptime is nowhere near what they promise and every time you turn around some idiot is running a script that bogs the server down to a crawl.
After a couple months, a chunk of wasted cash, and several moves back and forth between providers, I finally conceded that 1and1 was indeed the best host I had come across thus far. As luck would have it, I had received an email from 1and1 announcing a great promotion for their free preview package holders (obvious marketing trick, but good timing in my situation). They were offering their top shared Linux package for half the price. Ok, that sounds like a good deal, and it was, but what about next year? Well, this is where it gets even better. Not only did I get the package at half price, but they guaranteed that price for three years with free upgrades!
I might not be the brightest light bulb in the box, but I know a good deal when I see one. So, as I'm sure you've already figured out, I signed up. What I got was a whole lot more than what I bargained for, and honestly, could have hoped for. Almost instantly after upgrading, I noticed that my sites were running faster. I'm assuming that paid customers are placed on less crowded servers.
Then, the first upgrade came. My space and bandwidth were doubled at no extra charge. I thought to myself, cool, I'll take it! A couple weeks later, I was browsing the 1and1 site comparing features for a potential client when I noticed that the package I have had been bumped to ridiculously high levels. Even though I was getting my money's worth at the time, I felt a little bitter that I wasn't getting the full package spec. After all, I was promised that I would get every package upgrade.
Just like any other nightmare client, I promptly dialed billing to give them a piece of my mind. Apparently, the billing agent was no stranger to difficult clients like me. Within a few minutes of talking to me, he got me defused and assured me that my package would be brought up to spec within four weeks. That was two weeks ago. He explained that it was taking more time than expected to upgrade all their current accounts to the new account specs. He really surprised me when he said that I'd actually be getting more than what was currently listed on the site. What?! Ok then! Thank you for your time! Needless to say, I was left feeling very positive about that support call.
Here's where we get into the numbers... When I logged into my account today, I was greeted by some very generous numbers for the package I have. I discovered that I now have 30,000MB of storage and 1,500 GB of transfer on a shared hosting account that normally runs $19.99/mo! Wait! That can't be right! Those are VPS specs! Yup, you read right. 30GB of storage and 1.5TB of transfer for under $20/mo. PLUS, with 1and1, I only pay $5.99 per domain, per year.
Now, let's be real here. Those numbers are great and all, but other providers offer similar specs. What sets 1and1 apart? For starters, uptime! With every other host I've used, uptime was a major issue. This is not so with 1and1. I can count on one hand how many times in the past two years my site was not available and nearly every time it was related to an ISP router, not 1and1! Also, one of the things I've really grown to appreciate is their one-of-a-kind control panel. It's a little slow, but it more than makes up for it in streamlined administration. This is especially true of the domain administration. Even complete n00bs have no problem navigating the 1and1 control panel and managing their package like a pro.
Again, I'm not the easiest person in the world to impress, especially when it comes to hosting providers. Nevertheless, 1and1 has really raised the bar of what a good hosting provider is in my mind. They are now the benchmark by which I will measure all hosting providers. If you are in the market for a good, reliable, affordable hosting provider, I cannot say enough positive about 1and1.
There is only one negative I've found with 1and1 and it's not even really a negative. They're a bit restrictive on script execution. If you think about it, in a shared hosting environment, this is a good thing, and this also explains why the only time I've noticed the server actually being down was during a scheduled hardware upgrade. Now, who's going to complain about a free upgrade in performance?
If you would like more information on 1and1 and the packages they offer, I encourage you to visit their site. Just as a point of reference, I'm running on the Developer Package. I think you'll find that it's a more than adequate package for moderate to heavy traffic sites.
A little over two years ago I was reading up on the latest technologies in one of my favorite publications, eWeek, when I ran across a nice, full-page ad from 1and1 offering an introductory offer of free hosting for three years. Wait! What! No way! This has got to be too good to be true! Off to the trusty computer I go...
Sure enough, it was the real deal. 1and1 was indeed offering free web hosting for three years to introduce its new public sector hosting service. Well, like any good cash-strapped college student, I stepped right up and got me a piece of the pie. I've got to say, the pie was good too!
After roughly two years of hosting with 1and1, with minimal problems I should say, I started to notice that I was getting dangerously close to the bandwidth allowance my free package had to offer. No big surprise there; these things happen when you're trying to establish an online presence and you offer free downloads. It was time to upgrade my hosting.
At the time, there were no great specials going on at 1and1 so I decided to shop around. That was a tremendous mistake! What I got was a course in how *not* to run a hosting service. I will be polite, this time, and not name and companies, but let's just say stay away from cheap reseller hosting accounts! The uptime is nowhere near what they promise and every time you turn around some idiot is running a script that bogs the server down to a crawl.
After a couple months, a chunk of wasted cash, and several moves back and forth between providers, I finally conceded that 1and1 was indeed the best host I had come across thus far. As luck would have it, I had received an email from 1and1 announcing a great promotion for their free preview package holders (obvious marketing trick, but good timing in my situation). They were offering their top shared Linux package for half the price. Ok, that sounds like a good deal, and it was, but what about next year? Well, this is where it gets even better. Not only did I get the package at half price, but they guaranteed that price for three years with free upgrades!
I might not be the brightest light bulb in the box, but I know a good deal when I see one. So, as I'm sure you've already figured out, I signed up. What I got was a whole lot more than what I bargained for, and honestly, could have hoped for. Almost instantly after upgrading, I noticed that my sites were running faster. I'm assuming that paid customers are placed on less crowded servers.
Then, the first upgrade came. My space and bandwidth were doubled at no extra charge. I thought to myself, cool, I'll take it! A couple weeks later, I was browsing the 1and1 site comparing features for a potential client when I noticed that the package I have had been bumped to ridiculously high levels. Even though I was getting my money's worth at the time, I felt a little bitter that I wasn't getting the full package spec. After all, I was promised that I would get every package upgrade.
Just like any other nightmare client, I promptly dialed billing to give them a piece of my mind. Apparently, the billing agent was no stranger to difficult clients like me. Within a few minutes of talking to me, he got me defused and assured me that my package would be brought up to spec within four weeks. That was two weeks ago. He explained that it was taking more time than expected to upgrade all their current accounts to the new account specs. He really surprised me when he said that I'd actually be getting more than what was currently listed on the site. What?! Ok then! Thank you for your time! Needless to say, I was left feeling very positive about that support call.
Here's where we get into the numbers... When I logged into my account today, I was greeted by some very generous numbers for the package I have. I discovered that I now have 30,000MB of storage and 1,500 GB of transfer on a shared hosting account that normally runs $19.99/mo! Wait! That can't be right! Those are VPS specs! Yup, you read right. 30GB of storage and 1.5TB of transfer for under $20/mo. PLUS, with 1and1, I only pay $5.99 per domain, per year.
Now, let's be real here. Those numbers are great and all, but other providers offer similar specs. What sets 1and1 apart? For starters, uptime! With every other host I've used, uptime was a major issue. This is not so with 1and1. I can count on one hand how many times in the past two years my site was not available and nearly every time it was related to an ISP router, not 1and1! Also, one of the things I've really grown to appreciate is their one-of-a-kind control panel. It's a little slow, but it more than makes up for it in streamlined administration. This is especially true of the domain administration. Even complete n00bs have no problem navigating the 1and1 control panel and managing their package like a pro.
Again, I'm not the easiest person in the world to impress, especially when it comes to hosting providers. Nevertheless, 1and1 has really raised the bar of what a good hosting provider is in my mind. They are now the benchmark by which I will measure all hosting providers. If you are in the market for a good, reliable, affordable hosting provider, I cannot say enough positive about 1and1.
There is only one negative I've found with 1and1 and it's not even really a negative. They're a bit restrictive on script execution. If you think about it, in a shared hosting environment, this is a good thing, and this also explains why the only time I've noticed the server actually being down was during a scheduled hardware upgrade. Now, who's going to complain about a free upgrade in performance?
If you would like more information on 1and1 and the packages they offer, I encourage you to visit their site. Just as a point of reference, I'm running on the Developer Package. I think you'll find that it's a more than adequate package for moderate to heavy traffic sites.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Cheap And Reliable Website Hosting
Many internet business owners wonder if it is possible to find cheap web hosting without having to sacrifice much needed features for their business. With so many choices for web hosting available today it can be very confusing for people doing business son the internet to get the information that they need to determine if cheap web hosting is a good choice for their website.
First of all you want to decide what types of web hosting features are vital to your Internet business. If you do not need a whole lot of bells and whistles with your web hosting you are very likely to be able to find a cheap web hosting package that will meet your basic needs. Many companies that offer cheap web hosting have packages available that start at around ten dollars per month.
Shared hosting can be another alternative for those looking for cheap web hosting. Shared web hosting is when several instances of the same service can be found on a single server. This can be an extremely economical way for a website owner to get cheap web hosting and you can generally upgrade your service as needed and still get website hosting for a reasonable price.
You want to really pay attention to the amount of bandwidth that a web hosting company allows you when you are looking for cheap web hosting. Nothing would be worse then having your website go down for going over your allowed bandwidth. This is an excellent way to loose both existing customers as well as potential new customers.
So While there is nothing wrong with spend a nice amount for hosting for your website many business owners will find that cheap web hosting fits the needs of their online business perfectly. A quick Internet search will point you in the direction of where to start looking for cheap web hosting.
First of all you want to decide what types of web hosting features are vital to your Internet business. If you do not need a whole lot of bells and whistles with your web hosting you are very likely to be able to find a cheap web hosting package that will meet your basic needs. Many companies that offer cheap web hosting have packages available that start at around ten dollars per month.
Shared hosting can be another alternative for those looking for cheap web hosting. Shared web hosting is when several instances of the same service can be found on a single server. This can be an extremely economical way for a website owner to get cheap web hosting and you can generally upgrade your service as needed and still get website hosting for a reasonable price.
You want to really pay attention to the amount of bandwidth that a web hosting company allows you when you are looking for cheap web hosting. Nothing would be worse then having your website go down for going over your allowed bandwidth. This is an excellent way to loose both existing customers as well as potential new customers.
So While there is nothing wrong with spend a nice amount for hosting for your website many business owners will find that cheap web hosting fits the needs of their online business perfectly. A quick Internet search will point you in the direction of where to start looking for cheap web hosting.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
4 Tips to Find the Web Host That's Right for You
So you have finally planned to invade the magical world of Internet. All captions ready, all information gathered, all details penned down. What next?
Your next important step is finding the Web Host for your site, The Right One..
A web host is a service provider that places your web site on a computer that is connected to Internet. This then gives people who surf Internet a way to access your website.
Finding the best host for your company's Web site is one of the most important steps when taking your business online. Not only will your host be responsible for placing your company's site on the Internet; it will also be responsible for keeping it there and being available to potential customers.
Now, let us take a look at the steps to be followed when choosing the right web host:
1. Create an online plan for your site. What you are going to sell, number of items, methods of payment and the features of your site. Then determine the possibilities for your site's expansion over the next six months, the next year and the next five years. Look into these factors before short-listing your probable host.
Disk Space/Storage refers to the amount of space given by a web-hosting plan for your web site's pages, images, and any additional files. Take this into consideration when determining the total number of files you will be using for your website and their sizes. If you are planning on creating a website with a lot of video or audio files, you will need a lot of disk space. Check whether your host can meet this requirement.
Programming Languages such as ASP, PHP, Perl/CGI, JSP and ColdFusion are used to create a lot of popular scripts (software) to help your website function. Make sure your web host supports the language used by you. Also, if you are planning on selling services or products from your website, make sure the web hosting plan you choose offers some type of ecommerce solution.
2. Now that you have checked out all your requirements, pick your top five responses. Surprisingly, many of the hosts you submit a request for a proposal to won't respond by your set deadline. Ignore them and look at the responses you receive and pick the five best.
3. Ask for references. Take your short list of hosts and ask them for the names of some of their clients -- then pick up the phone and see what the host's clients have to say. Be sure to inquire how good the host is at making the site available online.
4. Test their customer service. Pick up the phone and call customer support at 2 a.m. Drop customer support an e-mail to see how fast they respond to you. Do what it takes to feel comfortable with your service provider before you enter into any type of business relationship.
Choosing the right Web host is easier if you approach it the way you would approach any other major purchase for your business. It can mean the difference between success and failure for your online venture.
Your next important step is finding the Web Host for your site, The Right One..
A web host is a service provider that places your web site on a computer that is connected to Internet. This then gives people who surf Internet a way to access your website.
Finding the best host for your company's Web site is one of the most important steps when taking your business online. Not only will your host be responsible for placing your company's site on the Internet; it will also be responsible for keeping it there and being available to potential customers.
Now, let us take a look at the steps to be followed when choosing the right web host:
1. Create an online plan for your site. What you are going to sell, number of items, methods of payment and the features of your site. Then determine the possibilities for your site's expansion over the next six months, the next year and the next five years. Look into these factors before short-listing your probable host.
Disk Space/Storage refers to the amount of space given by a web-hosting plan for your web site's pages, images, and any additional files. Take this into consideration when determining the total number of files you will be using for your website and their sizes. If you are planning on creating a website with a lot of video or audio files, you will need a lot of disk space. Check whether your host can meet this requirement.
Programming Languages such as ASP, PHP, Perl/CGI, JSP and ColdFusion are used to create a lot of popular scripts (software) to help your website function. Make sure your web host supports the language used by you. Also, if you are planning on selling services or products from your website, make sure the web hosting plan you choose offers some type of ecommerce solution.
2. Now that you have checked out all your requirements, pick your top five responses. Surprisingly, many of the hosts you submit a request for a proposal to won't respond by your set deadline. Ignore them and look at the responses you receive and pick the five best.
3. Ask for references. Take your short list of hosts and ask them for the names of some of their clients -- then pick up the phone and see what the host's clients have to say. Be sure to inquire how good the host is at making the site available online.
4. Test their customer service. Pick up the phone and call customer support at 2 a.m. Drop customer support an e-mail to see how fast they respond to you. Do what it takes to feel comfortable with your service provider before you enter into any type of business relationship.
Choosing the right Web host is easier if you approach it the way you would approach any other major purchase for your business. It can mean the difference between success and failure for your online venture.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
web hosting plans
Why on earth would you ever buy something that you don't need or pay for something that you'll never use?
If you're in the market for a web hosting plan, chances are that you're a small or start-up company with a tight budget. You've planned out every expense down to the last dime. If you're in need of office space, you probably wouldn't even think about signing a three year lease for a 1300 square foot office with a giant, picture window, complete with an ocean view- and why not? Because you don't need all of that space (or the expense) as you start out on your new venture.
The same holds true for web hosting plans. Why would you purchase a plan that has 50,000 mb of various space and 20 email addresses when it's just you, your spouse, and a four page website? Starting out small with the ability to expand when necessary is a crucial part of a successful entrepreneur.
Believe it or not, the majority of those who are looking for such information are not computer gurus, but typical individuals looking for a simple plan to fill their website needs. Such customers are usually unaware of the exact amount of space, storage and other do-dads they will need until their site is up and running. So in addition to the low cost of these cheap web hosting services, many of them offer you a "building block" type of service, where you start with a small, base plan with the minimal amounts of disk space and monthly transfer allowance, but with the ability to upgrade to a bit more as you go along, whether you realize your need during the site building process or six months down the road, the upgrade options that you need, along with many that you don't, will be available for you to purchase. Email addresses (more than one) all come standard (usually) with the purchase of a basic package, and also offer you the ability to add more to your basic, cheap web hosting plan.
Some might shy away from the less expensive web hosting plans and companies for fear of inadequate or cheap service. Most of the time, the cheap, or inexpensive web hosts will provide the same quality (if not a bit better) of a product/service as their pricey competitors. Of course, you will need to do your homework and research on the company at hand.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO GO FOR GLOBAT PLAN BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET A CHEAPER ONE THAN THIS
If you're in the market for a web hosting plan, chances are that you're a small or start-up company with a tight budget. You've planned out every expense down to the last dime. If you're in need of office space, you probably wouldn't even think about signing a three year lease for a 1300 square foot office with a giant, picture window, complete with an ocean view- and why not? Because you don't need all of that space (or the expense) as you start out on your new venture.
The same holds true for web hosting plans. Why would you purchase a plan that has 50,000 mb of various space and 20 email addresses when it's just you, your spouse, and a four page website? Starting out small with the ability to expand when necessary is a crucial part of a successful entrepreneur.
Believe it or not, the majority of those who are looking for such information are not computer gurus, but typical individuals looking for a simple plan to fill their website needs. Such customers are usually unaware of the exact amount of space, storage and other do-dads they will need until their site is up and running. So in addition to the low cost of these cheap web hosting services, many of them offer you a "building block" type of service, where you start with a small, base plan with the minimal amounts of disk space and monthly transfer allowance, but with the ability to upgrade to a bit more as you go along, whether you realize your need during the site building process or six months down the road, the upgrade options that you need, along with many that you don't, will be available for you to purchase. Email addresses (more than one) all come standard (usually) with the purchase of a basic package, and also offer you the ability to add more to your basic, cheap web hosting plan.
Some might shy away from the less expensive web hosting plans and companies for fear of inadequate or cheap service. Most of the time, the cheap, or inexpensive web hosts will provide the same quality (if not a bit better) of a product/service as their pricey competitors. Of course, you will need to do your homework and research on the company at hand.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO GO FOR GLOBAT PLAN BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET A CHEAPER ONE THAN THIS
Friday, March 12, 2010
Finding A Web Host To Fit Your Needs
Deciding which web hosting service is right for your web site is similar to choosing the right car for your family. Just like a lemon auto choice can complicate your life and cost you more in the long run, a lousy web host can affect your online business on many different levels, potentially costing you time and money.
Of course, no one purposefully chooses a poor web host any more than one knowingly makes a decision to become the owner of a problem car. Research is key when deciding which web hosts are the best and most cost effective. Below is some information about three popular web hosts to help you determine what type of service best fits your needs.
GoDaddy.com
With simple and hassle-free hosting, GoDaddy offers both economy and premium packages. Their $8.95 domains are some of the best prices one can find in the industry. Adding hosting to this domain drops the price to $1.95. It may be hard to find another good company who offers these prices.
Simplicity and user-friendliness are primary characteristics of GoDaddy’s services. From hassle-free control panels to straightforward hosting and domain management, you could obtain a Linux server with a new domain and have it up and running in less than 30 minutes. And if you have any problems or questions, satisfactory customer service is another benefit of using GoDaddy.
The only drawbacks to GoDaddy are its smaller size and potential security issues due to the shared servers, which can sometimes be problematic for larger traffic volume sites and sites utilizing cash transactions. And while the amount of space GoDaddy offers may not be as large as some, it is still enough to satisfy the needs of most online sites.
GoDaddy may work best for blogging websites, simple squeeze and landing pages, simple forums, and personal home pages, as well as other smaller-scale sites not requiring high security.
IxWebHosting
Offering some of the largest packages at the lowest prices, ixWebHosting is a very competitive service to consider. While its economy package looks a lot like GoDaddy’s, the ixWebHosting premium package at $12.95 per month brags features such as unlimited space and 3 TERA-BYTES—meaning 3000 BGs or 3 TRILLION bytes—of bandwidth.
Additionally, this premium package provides unlimited e-mails and SQL databases and five free domains all tied into this $12.95 price. There is so much offered in the package that some may question why a web site would even need all of these features and benefits. The reality is that most owners will not need all of this, but even if you need some of it, the price is nice.
Like GoDaddy, security is a concern for ixWebHosting services. However, the control panel is not as good as GoDaddy’s.
IxWebHosting’s premium service is a great option for the site owner who needs significant bandwidth and disk space or anticipates high traffic volume or downloading from the site.
TVCNet
If security and customer service are at the top on your list of needs from your web host, TVCNet may be one your best options. While the disk space and bandwidth may not be as impressive as some of the other web hosting choices, you will likely find you do not actually need all of the massive space offered by other providers. Instead of excessive and, often times, unnecessary space, TVCNet focuses in on top-notch secure and reliable hosting.
Not only will your questions be answered promptly by the TVCNet staff, but it is also possible to achieve a 100% hacker-safe site through using their web hosting service. This is an excellent choice for anyone who has or expects to build a small to medium sized site with full technical support and hacker-proof security.
Of course, no one purposefully chooses a poor web host any more than one knowingly makes a decision to become the owner of a problem car. Research is key when deciding which web hosts are the best and most cost effective. Below is some information about three popular web hosts to help you determine what type of service best fits your needs.
GoDaddy.com
With simple and hassle-free hosting, GoDaddy offers both economy and premium packages. Their $8.95 domains are some of the best prices one can find in the industry. Adding hosting to this domain drops the price to $1.95. It may be hard to find another good company who offers these prices.
Simplicity and user-friendliness are primary characteristics of GoDaddy’s services. From hassle-free control panels to straightforward hosting and domain management, you could obtain a Linux server with a new domain and have it up and running in less than 30 minutes. And if you have any problems or questions, satisfactory customer service is another benefit of using GoDaddy.
The only drawbacks to GoDaddy are its smaller size and potential security issues due to the shared servers, which can sometimes be problematic for larger traffic volume sites and sites utilizing cash transactions. And while the amount of space GoDaddy offers may not be as large as some, it is still enough to satisfy the needs of most online sites.
GoDaddy may work best for blogging websites, simple squeeze and landing pages, simple forums, and personal home pages, as well as other smaller-scale sites not requiring high security.
IxWebHosting
Offering some of the largest packages at the lowest prices, ixWebHosting is a very competitive service to consider. While its economy package looks a lot like GoDaddy’s, the ixWebHosting premium package at $12.95 per month brags features such as unlimited space and 3 TERA-BYTES—meaning 3000 BGs or 3 TRILLION bytes—of bandwidth.
Additionally, this premium package provides unlimited e-mails and SQL databases and five free domains all tied into this $12.95 price. There is so much offered in the package that some may question why a web site would even need all of these features and benefits. The reality is that most owners will not need all of this, but even if you need some of it, the price is nice.
Like GoDaddy, security is a concern for ixWebHosting services. However, the control panel is not as good as GoDaddy’s.
IxWebHosting’s premium service is a great option for the site owner who needs significant bandwidth and disk space or anticipates high traffic volume or downloading from the site.
TVCNet
If security and customer service are at the top on your list of needs from your web host, TVCNet may be one your best options. While the disk space and bandwidth may not be as impressive as some of the other web hosting choices, you will likely find you do not actually need all of the massive space offered by other providers. Instead of excessive and, often times, unnecessary space, TVCNet focuses in on top-notch secure and reliable hosting.
Not only will your questions be answered promptly by the TVCNet staff, but it is also possible to achieve a 100% hacker-safe site through using their web hosting service. This is an excellent choice for anyone who has or expects to build a small to medium sized site with full technical support and hacker-proof security.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Good Quality & Cheap Web Hosting
If you plan to own a new website, you will need to host your website on a web server. When your website goes live on the web server, online users can then browse your website on the Internet. Company that provides the web servers to host your website is called web hosting providers.
A web hosting provider will typically have a fast connection to the Internet housed in a physical building called 'data center' and they may host thousands of web sites on many servers. The web host essentially rents out space to you so that you can get your website up on the world wide web.
With a well-managed web host, you can free yourself from worrying the up-keep of complicated server technology and proper technical maintenance. That's the whole purpose of the web hosting companies. You should leave the technical work to web hosting professional while you focus on your own internet business.
There are thousands of web hosting providers on the internet and how do you decide which one you should use? Sites like betahosts.com can help you by comparing all best hosting providers.
The features that web hosting companies are offering are getting quite standard nowadays. There are basic features that you'll need in a web host. You can find out more here.
To give a web host a competitive edge over others, more attractive features are very necessary. You'll find that many hosts are willing to give away free stuff that used to cost over $10 per month.
These are some of the advanced features that our top hosts are offering.
* Web Buider Many of our top 10 hosts offer powerful web builder program called SiteStudio. SiteStudio allows you to make sites without any html, FTP and HTTP knowledge. You can also build site on the fly while at home, school or even at work. Hostgator's SiteStudio has over 500 ready-made templates for you to choose from.
* Ecommerce Enabled If you are selling products on your site, you need a merchant account. A shopping cart is a useful tool if you have more than 1 product in different categories. SSL(Secured Sockets Layer) is a must-have if you need to receive valuable information such as your customers' credit card information. PowWeb, Hostgator and Lunarpages provide osCommerce shopping cart and shared SSL for your ecommerce needs.
* Marketing Package Most marketing package including search engine submission software, keyword generator and link checker. Some hosting companies like iPower have established partnership with Yahoo! Search (previously known as Overture) and Google Adwords to offer you pay-per-click credit to jump start your business.
Popularity
The best marketing method is by far from word of mouth. If you sign up for a web host and are satisfied with the performance, most likely you'll recommend to anyone who is looking for a good host. Big web hosting companies know about this concept so well that they would go all out to retain their existing customer. The more satisfied customers they have, the more popularity they'll get. We take this as an important indicator of how good a host is. # There are a few factors that we judge the popularity of a particular web hosting provider.Number of existing customers. # The satisfaction level of their existing customers: We manage to get hold of their existing customers from the positive reviews they submitted through our host comment form, their comment in the 3rd party web hosting and inhouse forums and the customers' comment found on other hosting directories. # The amount of pretigious hosting awards they won # Their sites Alexa traffic ranking
Lunarpages is on top among our top 10 hosts. Network Reliability, Speed and Uptime Guarantee
In terms of reliability, we are looking at how redundant is the server, how often the companies backup the server and how well they handle emergency. "Redundant" means that if any of the Internet connections get interrupted, the alternate Internet connection will take over. PowWeb Load Balancing Technology is one of the best that we found to ensure your site is up 99.9% all the time.
A web hosting provider will typically have a fast connection to the Internet housed in a physical building called 'data center' and they may host thousands of web sites on many servers. The web host essentially rents out space to you so that you can get your website up on the world wide web.
With a well-managed web host, you can free yourself from worrying the up-keep of complicated server technology and proper technical maintenance. That's the whole purpose of the web hosting companies. You should leave the technical work to web hosting professional while you focus on your own internet business.
There are thousands of web hosting providers on the internet and how do you decide which one you should use? Sites like betahosts.com can help you by comparing all best hosting providers.
The features that web hosting companies are offering are getting quite standard nowadays. There are basic features that you'll need in a web host. You can find out more here.
To give a web host a competitive edge over others, more attractive features are very necessary. You'll find that many hosts are willing to give away free stuff that used to cost over $10 per month.
These are some of the advanced features that our top hosts are offering.
* Web Buider Many of our top 10 hosts offer powerful web builder program called SiteStudio. SiteStudio allows you to make sites without any html, FTP and HTTP knowledge. You can also build site on the fly while at home, school or even at work. Hostgator's SiteStudio has over 500 ready-made templates for you to choose from.
* Ecommerce Enabled If you are selling products on your site, you need a merchant account. A shopping cart is a useful tool if you have more than 1 product in different categories. SSL(Secured Sockets Layer) is a must-have if you need to receive valuable information such as your customers' credit card information. PowWeb, Hostgator and Lunarpages provide osCommerce shopping cart and shared SSL for your ecommerce needs.
* Marketing Package Most marketing package including search engine submission software, keyword generator and link checker. Some hosting companies like iPower have established partnership with Yahoo! Search (previously known as Overture) and Google Adwords to offer you pay-per-click credit to jump start your business.
Popularity
The best marketing method is by far from word of mouth. If you sign up for a web host and are satisfied with the performance, most likely you'll recommend to anyone who is looking for a good host. Big web hosting companies know about this concept so well that they would go all out to retain their existing customer. The more satisfied customers they have, the more popularity they'll get. We take this as an important indicator of how good a host is. # There are a few factors that we judge the popularity of a particular web hosting provider.Number of existing customers. # The satisfaction level of their existing customers: We manage to get hold of their existing customers from the positive reviews they submitted through our host comment form, their comment in the 3rd party web hosting and inhouse forums and the customers' comment found on other hosting directories. # The amount of pretigious hosting awards they won # Their sites Alexa traffic ranking
Lunarpages is on top among our top 10 hosts. Network Reliability, Speed and Uptime Guarantee
In terms of reliability, we are looking at how redundant is the server, how often the companies backup the server and how well they handle emergency. "Redundant" means that if any of the Internet connections get interrupted, the alternate Internet connection will take over. PowWeb Load Balancing Technology is one of the best that we found to ensure your site is up 99.9% all the time.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
4 Steps To A Dedicated Server
1) Reliability
This is not of moment you can fully distinguish by just looking at their website, in consequence you'll have to obtain a works of research. It's always a applicable idea to finish a search about the host to find any reviews from past or current clients. To do this, simply search using Google for keyword phrases using the company name. For example, Rackspace review or EV1Servers review, or you can even take a step further, by reviewing the support forums of the host if they have one. There you can easily find as much information as you need. How does this help with regards to reliability? Simple, it can show how fast they respond to complaints and issues by reviewing what past or current clients have said, and postings in the forums can show how they handle customer feedback.
2) Cost
We are all looking for a value hyped up deal. It's wanted that we influence in style now market price when election a fired server host. Selecting a $29/month server may not be the top option if it's backed with poor support and perhaps your server built with recycled hardware. Take note, this is not saying that cheap dedicated server hosts produce low quality service, but I'm saying that in 8 times out of 10 you do get what you pay for. Do price shopping and take note of each host's price along with their server specs, bandwidth, network, and support guarantees. Review each and then you'll be able to figure, which one is truly the most cost effective. Is it really worth it to have a $29/month server with only 256 MB RAM which may be slow and unresponsive if hit with a spike in traffic? It's going to be up to you to weigh those options.
3) Support
This is toilsome for issues agnate as downtime, ddos attacks and characteristic issues dealing with your server. It is foremost that you express with the help team before purchasing a server. Why? Simply for you yearning to demur their response before investing any funds. If you would rather not send an email or call before making your purchase, if the site you're thinking about has a support forum, you can register and post your technical question there or review the questions asked prior to get a better idea of how solid their support technicians are with regards to answering questions.
4) Longevity
This is usually not listed as a bearing as manifold startup fired server companies are solid, but it's usually a elite risk to lane the twist of cut that a transaction has been in business. You can seal a whois of the host's domain name to see how long a host has been in business. It can be a good indication that they're in for the long haul if they've been around for awhile. This is not to discredit choosing a new company, as many solid server hosts are started regularly who go on to be huge successes. Simply use your best judgment when reviewing if to go with a host that's been around for years instead of one that's now getting started. I should point out here, that in some cases newer hosts will fight harder for your business and give you an overall better support in the beginning in some cases as they really treasure your business. It's really a toss up here, that's where your natural instincts for decision making will have to be the deciding factor.
This is not of moment you can fully distinguish by just looking at their website, in consequence you'll have to obtain a works of research. It's always a applicable idea to finish a search about the host to find any reviews from past or current clients. To do this, simply search using Google for keyword phrases using the company name. For example, Rackspace review or EV1Servers review, or you can even take a step further, by reviewing the support forums of the host if they have one. There you can easily find as much information as you need. How does this help with regards to reliability? Simple, it can show how fast they respond to complaints and issues by reviewing what past or current clients have said, and postings in the forums can show how they handle customer feedback.
2) Cost
We are all looking for a value hyped up deal. It's wanted that we influence in style now market price when election a fired server host. Selecting a $29/month server may not be the top option if it's backed with poor support and perhaps your server built with recycled hardware. Take note, this is not saying that cheap dedicated server hosts produce low quality service, but I'm saying that in 8 times out of 10 you do get what you pay for. Do price shopping and take note of each host's price along with their server specs, bandwidth, network, and support guarantees. Review each and then you'll be able to figure, which one is truly the most cost effective. Is it really worth it to have a $29/month server with only 256 MB RAM which may be slow and unresponsive if hit with a spike in traffic? It's going to be up to you to weigh those options.
3) Support
This is toilsome for issues agnate as downtime, ddos attacks and characteristic issues dealing with your server. It is foremost that you express with the help team before purchasing a server. Why? Simply for you yearning to demur their response before investing any funds. If you would rather not send an email or call before making your purchase, if the site you're thinking about has a support forum, you can register and post your technical question there or review the questions asked prior to get a better idea of how solid their support technicians are with regards to answering questions.
4) Longevity
This is usually not listed as a bearing as manifold startup fired server companies are solid, but it's usually a elite risk to lane the twist of cut that a transaction has been in business. You can seal a whois of the host's domain name to see how long a host has been in business. It can be a good indication that they're in for the long haul if they've been around for awhile. This is not to discredit choosing a new company, as many solid server hosts are started regularly who go on to be huge successes. Simply use your best judgment when reviewing if to go with a host that's been around for years instead of one that's now getting started. I should point out here, that in some cases newer hosts will fight harder for your business and give you an overall better support in the beginning in some cases as they really treasure your business. It's really a toss up here, that's where your natural instincts for decision making will have to be the deciding factor.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
When Web Hosting, Consider Dedicated Servers
There is hosting and then there is hosting and then there is hosting. But, what really is the difference between one type of hosting and another.
To begin with there are the usual issues related to hosting: the speed, the disk space, the bandwidth, the price, and the like. But today I am going to point out one important parameter about hosts that you might overlook, but should not. That almighty parameter is: Who else is hosted on the same server as you are?
Are you puzzled about why that is an important issue? Well, there isn't really any reason to be puzzled. When you live in a particular home, are you not concerned with who lives in the same neighborhood? Which other websites inhabit your server is a matter of similar concern.
To begin with, the horror of hosting a website is to find it exists in a bad neighborhood. Here are some of the things that can do wrong with a bad neighborhood:
* If someone else, I repeat, not you, but someone else has been using your server to email spam, then your server could already be in the list of blacklisted servers. This means that your mail could end up in the junk mailbox of the receiver. Some of the more aggressive spam filters would actually prevent your mail from ever reaching.
* Regardless of your online marketing strategy, a significant portion of your traffic will originate from search engines. If the other web sites on your server are in the bad books of the search engine, your site could be devalued too. This is especially true if you also share the same IP.
The list can go on. Indeed, it can get scarier. But without much more ado, let me jump to the solution to all these problems. Are you ready? Well, the simple solution is to get dedicated web hosting. This means that your site or sites are on a server that is dedicated to your web sites.
That is not the only advantage of a dedicated host. You are basically in full control over the kind of software you load, the kind of programs you run. The kind of background processes you run. The nature of your back up strategy. And a whole lot more.
Dedicated hosting does cost more. So that is something you will have to evaluate against the benefits you get. In any case, an informed choice is better than an uninformed one.
To begin with there are the usual issues related to hosting: the speed, the disk space, the bandwidth, the price, and the like. But today I am going to point out one important parameter about hosts that you might overlook, but should not. That almighty parameter is: Who else is hosted on the same server as you are?
Are you puzzled about why that is an important issue? Well, there isn't really any reason to be puzzled. When you live in a particular home, are you not concerned with who lives in the same neighborhood? Which other websites inhabit your server is a matter of similar concern.
To begin with, the horror of hosting a website is to find it exists in a bad neighborhood. Here are some of the things that can do wrong with a bad neighborhood:
* If someone else, I repeat, not you, but someone else has been using your server to email spam, then your server could already be in the list of blacklisted servers. This means that your mail could end up in the junk mailbox of the receiver. Some of the more aggressive spam filters would actually prevent your mail from ever reaching.
* Regardless of your online marketing strategy, a significant portion of your traffic will originate from search engines. If the other web sites on your server are in the bad books of the search engine, your site could be devalued too. This is especially true if you also share the same IP.
The list can go on. Indeed, it can get scarier. But without much more ado, let me jump to the solution to all these problems. Are you ready? Well, the simple solution is to get dedicated web hosting. This means that your site or sites are on a server that is dedicated to your web sites.
That is not the only advantage of a dedicated host. You are basically in full control over the kind of software you load, the kind of programs you run. The kind of background processes you run. The nature of your back up strategy. And a whole lot more.
Dedicated hosting does cost more. So that is something you will have to evaluate against the benefits you get. In any case, an informed choice is better than an uninformed one.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Web Hosting: Bundle Up If You’re Going Online
We live in a great big bundled world. Where we once received bills from a phone, cell, cable, and Internet provider now we can receive one bill from one provider for all services. Typically these bundled items provide a discount to the end user as a gift for using one provider to the exclusion of all others.
The same premise is used for web hosting as well. In many cases you can bundle web hosting, web design, email, unique site features and more for one bundled price.
As these packages are bundled so are your options. In some scenarios you can save even more by using non-technical site tools that allow the site owner to develop the website on their own. When the site is complete it will still have the look and feel of the high quality site you need with features that will likely exceed your ecommerce needs. The best part is the price for this service may be substantially less than most other site design options.
The concept of bundling is really a throw back to the full service days of yesteryear. There was a time when you would fill up with gas and the attendant would check all your fluids, wash your windows and make sure your tires were filled to the right pressure.
In many ways this helps explain the bundling services that are available today. Sometimes all services originate with the provider while in other cases the provider works with strategic partners to provide seamless service for your ecommerce business.
Web hosting is an important function of your ecommerce business. One of the difficulties many businesses face when using a web designer is that once the site is developed it may be difficult to get changes made to the site in a timely manner.
Due to the growth in online business designers are spending enormous amounts of time developing new sites and have less and less time available for maintenance. This can put your site at risk and could result in missed business opportunity.
When you can make immediate changes to your site you can implement new ideas or sales opportunities on a moments notice. You no longer need to be at the mercy of an overworked site developer.
Bundled web hosting options provide an impressive number of customizable site templates and additional features that can be used to enhance your online presence or make connecting with your business much easier for clients and potential customers.
The same premise is used for web hosting as well. In many cases you can bundle web hosting, web design, email, unique site features and more for one bundled price.
As these packages are bundled so are your options. In some scenarios you can save even more by using non-technical site tools that allow the site owner to develop the website on their own. When the site is complete it will still have the look and feel of the high quality site you need with features that will likely exceed your ecommerce needs. The best part is the price for this service may be substantially less than most other site design options.
The concept of bundling is really a throw back to the full service days of yesteryear. There was a time when you would fill up with gas and the attendant would check all your fluids, wash your windows and make sure your tires were filled to the right pressure.
In many ways this helps explain the bundling services that are available today. Sometimes all services originate with the provider while in other cases the provider works with strategic partners to provide seamless service for your ecommerce business.
Web hosting is an important function of your ecommerce business. One of the difficulties many businesses face when using a web designer is that once the site is developed it may be difficult to get changes made to the site in a timely manner.
Due to the growth in online business designers are spending enormous amounts of time developing new sites and have less and less time available for maintenance. This can put your site at risk and could result in missed business opportunity.
When you can make immediate changes to your site you can implement new ideas or sales opportunities on a moments notice. You no longer need to be at the mercy of an overworked site developer.
Bundled web hosting options provide an impressive number of customizable site templates and additional features that can be used to enhance your online presence or make connecting with your business much easier for clients and potential customers.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Web Hosting: Web Accessibility
Deep in the heart of an office complex there lies a room that may be filled with floor to ceiling server cages that house multiple web-based servers. In the back of a storefront you may likely find servers working to keep websites operational.
A web host is simply a leasing agent for space on an existing server to allow your business website to be accessible by millions of Internet customers. The use of a web hosting service is similar to leasing a storefront as a showroom – it just costs less.
However, unlike a typical building lease option, a web host can provide a variety of features that you can customize based on the needs of your online business. For instance, you might need the capability of providing File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to business associates to access company data or new manufacturing specs. You might also need other data management protocols.
Most ecommerce websites will also need a shopping cart with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), database support and other similar features. Web hosting may not always be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. You should determine what your needs will be in a web hosting solution and seek to find a solution that bundles the most options for the most reasonable price.
Interestingly, many of the sites that provide web design also make web hosting a part of the package. There may be many reasons this is so, but the predominant reason may be the access to the site information through a known or existing server. However, it is possible to work with a web hosting solution to allow the development of a site that is personally built by you. These web-hosting solutions allow the use of an extensive selection of features that can be customized through template rich designs and implemented in less time than other web development options.
You also want to find a web hosting service that can guarantee the greatest amount of uptime. Because the Internet has grown so fast you may also find web-hosting solutions that have no track record, so be careful about selecting a company that has not had ample time to prove their capabilities in maintaining quality service.
Leasing a portal to the web through a web-hosting service is one of the most cost effective ways to unleash your entrepreneurial spirit through a business startup, but you may be best served in looking through a variety of options before settling on a service that will help determine your accessibility on the web.
A web host is simply a leasing agent for space on an existing server to allow your business website to be accessible by millions of Internet customers. The use of a web hosting service is similar to leasing a storefront as a showroom – it just costs less.
However, unlike a typical building lease option, a web host can provide a variety of features that you can customize based on the needs of your online business. For instance, you might need the capability of providing File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to business associates to access company data or new manufacturing specs. You might also need other data management protocols.
Most ecommerce websites will also need a shopping cart with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), database support and other similar features. Web hosting may not always be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. You should determine what your needs will be in a web hosting solution and seek to find a solution that bundles the most options for the most reasonable price.
Interestingly, many of the sites that provide web design also make web hosting a part of the package. There may be many reasons this is so, but the predominant reason may be the access to the site information through a known or existing server. However, it is possible to work with a web hosting solution to allow the development of a site that is personally built by you. These web-hosting solutions allow the use of an extensive selection of features that can be customized through template rich designs and implemented in less time than other web development options.
You also want to find a web hosting service that can guarantee the greatest amount of uptime. Because the Internet has grown so fast you may also find web-hosting solutions that have no track record, so be careful about selecting a company that has not had ample time to prove their capabilities in maintaining quality service.
Leasing a portal to the web through a web-hosting service is one of the most cost effective ways to unleash your entrepreneurial spirit through a business startup, but you may be best served in looking through a variety of options before settling on a service that will help determine your accessibility on the web.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Dedicated VS Shared Website Hosing
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is term that deals with storing a site on a computer that is accessible to the Internet users. Web hosting could be as simple as storing it on a local desktop computer that has a web server software installed or hosting it in a dedicated data center with redundant backup and load distribution.
What is a Dedicated Web Server?
Dedicated server is usually leased by the data center to a site owner on monthly or yearly basis. The site owner is in charge of maintaining the server and hosting one or more sites on it. Many site owners choose to pay for server management so that they can focus on developing and running their online business.
The sites hosted on a dedicated server are usually safer and perform better as the server owner has a full control of which sites are hosted on the server. Further the site owner can monitor the performance of the server and make necessary adjustments to the server software and hardware.
The advantages of Dedicated Server are better performance, control and reliability.
Disadvantage of running your own dedicated server is cost associated with renting and managing the server. The site owner needs to have substantially higher level of knowledge available to run his/her dedicated server. Once can expect to pay anywhere from $60/month for a basic dedicated server.
What is a Shared Web Hosting?
Shared website hosting companies usually rent or own a dedicated server and then distribute website space among many website owners. This is primarily done to lower the cost of hosting individual web site. However, shared website hosting providers host multiple websites from multiple owners on one server. This is usually safe practice if the site owner is dealing with a reputable company whose priorities are performance and security. However, if a hosting provider decides to sacrifice the server performance and security to making more profit, the problems arise. Quite often, spammers, hackers and phishers use cheap shared hosting servers to attack their victims. This usually puts intolerable loads on the server and quite often makes server unusable for the rest of the sites.
Another disadvantage of shard hosting is that the site owner doesn’t have a full control over the servers performance or software that is running on the server. This is usually done to increase security of the server, but could be a crippling factor for many developers who need a variety of tools for their sites.
Advantage of hosting on shared server is low cost and low maintenance required on website owners part. Even though there are many cheap, even free, web hosting deals out there one should expect to pay about $10/month for about 500MB of storage and 10 GB of website transfer.
What do we do?
Our Regina Website Hosting Company Look Matters http://www.lookmatters.com , rents dedicated servers and hosts our customer websites on these serves. So we are a dedicated hosting customer and shared hosting provider. We only host site that we develop or for the people that live in our community. This decision was made to lower the risk of rogue website owners hosting on our servers. If someone doesn’t comply with our security requirements we can disable their account and in extreme cases make a report to authorities against an individual or a company that is using our servers for illegal purposes. However this business model would be very hard to justify if we were a primarily website hosting provider as opposed to website design and hosting company.
When one is looking for a website hosting provider, they should ask a range of questions that deal with server location, security, backup and performance. Be aware of companies or individuals that keep their servers in their office or home. These servers are not secured against factors such as power failure, fire, theft etc.
Web hosting is term that deals with storing a site on a computer that is accessible to the Internet users. Web hosting could be as simple as storing it on a local desktop computer that has a web server software installed or hosting it in a dedicated data center with redundant backup and load distribution.
What is a Dedicated Web Server?
Dedicated server is usually leased by the data center to a site owner on monthly or yearly basis. The site owner is in charge of maintaining the server and hosting one or more sites on it. Many site owners choose to pay for server management so that they can focus on developing and running their online business.
The sites hosted on a dedicated server are usually safer and perform better as the server owner has a full control of which sites are hosted on the server. Further the site owner can monitor the performance of the server and make necessary adjustments to the server software and hardware.
The advantages of Dedicated Server are better performance, control and reliability.
Disadvantage of running your own dedicated server is cost associated with renting and managing the server. The site owner needs to have substantially higher level of knowledge available to run his/her dedicated server. Once can expect to pay anywhere from $60/month for a basic dedicated server.
What is a Shared Web Hosting?
Shared website hosting companies usually rent or own a dedicated server and then distribute website space among many website owners. This is primarily done to lower the cost of hosting individual web site. However, shared website hosting providers host multiple websites from multiple owners on one server. This is usually safe practice if the site owner is dealing with a reputable company whose priorities are performance and security. However, if a hosting provider decides to sacrifice the server performance and security to making more profit, the problems arise. Quite often, spammers, hackers and phishers use cheap shared hosting servers to attack their victims. This usually puts intolerable loads on the server and quite often makes server unusable for the rest of the sites.
Another disadvantage of shard hosting is that the site owner doesn’t have a full control over the servers performance or software that is running on the server. This is usually done to increase security of the server, but could be a crippling factor for many developers who need a variety of tools for their sites.
Advantage of hosting on shared server is low cost and low maintenance required on website owners part. Even though there are many cheap, even free, web hosting deals out there one should expect to pay about $10/month for about 500MB of storage and 10 GB of website transfer.
What do we do?
Our Regina Website Hosting Company Look Matters http://www.lookmatters.com , rents dedicated servers and hosts our customer websites on these serves. So we are a dedicated hosting customer and shared hosting provider. We only host site that we develop or for the people that live in our community. This decision was made to lower the risk of rogue website owners hosting on our servers. If someone doesn’t comply with our security requirements we can disable their account and in extreme cases make a report to authorities against an individual or a company that is using our servers for illegal purposes. However this business model would be very hard to justify if we were a primarily website hosting provider as opposed to website design and hosting company.
When one is looking for a website hosting provider, they should ask a range of questions that deal with server location, security, backup and performance. Be aware of companies or individuals that keep their servers in their office or home. These servers are not secured against factors such as power failure, fire, theft etc.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider
Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host? Have you switched web hosting companies too many times? Have you thought of hosting your own website(s)? Do you have the ambition to control and manage your own web server?
If you answered 'yes' to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch.
When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components.
You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it.
Pros:
* Own sense of responsibility
* Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings)
* No monthly hosting fees/accounts
* Incompetence no longer exist
* Non-shared environment (dedicated server)
* Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc.
* More bandwidth
* No more waiting on someone else time
* Complete control
Cons:
* Exhausting at times
* Faced with server/hardware problems
* ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense)
* If server goes down then the website is offline
* No technical support team
* Software, hardware, and network expenses
There could be many more pros & cons but I??ve pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites.
Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the "web hosting", having someone do it for you isn't always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error - "Event ID: 1056?? it??s a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution.
Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers' website. In this case "microsoft.com" would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don't want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.
You should had found this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)
What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description.
Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google??s operator tags is www.soople.com. Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn't recommend it, I still would go to the developers' site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server!
When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly).
What to buy?
* First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.
* Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP.
* A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster.
* Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year ?C be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need.
Example:
Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB
In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).
* Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.
* Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a ??hardware firewall??). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine.
* Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz ?C 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.
* Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location??like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines.
* Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.
* You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don??t have a hardware firewall already in place.
Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made.
Where to put it?
* Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.
* The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. It's the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option.
* It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.
* Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window ??especially open??). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet.
* The server should sit at least 4?? inches from the ground
* Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices.
* Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a built-in firewall).
* Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.
Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.
If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead.
The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn??t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven??t found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network.
Hosting your own server usually is not a money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. ?C 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. ?C 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.
If you answered 'yes' to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch.
When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components.
You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it.
Pros:
* Own sense of responsibility
* Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings)
* No monthly hosting fees/accounts
* Incompetence no longer exist
* Non-shared environment (dedicated server)
* Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc.
* More bandwidth
* No more waiting on someone else time
* Complete control
Cons:
* Exhausting at times
* Faced with server/hardware problems
* ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense)
* If server goes down then the website is offline
* No technical support team
* Software, hardware, and network expenses
There could be many more pros & cons but I??ve pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites.
Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the "web hosting", having someone do it for you isn't always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error - "Event ID: 1056?? it??s a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution.
Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers' website. In this case "microsoft.com" would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don't want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.
You should had found this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)
What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description.
Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google??s operator tags is www.soople.com. Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn't recommend it, I still would go to the developers' site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server!
When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly).
What to buy?
* First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.
* Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP.
* A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster.
* Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year ?C be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need.
Example:
Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB
In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).
* Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.
* Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a ??hardware firewall??). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine.
* Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz ?C 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.
* Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location??like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines.
* Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.
* You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don??t have a hardware firewall already in place.
Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made.
Where to put it?
* Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.
* The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. It's the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option.
* It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.
* Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window ??especially open??). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet.
* The server should sit at least 4?? inches from the ground
* Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices.
* Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a built-in firewall).
* Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.
Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.
If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead.
The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn??t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven??t found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network.
Hosting your own server usually is not a money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. ?C 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. ?C 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Dedicated OR Shared Web Hosting?
To have a website, you have to have a host. The 2 principal options available for web hosting are shared and dedicated packages.
A website that uses dedicated hosting has the server all to itself, while a shared host is split amongst multiple customers. This article will help you choose the 1 that will work best for your website.
Websites are stored on servers, which are simply computers that been set up to respond to data requests from the internet. Each server has an individual Internet Protocol (IP) address -- 4 numbers separated by dots such as 123.456.78.9.
Dedicated Hosting
With a dedicated server, all the resources of the server, as well as the IP address, are unique to that website and are yours to use as you want. It can be used to host just 1 site or many. You have access to the entire bandwidth of the server, and you can use as much disk space as needed.
Companies with large complex websites that receive a lot of traffic really need a dedicated host. Sites with a dedicated server are also able to run any kind of script they choose. This is especially important for businesses that are developing new scripts and need to test them without affecting other websites.
Shared Hosting
Websites sharing a single server are sharing all the resources of that computer. Shared hosting places several websites on the same server, all sharing the same disk space, bandwidth, and IP address. The host will limit each site to a specified amount of disk space and bandwidth to be used per month, in order to provide sufficient service to all the shared sites. Sites that exceed their limit may be charged a substantial penalty or even temporarily closed down.
The number of sites being shared by a particular server is not as important as the amount of traffic each is receiving. A server hosting 200 low traffic sites will respond much faster than 1 with 50 sites receiving lots of visitors.
Arriving requests are dealt with on a first-in-first-out sequence. If there is a large queue, there will be a long wait as each server has a limited amount of bandwidth. The amount of traffic your neighbors receive can quickly impact how well your web site is displayed.
Because the cost of operating the server is divided amongst many customers, shared hosting is a lot cheaper than dedicated. It's available for as little as $2 a month, while dedicated hosting can run over $100 each month.
There are risks associated with shared hosting. If 1 of the neighbors runs a programmed script that goes bad, the entire server could be affected. In extreme situations this could shut your site down for a while. If a neighbor is banned from search engines for spamming tactics, that could also affect everyone sharing that IP address. It's a good idea to check with hosting companies first, to see what their policy is about third-party scripts and inappropriate activities.
How To Decide Between The 2 Options
Large complicated websites that expect to receive 1,000 or more visitors a day should opt for dedicated hosting. It's also a good choice for developers who expect to research and test new internet technologies.
Small companies and individuals with small sites are probably better off with shared hosting. The cost is certainly more reasonable. Just be sure to choose a host with a good reputation who will protect your site from others that could put your site at risk.
A website that uses dedicated hosting has the server all to itself, while a shared host is split amongst multiple customers. This article will help you choose the 1 that will work best for your website.
Websites are stored on servers, which are simply computers that been set up to respond to data requests from the internet. Each server has an individual Internet Protocol (IP) address -- 4 numbers separated by dots such as 123.456.78.9.
Dedicated Hosting
With a dedicated server, all the resources of the server, as well as the IP address, are unique to that website and are yours to use as you want. It can be used to host just 1 site or many. You have access to the entire bandwidth of the server, and you can use as much disk space as needed.
Companies with large complex websites that receive a lot of traffic really need a dedicated host. Sites with a dedicated server are also able to run any kind of script they choose. This is especially important for businesses that are developing new scripts and need to test them without affecting other websites.
Shared Hosting
Websites sharing a single server are sharing all the resources of that computer. Shared hosting places several websites on the same server, all sharing the same disk space, bandwidth, and IP address. The host will limit each site to a specified amount of disk space and bandwidth to be used per month, in order to provide sufficient service to all the shared sites. Sites that exceed their limit may be charged a substantial penalty or even temporarily closed down.
The number of sites being shared by a particular server is not as important as the amount of traffic each is receiving. A server hosting 200 low traffic sites will respond much faster than 1 with 50 sites receiving lots of visitors.
Arriving requests are dealt with on a first-in-first-out sequence. If there is a large queue, there will be a long wait as each server has a limited amount of bandwidth. The amount of traffic your neighbors receive can quickly impact how well your web site is displayed.
Because the cost of operating the server is divided amongst many customers, shared hosting is a lot cheaper than dedicated. It's available for as little as $2 a month, while dedicated hosting can run over $100 each month.
There are risks associated with shared hosting. If 1 of the neighbors runs a programmed script that goes bad, the entire server could be affected. In extreme situations this could shut your site down for a while. If a neighbor is banned from search engines for spamming tactics, that could also affect everyone sharing that IP address. It's a good idea to check with hosting companies first, to see what their policy is about third-party scripts and inappropriate activities.
How To Decide Between The 2 Options
Large complicated websites that expect to receive 1,000 or more visitors a day should opt for dedicated hosting. It's also a good choice for developers who expect to research and test new internet technologies.
Small companies and individuals with small sites are probably better off with shared hosting. The cost is certainly more reasonable. Just be sure to choose a host with a good reputation who will protect your site from others that could put your site at risk.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hostgator Host Providing Webhosting Services
If you are looking for shared hosting or reseller hosting, you might want to trek over to Hostgator.com. Hostgator specializes in web hosting facilities, and as far as I can see, they are doing a good job. They have recently picked up the Editors' Choice Award by Findmyhost.com. I think they deserved it.
Hostgator.com is both reliable and fast -- essential qualities for any web business. They work on Dual Xeon servers with 4GB memory and IDE hard drives. Moreover, with their claim of 99.9 percent uptime, they provide great hosting packages. At the same time, they are quite affordable.
The basic shared hosting package is offered at a monthly rate of $6.95. Yearly rates for the more advanced packages start from $9.95. You might be thinking that this is slightly higher than the rates offered by other web hosting providers. In my opinion, it is well worth the money. Moreover, each of the packages comes with a thirty day money back guarantee. So just wait and see for a while before you pronounce your final verdict. My guess is that you will want to stay with Hostgator for some time.
There are several other plusses to using Hostgator. For one, you get instant backups for your website. Moreover, you can host unlimited domains, sub-domains and FTP accounts. The most basic shared hosting package comes with limits though. It allows one domain and twenty sub-domains. Of course, you could always shift to a better package once you start expanding your website. And with as many as fifty-two scripts, this is a great web host.
In general, most users are satisfied with the Control Panel offered by Hostgator. In fact, their CPanel is pegged as being one of the best in the web hosting world. It adds to the convenience of managing your domains and sub-domains. The Control Panel demo helps new users get used to the various facilities offered by Hostgator.
In my opinion, one of Hostgator's greatest virtues is that it offers great customer service. Most of the packages offer instant set up at no extra charge. There is twenty-four hour customer support. You can decide whether you want to interact with their customer care representatives over live chat or the phone. You could also make use of the email ticket system. I have found that their customer care execs are often more than ready to go out of their way to help you out. Yes, there are the occasional goof-ups. On the whole, however, Hostgator.com seems to be satisfying its customers.
Hostgator.com is both reliable and fast -- essential qualities for any web business. They work on Dual Xeon servers with 4GB memory and IDE hard drives. Moreover, with their claim of 99.9 percent uptime, they provide great hosting packages. At the same time, they are quite affordable.
The basic shared hosting package is offered at a monthly rate of $6.95. Yearly rates for the more advanced packages start from $9.95. You might be thinking that this is slightly higher than the rates offered by other web hosting providers. In my opinion, it is well worth the money. Moreover, each of the packages comes with a thirty day money back guarantee. So just wait and see for a while before you pronounce your final verdict. My guess is that you will want to stay with Hostgator for some time.
There are several other plusses to using Hostgator. For one, you get instant backups for your website. Moreover, you can host unlimited domains, sub-domains and FTP accounts. The most basic shared hosting package comes with limits though. It allows one domain and twenty sub-domains. Of course, you could always shift to a better package once you start expanding your website. And with as many as fifty-two scripts, this is a great web host.
In general, most users are satisfied with the Control Panel offered by Hostgator. In fact, their CPanel is pegged as being one of the best in the web hosting world. It adds to the convenience of managing your domains and sub-domains. The Control Panel demo helps new users get used to the various facilities offered by Hostgator.
In my opinion, one of Hostgator's greatest virtues is that it offers great customer service. Most of the packages offer instant set up at no extra charge. There is twenty-four hour customer support. You can decide whether you want to interact with their customer care representatives over live chat or the phone. You could also make use of the email ticket system. I have found that their customer care execs are often more than ready to go out of their way to help you out. Yes, there are the occasional goof-ups. On the whole, however, Hostgator.com seems to be satisfying its customers.
Monday, March 1, 2010
TruEffect Partners with Hosting.com for an Innovative Datacenter Solution
TruEffect™, a provider of relationship advertising solutions for online advertisers and agencies, today announced the migration of its Denver datacenter to Hosting.com, a leading provider of hybrid hosting, business continuance and compliance solutions.
Broomfield, CO (PRWEB) March 1, 2010 -- TruEffect™, a provider of relationship advertising solutions for online advertisers and agencies, today announced the migration of its Denver datacenter to Hosting.com, a leading provider of hybrid hosting, business continuance and compliance solutions. Hosting.com's new Denver facility features N+1 redundant power, power feeds, and network carriers to ensure the highest performance and reliability for TruEffect's Central US ad serving farm and data warehouse.
TruEffect™ provides global advertisers with high-volume, web-wide media services through its enterprise caliber delivery platform encompassing ad server farms in Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta and New York, and two in Europe. Their high level of service commitments to leading advertisers requires the utmost in reliability, making Hosting.com a perfect fit.
TruEffect's Relationship Advertising approach allows advertisers to recognize their customers and prospects wherever they buy media on the web, dramatically increasing results and reducing waste. This game-changing technology enables advertisers to use the marketing data they already have to respond with the most relevant message possible. Its transparent first-party approach to serving ads has been recognized by the Federal Trade Commission in their Staff Report on Behavioral Targeting as "more likely to be consistent with consumer expectations, and less likely to lead to consumer harm."
Hosting.com's geographically-dispersed and interconnected datacenter network provides partners and their clients with unprecedented reliability, security and migration services. For more than 12 years, Hosting.com has led the hosting industry with innovative cloud, dedicated and colocation services and solutions. Their latest innovation connects Hosting.com colocation solutions to the Cloud Enterprise and Cloud Dedicated solutions via a private dedicated network, providing colocation clients with additional computing resources, disaster recovery, and business continuity services.
ABOUT TRUEFFECT, INC.
TruEffect™, innovator and provider of the only Relationship Advertising Platform, offers the first advertising solution that turns every ad impression into a one-to-one consumer engagement, delivering the insight, lift and control of direct marketing. Headquartered in Broomfield, CO, TruEffect's TruConnect™ platform is powered by the patent-pending DirectServe™ Technology, and has turned the tables to favor the advertiser and enhance consumer privacy by eliminating the aggregation of data across companies.
The TruConnect™ suite of products features Relationship Targeting, a Campaign Console fully integrated into Microsoft Excel®, Advanced Reporting and Analytics, and Professional Services for leading Internet advertisers and agencies. TruEffect is a Microsoft® Certified Partner. For more information visit www.TruEffect.com.
ABOUT HOSTING.COM
Hosting.com is a global provider of enterprise-class IT infrastructure solutions, services and facilities. Hosting.com's geographically-dispersed data centers and Cloud Super Sites coupled with the industry's top networking and connectivity technologies provide clients with the highest levels of security, reliability and support. The most recognized names in Retail, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Technology and Web 2.0 rely on Hosting.com's colocation, cloud hosting, dedicated and managed hosting solutions.
Hosting.com currently operates SAS 70 Type II certified datacenters in Irvine, CA; Louisville, KY; Newark, DE; San Francisco, CA; and Denver, CO.
All Hosting.com products and services are supported by 24x7x365 live expert technical support through toll-free telephone, email, and online chat. Hosting.com's Entourage Support and Migration Managers set the industry standard in customer support, consultation and responsiveness. For more information visit www.hosting.com.
Broomfield, CO (PRWEB) March 1, 2010 -- TruEffect™, a provider of relationship advertising solutions for online advertisers and agencies, today announced the migration of its Denver datacenter to Hosting.com, a leading provider of hybrid hosting, business continuance and compliance solutions. Hosting.com's new Denver facility features N+1 redundant power, power feeds, and network carriers to ensure the highest performance and reliability for TruEffect's Central US ad serving farm and data warehouse.
TruEffect™ provides global advertisers with high-volume, web-wide media services through its enterprise caliber delivery platform encompassing ad server farms in Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta and New York, and two in Europe. Their high level of service commitments to leading advertisers requires the utmost in reliability, making Hosting.com a perfect fit.
TruEffect's Relationship Advertising approach allows advertisers to recognize their customers and prospects wherever they buy media on the web, dramatically increasing results and reducing waste. This game-changing technology enables advertisers to use the marketing data they already have to respond with the most relevant message possible. Its transparent first-party approach to serving ads has been recognized by the Federal Trade Commission in their Staff Report on Behavioral Targeting as "more likely to be consistent with consumer expectations, and less likely to lead to consumer harm."
Hosting.com's geographically-dispersed and interconnected datacenter network provides partners and their clients with unprecedented reliability, security and migration services. For more than 12 years, Hosting.com has led the hosting industry with innovative cloud, dedicated and colocation services and solutions. Their latest innovation connects Hosting.com colocation solutions to the Cloud Enterprise and Cloud Dedicated solutions via a private dedicated network, providing colocation clients with additional computing resources, disaster recovery, and business continuity services.
ABOUT TRUEFFECT, INC.
TruEffect™, innovator and provider of the only Relationship Advertising Platform, offers the first advertising solution that turns every ad impression into a one-to-one consumer engagement, delivering the insight, lift and control of direct marketing. Headquartered in Broomfield, CO, TruEffect's TruConnect™ platform is powered by the patent-pending DirectServe™ Technology, and has turned the tables to favor the advertiser and enhance consumer privacy by eliminating the aggregation of data across companies.
The TruConnect™ suite of products features Relationship Targeting, a Campaign Console fully integrated into Microsoft Excel®, Advanced Reporting and Analytics, and Professional Services for leading Internet advertisers and agencies. TruEffect is a Microsoft® Certified Partner. For more information visit www.TruEffect.com.
ABOUT HOSTING.COM
Hosting.com is a global provider of enterprise-class IT infrastructure solutions, services and facilities. Hosting.com's geographically-dispersed data centers and Cloud Super Sites coupled with the industry's top networking and connectivity technologies provide clients with the highest levels of security, reliability and support. The most recognized names in Retail, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Technology and Web 2.0 rely on Hosting.com's colocation, cloud hosting, dedicated and managed hosting solutions.
Hosting.com currently operates SAS 70 Type II certified datacenters in Irvine, CA; Louisville, KY; Newark, DE; San Francisco, CA; and Denver, CO.
All Hosting.com products and services are supported by 24x7x365 live expert technical support through toll-free telephone, email, and online chat. Hosting.com's Entourage Support and Migration Managers set the industry standard in customer support, consultation and responsiveness. For more information visit www.hosting.com.
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