A Web host company will provide you with space to host your A domain name and a whole host of scripts from forum software to shopping cart integration.
If you want to be seen on the internet you will need a web host, but do not just go picking any host. You need a reliable web host who offers a quality service. So here comes a few of my own personal needs before i sign up with a web host.
Price, Ok this is not the most significant factor when choosing a web host, but we do not want to be paying stupid prices for a service we can get just as good from someone else at half the price.
Experience, This is one of the things i expect from a web host, Yes every company has to start somewhere but why should you be the one to suffer if someone does not have the experience to keep your site online at least 95% of the time.
Reputation, as anyone who has a buisness knows reputation goes a long way, make sure you choose someone with a good one.
Infastructure & Adaptability, A good webhost will already be planning for the future, they need to be able to upgrade to the latest and fastest equipment as and when it is needed. New things come out on the internet all the time and you want your provider to be able to offer advice and support if needed.
Support, Most websites now offer 24/7 support online and offline, make sure the one you choose also offers the same support, no point having customers if your site is down and your web host is unavailable.
So with all that in mind take your time and shop around, use google and make use of the review sites that are out there.
Showing posts with label web. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web. Show all posts
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Choosing an excellent host: 3 steps
Choosing a Web hosting services provider can be a challenge. There are literally thousands of companies that offer countless products and services. It can be a difficult task for a novice as well as for a seasoned professional, but it doesn’t have to be. We’ve broken the process down into three steps:
Step One: Free or Paid Hosting?
Step Two: Determine Expectations
Step Three: Compare Hosts in the Right Category
Step One: Free or Paid Hosting?
To Pay or Not To Pay?
A large percentage of Web sites are ‘free’ and posted by individuals for personal reasons. Typically, these sites are associated with one of the larger portals such as Yahoo or AOL and consist of a page or two with limited content. If you’re looking to put up a personal site like this, look no further than the solutions offered by these two companies. The tools and applications such as email, community interest portals and photo management software provided are straightforward and make setting your site up very easy.
The downside to free hosting? Generally you'll have to put up with banner ads on your homepage or other ads you don’t get to pick. To be fair, it’s how these companies can afford to set up your infrastructure for free. All the same, you have no control over whose ad shows up on your site. If that’s unacceptable, a paid hosting solution (some start lower than $5/mo) might be your best bet. Some low cost solutionas are EasyCGI, IPower, and StartLogic.
Most Web hosting companies bundle services into a series of packages. The standard hosting service component is normally a bundle of disk storage space (where your site is stored) and bandwidth (the capacity for data transfer of a wired or wireless communication system.) In addition, hosting companies usually bundle email services with standard plans. The email service contains POP and IMAP solutions which direct email received through your site to desktop applications (Outlook® or Exchange®.) “Web-mail” is also provided to view and manage email through a Web browser.
Frequently, small businesses want a Web site that functions only as an online brochure that provides information about the business but not sell products. Standard packages are ideal if you’re building a simple brochure site. Additional service packages offer eCommerce, media intensive applications for video and audio sharing and dedicated servers, designed to back-up more complex business requirements. Paid solutions pretty much come down to whether you’re going to sell products and services online or just display information in a brochure format and what kind of customer and technical support you’ll require.
Step Two: Determine Expectations
You Get What you Pay For
There are basically two price levels prevalent in Web hosting. There’s a large group of Low Price or Discount hosts that offer nice solutions from below $5 to $15 per month and there are hosts that offer solutions that start above $15 and the pricing goes up from there. Companies such as Affinity have developed a number of different hosting brands to help simplify the customer experience. As an example, Affinity uses the HostSave and WinSave brands for their low-cost hosting solutions and the ValueWeb brand for their premium services.
Customer service is usually the primary difference between inexpensive hosting solutions and the higher priced options. Here’s where the “you get what you pay for” maxim comes into play. Prior to choosing a provider its important to determine how serious you are. In other words, if the site is your small business lifeline, where you’ll find customers, display, sell and even ship products you probably don’t want a hosting company that won’t answer calls when there’s a problem. On the contrary, many experienced professionals would rather not talk to someone and prefer technical support and customer service through email or online chat.
Clarifying expectations ahead of time can mean the difference between a great online experience or completely frustrated and without support. The extra $10 per month may be worth the piece of mind it buys.
Step Three: Compare Hosts in the Right Category
Once you know whether you need a standard hosting plan or an eCommerce solution and whether low price or premium (a.k.a. better customer support) hosting is right for you, it’s time to shop. Any of the major search engines will provide a multitude of responses with a query such as Web Hosting or eCommerce hosting. You can even narrow your search with more definition. A search for “Cheap eCommerce hosting” will yield mostly companies whose solutions fall in the low price category. Actually, you don't even have to go to a search engine to find cheap hosts. Everything you need is here. Go to Hosting Reviews and you will find a large list of hosts, all with reviews, user comments and ratings. From there you can find the cheapest or best host to suit your needs.
Take some time and visit several hosting company’s Web sites. Go over plan options and see which offer the services and support that match your expectations. Because of the similarities, hosting plans can become confusing. Most major providers have a “Compare Plans” page you can print. Its good to print out the various packages and have them in hand while you shop.
Using Affinity’s ValueWeb brand as an example, some hosts offer a portal where you’re free to ask existing customers if they’re satisfied and recommend the provider. Look for this function as you shop, it’s an excellent tool in how to determine whether a company is right for you. Unless you’re an experienced professional you shouldn’t buy a solution without at least first talking to a sales rep at the company. This gives a sense of the company’s commitment to its customers. Many also call the technical support numbers to see how long it takes to answer and how friendly and knowledgeable the staff is. Companies such as Affinity, combined sales and support departments so when you order an account you’re talking to a technical support representative as well. This creates a forum in which all questions can be answered without having to be transferred to other departments.
It’s important to find a hosting relationship that fits your needs and who’s level of involvement you feel comfortable with. Following these steps will make choosing a Web hosting solution easier and, hopefully, even fun.
Step One: Free or Paid Hosting?
Step Two: Determine Expectations
Step Three: Compare Hosts in the Right Category
Step One: Free or Paid Hosting?
To Pay or Not To Pay?
A large percentage of Web sites are ‘free’ and posted by individuals for personal reasons. Typically, these sites are associated with one of the larger portals such as Yahoo or AOL and consist of a page or two with limited content. If you’re looking to put up a personal site like this, look no further than the solutions offered by these two companies. The tools and applications such as email, community interest portals and photo management software provided are straightforward and make setting your site up very easy.
The downside to free hosting? Generally you'll have to put up with banner ads on your homepage or other ads you don’t get to pick. To be fair, it’s how these companies can afford to set up your infrastructure for free. All the same, you have no control over whose ad shows up on your site. If that’s unacceptable, a paid hosting solution (some start lower than $5/mo) might be your best bet. Some low cost solutionas are EasyCGI, IPower, and StartLogic.
Most Web hosting companies bundle services into a series of packages. The standard hosting service component is normally a bundle of disk storage space (where your site is stored) and bandwidth (the capacity for data transfer of a wired or wireless communication system.) In addition, hosting companies usually bundle email services with standard plans. The email service contains POP and IMAP solutions which direct email received through your site to desktop applications (Outlook® or Exchange®.) “Web-mail” is also provided to view and manage email through a Web browser.
Frequently, small businesses want a Web site that functions only as an online brochure that provides information about the business but not sell products. Standard packages are ideal if you’re building a simple brochure site. Additional service packages offer eCommerce, media intensive applications for video and audio sharing and dedicated servers, designed to back-up more complex business requirements. Paid solutions pretty much come down to whether you’re going to sell products and services online or just display information in a brochure format and what kind of customer and technical support you’ll require.
Step Two: Determine Expectations
You Get What you Pay For
There are basically two price levels prevalent in Web hosting. There’s a large group of Low Price or Discount hosts that offer nice solutions from below $5 to $15 per month and there are hosts that offer solutions that start above $15 and the pricing goes up from there. Companies such as Affinity have developed a number of different hosting brands to help simplify the customer experience. As an example, Affinity uses the HostSave and WinSave brands for their low-cost hosting solutions and the ValueWeb brand for their premium services.
Customer service is usually the primary difference between inexpensive hosting solutions and the higher priced options. Here’s where the “you get what you pay for” maxim comes into play. Prior to choosing a provider its important to determine how serious you are. In other words, if the site is your small business lifeline, where you’ll find customers, display, sell and even ship products you probably don’t want a hosting company that won’t answer calls when there’s a problem. On the contrary, many experienced professionals would rather not talk to someone and prefer technical support and customer service through email or online chat.
Clarifying expectations ahead of time can mean the difference between a great online experience or completely frustrated and without support. The extra $10 per month may be worth the piece of mind it buys.
Step Three: Compare Hosts in the Right Category
Once you know whether you need a standard hosting plan or an eCommerce solution and whether low price or premium (a.k.a. better customer support) hosting is right for you, it’s time to shop. Any of the major search engines will provide a multitude of responses with a query such as Web Hosting or eCommerce hosting. You can even narrow your search with more definition. A search for “Cheap eCommerce hosting” will yield mostly companies whose solutions fall in the low price category. Actually, you don't even have to go to a search engine to find cheap hosts. Everything you need is here. Go to Hosting Reviews and you will find a large list of hosts, all with reviews, user comments and ratings. From there you can find the cheapest or best host to suit your needs.
Take some time and visit several hosting company’s Web sites. Go over plan options and see which offer the services and support that match your expectations. Because of the similarities, hosting plans can become confusing. Most major providers have a “Compare Plans” page you can print. Its good to print out the various packages and have them in hand while you shop.
Using Affinity’s ValueWeb brand as an example, some hosts offer a portal where you’re free to ask existing customers if they’re satisfied and recommend the provider. Look for this function as you shop, it’s an excellent tool in how to determine whether a company is right for you. Unless you’re an experienced professional you shouldn’t buy a solution without at least first talking to a sales rep at the company. This gives a sense of the company’s commitment to its customers. Many also call the technical support numbers to see how long it takes to answer and how friendly and knowledgeable the staff is. Companies such as Affinity, combined sales and support departments so when you order an account you’re talking to a technical support representative as well. This creates a forum in which all questions can be answered without having to be transferred to other departments.
It’s important to find a hosting relationship that fits your needs and who’s level of involvement you feel comfortable with. Following these steps will make choosing a Web hosting solution easier and, hopefully, even fun.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Multiple Domain Web Hosting
Thanks to the low cost of domain names and hosting fees it is possible to own several websites without breaking the bank. There are several ways to manage multiple domains so it is important to know what your options are and the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
The most basic choice when administering multiple domains is whether or not to do so with the same host. Most hosts offer packages which can be set up to allow several sites on one account, or allow individual sites to be operated under separate accounts.
You may have an existing website and are happy with the services your host provides. If you decide to start a new website using the same host, you will have the reassurance of dealing with a company you are familiar with and trust. You may also get a discount for each additional account you open with the same host. On the other hand, using a new host for a second (or third or fourth) website can allow you to compare the quality of hosting offered by different companies. In addition, separate hosts will provide each of your web sites with a different IP address.
Having different IP addresses can be an important factor if you plan to link the sites together to aid in search engine optimization. Incoming links are an important indicator of the importance of a website, so a site with a lot of incoming links can get a higher position in search engines like Google. If all the links are coming from the same IP address, however, their value may be discounted. Hosting your various sites with different hosting companies guarantees that each site has a different IP address. Individual IP addresses, however, are available as an extra from most web hosts. For a yearly fee each website can have its own unique IP address. This can help with search engine ranking and is also needed if you want to have a secure connection (https) on your site.
If you decide to host all your sites with the same company, there are three basic ways to go. Each site could have its own account; you could sign up for a re-seller account; or you could get a dedicated server account.
As a re-seller you are acting as an agent for the hosting company. You are allocated a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth and you are free to use them as you please. There may be a limit to the number of websites you can host with your re-seller account, but if there is space left over after using this account for your own sites you could earn some extra income by selling accounts to other people. The advantage of a re-seller account is that all the technical details are taken care of by the hosting company. Some will even provide gateways for billing your customers.
A dedicated server account gives you control of all the resources of an entire server. You are free to setup as many websites as you wish and allocate disk space and bandwidth as you see fit. The downside to this type of account is that you are responsible for maintaining the server. This can require a significant level of technical know-how so if you don't have that knowledge or don't feel like learning about it, dedicated servers are not for you. You can, of course, go with a managed dedicated server. The downside of this is the higher cost involved.
Hosting all your sites with one host can offer lots of advantages but there is one major disadvantage – if your server goes down, all your sites go down. If you are depending on your sites for income this can be a disastrous situation. For this reason, it is a good idea to have at least one of your sites with a different host. If your sites are essential for your livelihood and you can't afford any down time whatsoever, you would be advised to host everything with (at least) two hosts.
The most basic choice when administering multiple domains is whether or not to do so with the same host. Most hosts offer packages which can be set up to allow several sites on one account, or allow individual sites to be operated under separate accounts.
You may have an existing website and are happy with the services your host provides. If you decide to start a new website using the same host, you will have the reassurance of dealing with a company you are familiar with and trust. You may also get a discount for each additional account you open with the same host. On the other hand, using a new host for a second (or third or fourth) website can allow you to compare the quality of hosting offered by different companies. In addition, separate hosts will provide each of your web sites with a different IP address.
Having different IP addresses can be an important factor if you plan to link the sites together to aid in search engine optimization. Incoming links are an important indicator of the importance of a website, so a site with a lot of incoming links can get a higher position in search engines like Google. If all the links are coming from the same IP address, however, their value may be discounted. Hosting your various sites with different hosting companies guarantees that each site has a different IP address. Individual IP addresses, however, are available as an extra from most web hosts. For a yearly fee each website can have its own unique IP address. This can help with search engine ranking and is also needed if you want to have a secure connection (https) on your site.
If you decide to host all your sites with the same company, there are three basic ways to go. Each site could have its own account; you could sign up for a re-seller account; or you could get a dedicated server account.
As a re-seller you are acting as an agent for the hosting company. You are allocated a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth and you are free to use them as you please. There may be a limit to the number of websites you can host with your re-seller account, but if there is space left over after using this account for your own sites you could earn some extra income by selling accounts to other people. The advantage of a re-seller account is that all the technical details are taken care of by the hosting company. Some will even provide gateways for billing your customers.
A dedicated server account gives you control of all the resources of an entire server. You are free to setup as many websites as you wish and allocate disk space and bandwidth as you see fit. The downside to this type of account is that you are responsible for maintaining the server. This can require a significant level of technical know-how so if you don't have that knowledge or don't feel like learning about it, dedicated servers are not for you. You can, of course, go with a managed dedicated server. The downside of this is the higher cost involved.
Hosting all your sites with one host can offer lots of advantages but there is one major disadvantage – if your server goes down, all your sites go down. If you are depending on your sites for income this can be a disastrous situation. For this reason, it is a good idea to have at least one of your sites with a different host. If your sites are essential for your livelihood and you can't afford any down time whatsoever, you would be advised to host everything with (at least) two hosts.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Low Cost Web Hosting – Is It Worth?
Congratulations! Just finished your first website? So this is the high time to look for hosting providers of varied nature. You may crack your head whether to go for free or paid hosting or low cost web hosting. Let’s have some discussion on these aspects.
Although free web hosting is offered at no cost, most of the webmasters are opting for either paid or low cost web hosting. This low cost web hosting can be obtained by shared web hosting. This is the cheapest of all the forms of hosting.
If you opt for free web host, the service provider will usually display their banners on the top of all of your pages. If you want to lift the banners you need to pay minimal amount or upgrade to some of the paid hosting plans.
Low cost web hosting provides you with a lot of features which enables you to create your dream website at minimal cost. If you’re a student, simply purchase a low cost package. Here you can experiment your SEO or web designing skills before launching a perfect website.
Even you can opt for Yahoo personal website that provides you with a lot of features for low cost and even free. The main limitation with this type of hosting is the minimal number of e-mail accounts provided with the package. You need to perform online research on this aspect if you require more email accounts.
Most of the cheap webhosts offers free setup but minimal disk space. Hence check with the provider for the MB of space. If you seek help of the low cost web hosting then uptime of the server should also be checked for uninterrupted service.
Even you can add few sub domains as some of the low cost companies provides this facility. If you want to measure their service, just unearth the number of customers they have. A perfect company provides more number of customers.
In addition to this, the low cost provider should offer 24 hour technical and customer support. You can knock the door of the customer service at any time to sort out any problem that you face during hosting your website.
Bandwidth (data transfer) is also limited. Always select the provider with higher bandwidth to get many users to critique your site. Initially you can sign up for 100 MB bandwidth also!
Many cheap web hosting companies provides free databases including MySQL. For other databases like MS SQL you need to choose some windows hosting package.
The main three advantages of low cost web hosting are:
1. Reseller hosting benefits
2. Minimal overhead costs with cheap web hosting service
3. You save money for now and for the future
You can also get Frontpage extensions, web file manager (which can be used instead of FTP), webmail (good if you need to check your email account from another computer) and website builder tools.
Your requirement list should be prepared before choosing a provider. You can seek the help of the Internet to look out for reliable host. This kind of low cost web hosting is the best option to go for the first timers.
Although free web hosting is offered at no cost, most of the webmasters are opting for either paid or low cost web hosting. This low cost web hosting can be obtained by shared web hosting. This is the cheapest of all the forms of hosting.
If you opt for free web host, the service provider will usually display their banners on the top of all of your pages. If you want to lift the banners you need to pay minimal amount or upgrade to some of the paid hosting plans.
Low cost web hosting provides you with a lot of features which enables you to create your dream website at minimal cost. If you’re a student, simply purchase a low cost package. Here you can experiment your SEO or web designing skills before launching a perfect website.
Even you can opt for Yahoo personal website that provides you with a lot of features for low cost and even free. The main limitation with this type of hosting is the minimal number of e-mail accounts provided with the package. You need to perform online research on this aspect if you require more email accounts.
Most of the cheap webhosts offers free setup but minimal disk space. Hence check with the provider for the MB of space. If you seek help of the low cost web hosting then uptime of the server should also be checked for uninterrupted service.
Even you can add few sub domains as some of the low cost companies provides this facility. If you want to measure their service, just unearth the number of customers they have. A perfect company provides more number of customers.
In addition to this, the low cost provider should offer 24 hour technical and customer support. You can knock the door of the customer service at any time to sort out any problem that you face during hosting your website.
Bandwidth (data transfer) is also limited. Always select the provider with higher bandwidth to get many users to critique your site. Initially you can sign up for 100 MB bandwidth also!
Many cheap web hosting companies provides free databases including MySQL. For other databases like MS SQL you need to choose some windows hosting package.
The main three advantages of low cost web hosting are:
1. Reseller hosting benefits
2. Minimal overhead costs with cheap web hosting service
3. You save money for now and for the future
You can also get Frontpage extensions, web file manager (which can be used instead of FTP), webmail (good if you need to check your email account from another computer) and website builder tools.
Your requirement list should be prepared before choosing a provider. You can seek the help of the Internet to look out for reliable host. This kind of low cost web hosting is the best option to go for the first timers.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Is my choice of a web host really that important
With such a huge market of web hosts on the Internet you may be lead to believe that they all are basically the same. I would caution you to rethink this philosophy.
There are web hosts that offer huge amounts of disk space for a small monthly fee and there are web host that offer a very limited amount of disk space, bandwidth, and email accounts for a more expensive price.
When searching for a web host there is more important factors to take into consideration.
When searching for a web host please look at the following factors:
What is there uptime guarantee?
May host offer a guarantee of uptime? Please inquire to determine if there are any discounts if they do not meet this guarantee because this is your business and if your website is not visible on the Internet you cannot sell your products or services. For instance, does your prospective web host offer a guarantee of discounts for each hour that your site is inaccessible from their servers or their network?
Ask for information regarding their network
On the Internet there are several interconnected networks. There are some networks that connect smaller networks to larger networks and some networks are top tier networks. It would be a good idea to ask your prospective host for their network diagram or documentation regarding there network backbone. A top-tier provider offers more reliable and faster connectivity while a host that connects via a 3rd party network may experience frequent network issues and reduced speed on there network. For an example please review 561Hosting's network provider info at: http://nsssc.superb.net/information/dca2net-info.php. This is quite a bit of technical information. If you should need an explanation please visit: http://www.561hosting.com. Our support staff will be happy to answer your questions via live chat or email.
Support
Support is a very important factor as well in your decision-making process. Please ask your prospective web host about their support package. Is there support 24/7, do they offer live chat? Is there a cost? At some point you may need support and it is really reassuring to know that your web host is there when you need them.
Above are a few issues to consider when selecting a web host. There are more factors to be considered but the factors above determine if your experience with a web host will be a pleasant one or one that can rivals a natural disaster.
There are web hosts that offer huge amounts of disk space for a small monthly fee and there are web host that offer a very limited amount of disk space, bandwidth, and email accounts for a more expensive price.
When searching for a web host there is more important factors to take into consideration.
When searching for a web host please look at the following factors:
What is there uptime guarantee?
May host offer a guarantee of uptime? Please inquire to determine if there are any discounts if they do not meet this guarantee because this is your business and if your website is not visible on the Internet you cannot sell your products or services. For instance, does your prospective web host offer a guarantee of discounts for each hour that your site is inaccessible from their servers or their network?
Ask for information regarding their network
On the Internet there are several interconnected networks. There are some networks that connect smaller networks to larger networks and some networks are top tier networks. It would be a good idea to ask your prospective host for their network diagram or documentation regarding there network backbone. A top-tier provider offers more reliable and faster connectivity while a host that connects via a 3rd party network may experience frequent network issues and reduced speed on there network. For an example please review 561Hosting's network provider info at: http://nsssc.superb.net/information/dca2net-info.php. This is quite a bit of technical information. If you should need an explanation please visit: http://www.561hosting.com. Our support staff will be happy to answer your questions via live chat or email.
Support
Support is a very important factor as well in your decision-making process. Please ask your prospective web host about their support package. Is there support 24/7, do they offer live chat? Is there a cost? At some point you may need support and it is really reassuring to know that your web host is there when you need them.
Above are a few issues to consider when selecting a web host. There are more factors to be considered but the factors above determine if your experience with a web host will be a pleasant one or one that can rivals a natural disaster.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Unix Versus Windows Hosting
When browsing through the offerings of various web hosting companies you are sure to notice that some offer UNIX hosting and others offer Windows. Some hosts even offer a choice of the two operating systems. What are the differences and which one is better?
First of all, when choosing a host, it doesn't matter what kind of operating system you develop your web site on or what you use on your own computer. Web sites hosted on both UNIX and Windows servers are universally accessible because the data they serve is identical. The difference lies solely in the software used to serve that data.
In terms of reliability UNIX systems have a slight advantage. They are known to extremely stable and able to run for years without rebooting. Windows is also very reliable – slightly less so than UNIX but still able to handle the demands of modern web sites.
The majority of web hosts use various flavours of UNIX like Linux and FreeBSD. These operating systems are free and reduce the costs of a hosting operation. Windows costs thousands of dollars so some hosts charge extra for Windows accounts if they offer both types.
As well as being free, Linux and the other UNIX varieties are open-source software. Anyone can alter the source code and make improvements, updates, and additions. There is a large pool of dedicated enthusiasts who use their free time to work on this software. Windows, on the other hand, is Microsoft proprietary software so users are dependent on Microsoft to release updates. There is no way for an individual user to modify the code.
The main difference between the two types of operating systems is the type of software each can run. Windows is suitable for Microsoft products such as MS Access databases, ASP for delivering dynamic content, and VBScript for site enhancements. UNIX cannot accommodate these technologies so if you absolutely need ASP or VBScript you should pick a Windows host. UNIX hosts deliver dynamic content by using software such as PHP, CGI, and MySQL – technologies which are also available on Windows hosts.
Windows is necessary for hosting Windows media files such as videos and audio. Other types of media such as MP3, Flash, Shockwave and Real can be handled by either UNIX or Windows. Websites created in Microsoft FrontPage (a graphical HTML development package) can also be hosted on either type as long as MS databases or dynamic content are not included for use on a UNIX host.
Which is Best?
Before deciding which type of hosting to use for your website, consider carefully what kind of technologies you will need. Do you need a dynamic site? Will you have multimedia content such as streaming video or audio?
Both UNIX and Windows can provide dynamic content with PHP, MySQL, as well as CGI, and there are thousands of dynamic scripts readily available. Multimedia can also be hosted by either type of server, although Windows media (WMA and WMV) need to be hosted on a Windows server.
If you absolutely need Microsoft databases, ASP, and Windows media you have to go with a Windows host. Otherwise most websites are probably better off with a UNIX host. The advantages of UNIX over Windows include greater choices in web hosts, slightly better reliability, and (sometimes) cheaper hosting costs.
First of all, when choosing a host, it doesn't matter what kind of operating system you develop your web site on or what you use on your own computer. Web sites hosted on both UNIX and Windows servers are universally accessible because the data they serve is identical. The difference lies solely in the software used to serve that data.
In terms of reliability UNIX systems have a slight advantage. They are known to extremely stable and able to run for years without rebooting. Windows is also very reliable – slightly less so than UNIX but still able to handle the demands of modern web sites.
The majority of web hosts use various flavours of UNIX like Linux and FreeBSD. These operating systems are free and reduce the costs of a hosting operation. Windows costs thousands of dollars so some hosts charge extra for Windows accounts if they offer both types.
As well as being free, Linux and the other UNIX varieties are open-source software. Anyone can alter the source code and make improvements, updates, and additions. There is a large pool of dedicated enthusiasts who use their free time to work on this software. Windows, on the other hand, is Microsoft proprietary software so users are dependent on Microsoft to release updates. There is no way for an individual user to modify the code.
The main difference between the two types of operating systems is the type of software each can run. Windows is suitable for Microsoft products such as MS Access databases, ASP for delivering dynamic content, and VBScript for site enhancements. UNIX cannot accommodate these technologies so if you absolutely need ASP or VBScript you should pick a Windows host. UNIX hosts deliver dynamic content by using software such as PHP, CGI, and MySQL – technologies which are also available on Windows hosts.
Windows is necessary for hosting Windows media files such as videos and audio. Other types of media such as MP3, Flash, Shockwave and Real can be handled by either UNIX or Windows. Websites created in Microsoft FrontPage (a graphical HTML development package) can also be hosted on either type as long as MS databases or dynamic content are not included for use on a UNIX host.
Which is Best?
Before deciding which type of hosting to use for your website, consider carefully what kind of technologies you will need. Do you need a dynamic site? Will you have multimedia content such as streaming video or audio?
Both UNIX and Windows can provide dynamic content with PHP, MySQL, as well as CGI, and there are thousands of dynamic scripts readily available. Multimedia can also be hosted by either type of server, although Windows media (WMA and WMV) need to be hosted on a Windows server.
If you absolutely need Microsoft databases, ASP, and Windows media you have to go with a Windows host. Otherwise most websites are probably better off with a UNIX host. The advantages of UNIX over Windows include greater choices in web hosts, slightly better reliability, and (sometimes) cheaper hosting costs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
