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Choosing the right
hosting service for your site.
Explosive growth in use of
information systems and the Internet for all manner of business
applications has made provision of proper web hosting services. Whether
novice or expert, you can find some useful information in this article
to learn about some of the considerations to look at when you choose a
web hosting service.
The cost of hosting services that
you can find on the net varies a lot. Options like disk space,
bandwidth allowance, control panel and operating system in a hosting
account determines the price that you have to pay. First, to start
finding a host for your site, you need to determine your requirements
for your site. For the sake of the beginners, I will consider shared and
dedicated hosting only.
1) Size, scalability and disk
space
Will your website and content grow from time to time or you just
need to publish a set of content that will expire after some time?
- A corporate site with less
than 20 web pages, a disk space of less than 40MB should be enough.
- If you want to start a site
about a certain topic or industry, consider getting a hosting
account with at least 60MB disk space for a start.
- If you intend to publish a
site with a lot of pictures or mp3 for users to download or
purchase, consider a 100MB disk space hosting account.
- For personal sites, consider a
30MB MB disk space hosting account.
- If you are in charge of an
enterprise that needs to publish a lot of information and offer
intranet system and public services, consider a dedicated server
instead.
These days, many hosting
providers offer hosting services that exceed the disk space requirement
standard for any given websites. Although more is better, it is not
always necessary. Disk space can be purchased from time to time if it is
not sufficient. So choose a hosting account appropriately depending on
how much space you will need.
Secondly, consider hosting
providers that can support the growth of your website and business, so
that you can scale your website affordably. Ask about the companies'
application, network, disk space cost, facilities and the solution they
can offer as your site grows.
The features of a hosting account
has a lot to do with what you can do for your site. It is of utmost
importance to find a host that matches your skills and interest. Let's
go step by step!
2) Platform and hardware
requirements.
The most popular web server nowadays runs on Windows 2000, Apache,
Cobalt or Linux®. The design goals of both Unix®/Linux® and
Windows are very similar in nature. These operating system are
portability, extensibility, and an ability to run on various different
computers, whether they are desktop PCs or departmental servers. Your
choice of operating system will classify the service and type of
software that you can deploy and the kind of applications that your site
can run on.
Windows NT® or Windows 2000
servers are configured to be compatible with Microsoft® applications,
such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL. NT/Windows 2000 servers also offer
programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic
Scripts, MS Index Server and Cold Fusion. So if you are familiar with
Microsoft®'s Internet Technologies, consider Windows NT® or Windows 2000
hosting services. Also, consider the speed of the processor and the
amount of RAM (memory) that is installed on the server. Compare and
choose the hosting provider that can offer you high processor speed and
bigger amount of RAM (memory) at a reasonable price.
The Unix® platform offers tried
and tested stability and the speed for enterprise level e-business.
Linux® should also be mentioned when talking about Unix®. Many people do
not realize that Linux® falls under the realm of Unix®. This is because
Linux® is actually a Unix® derivative. Unix® or Linux® hosting often
comes with telnet access, mySQL database, Perl, PHP and CGI support. If
you are familiar with Unix® file naming, PERL or PHP applications,
consider a Unix® or Linux® hosting account.
If you are not familiar with any
of these operating systems, and if you prefer an easy to use platform,
consider a Windows 2000 hosting account. If you are looking forward to
learning the Perl programming language or if reliability or stability is
a concern, consider an Unix® or Linux® hosting account.
Whichever platform that you
choose, determine your goals for your site and find out the requirements
to run your site. Based on your needs, determine the compatibility of
the application or programming language that you need to use. Once you
have all these in mind, you can safely and easily decide which platform
is most suitable for your need.
3) Email Accounts
Look for email accounts with web based access as well as POP3. The
best ones are those with administrator control. Generally, you should
have at least 5 email accounts for 3 users. Depending on the number
users that have in your organization, you should have least 2 to 5
standby email accounts. Some hosting providers offer unlimited email
accounts as well. Features like auto responders, email aliases and email
forwarding is very common nowadays.
4) Software and services
Web hosting in the open Internet market today is very competitive. A
good hosting provider will offer speedy internet connection, proper
security measures, featured rich hosting, and reliable server uptime.
There are over a 100 types of features that a host can offer. Look for
only what you need. Some of the most widely offered features include.
a) Database
Determine your requirements and decide if database is required. If
you need to store a lot of records or transactions, a database can
be very helpful. MS Access, mySQL and MS SQL Server are some
of the most widely used database on the internet. If you are decide
a Unix® or Linux® hosting is your preferred choice, mySQL suits
perfectly for your site. Alternatively, if a Windows 2000 server
hosting is your option, you have the choice of either a MS Access or
a MS SQL server.
b) Scripting language
If you think Microsoft® Active Server Pages can't be used in Linux® or
Unix®, you are wrong. With more and more new and advanced
technologies coming up to support cross platform, virtually all
popular scripting languages can be used on either Windows 2000 and
Unix®. Nevertheless, it is advisable that you still stick to the
platform and scripting language that you know best. If Perl, Cgi,
Php and mySQL are your favorite scripting languages and tools, stick
to Linux® or Unix®. Find the host that supports the latest
version. Insist that they inform you so that you maximize the latest
web technologies for the fee that you pay.
c) Microsoft® FrontPage
Support
This configuration allows you to use Microsoft® FrontPage to
design, create and manage your website.
d) FTP Accounts
This is by default the standard method of uploading and
downloading files from your computer to your site.
e) Raw Log Access
Often you don't need raw log. Each log size is very big and it is very
hard to interpret it into useful information. Instead insist the
host provider offer web statistics software for your site
so that you can harness the detailed analytics buried deep within
gigabytes of raw log and provide you the insights you need to market
your site successfully.
f) Control Panel
Control Panel is a service provided by the host to help manage
your web hosting account efficiently. This a is very useful tool
that you need when you want things to be done quickly and
dynamically. Check out this feature when you are looking for a host
to sign up with
g) Ecommerce Options
If you want to sell a service or product online, you need to find
a hosting provider that offers a selection of ecommerce features and
payment processing services. Shopping cart, SSL security certificate
and credit card merchant providers are some of the options you need
to consider. Currently, the easiest and most widely used ecommerce
system is Miva® Merchant. Look for a host that supports this. Other
shopping cart systems are also available and some hosting providers
offer this feature for free as part of the hosting plan.
h) Components
Many scripting languages require third party extensions or
additional extension to develop cutting-edge web technologies. Some
of these components are available at an additional cost. View
carefully and ask if required whether the hosting company provides
the components that you need.
For example, if want to develop a site using Microsoft® Active Server
Pages, you may want to know if the host provides additional third
party components like SAFileup, ASPMail, and BrowserHawk.
5) Speed
Web users do not tolerate slow websites, and to a certain extent,
you can avoid the problem by choosing a hosting provider that is
committed to supply high speed connection and redundant lines to ensure
your site remains responsive and that your data moves quickly even if
your primary Internet connections are temporarily unavailable.
Although the speed of a site can
be caused by various and complicated problem areas, ranging from
routing, web server set up, and local area networks, the main and
major concern of how fast your site is depends very much on the types of
network connections. The general types of network connections that a
hosting provider often provides are given below.
Many hosting providers still
connect to the Internet through T1, or T3 connections, although there
has been an increase of hosting services using OC (Optical Carrier)
lines.
A T1 line will offer data
transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second), while a T3 line can
supply data transfer rates of 43Mbps. Ultra-High Speed OC3 and OC12
lines offers 155Mbps and 622Mbps respectively. Some hosting providers
have connections to major internet backbones at the speed of OC48
(2488Mbps).
Thus, consider finding a host
that provides reasonable internet connections. You can do a
speed test to determine the average response time from a hosting
provider's site to your computer. Ping displays a report that includes
the time it takes to receive a control packet from the remote host. High
values of packet loss and response time indicate low connection
performances, while low response time often means more reliable and
faster connection. Please take note that the user's experience of
response time is not limited to server's connection, but the throughput
of the web server, the Internet itself, and user's connection.
6) Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of files and data that you can transfer per
month. The standard allowance you get is 1 gigabyte of bandwidth per
month. Every time a visitor views your site they are downloading files
from your site, this uses your bandwidth. If you have a page that is
30kb in size including images and 10 people view that page you would
have used 300kilobytes of bandwidth.(1 gigabyte = approximately
1,000,000 kilobytes)
When choosing a hosting provider, the amount of bandwidth you have can
be crucial to the success of your site. Generally speaking, the more
bandwidth you have, the more traffic your site will be able to handle at
one time. Consider finding a host that provides at least 2.5GB of
monthly bandwidth allowance. If your site acts as a portal for web users
to find information, consider 6GB of monthly bandwidth allowance for a
start. Some hosting providers offer unlimited bandwidth. We
suggest that you read its Terms of Use before signing up.
7) Reliability and Scalability
Choose a provider offering a guarantee that your Website will be
open for business at least 99% of the time. Excellent Web hosting
providers can offer this guarantee because they have invested in the
best automatic monitoring equipment, hired experienced engineers who can
anticipate problems and emergencies, and installed redundant back-up
systems to take over the moment anything goes wrong.
8) Support
Maintaining and running a web hosting company is not easy. In fact,
finding highly experienced web technicians to respond and support
inquiries 24 hours and 7 days a week is even harder. Because successful
implementation of a web hosting company often depends on how the
management team executes its plan, policies, and goals, you can easily
test if the web hosting company will respond to you quickly by asking
them questions through email a few times.
There are a few things you can do
to find a host with good technical support.
- Find out if the company
provides online knowledgebase and FAQ support. Check if the system
is frequently updated and used. Online knowledgebase and FAQ are
very handy tools when you have trouble with your website at anytime.
- Find out if a control panel is
available for your site. Control Panel allows you to change and
manage your hosting account remotely at anytime without any support
intervention.
- Find out the company's current
status and how many years the company has been operating. Hosting
providers that do not determine the needs of their customers have
ceased or will eventually cease operations in this industry, leaving
only the best-of-breed hosting providers to progress and move ahead.
- Find out if the company has
any technical certification in supporting and providing the service
you purchase
9) Cost
Check the cost of the hosting plans carefully. Some hosting features
are optional. You can also save some cost if you prepay a yearly
payment. The cost of shared hosting plans and dedicated hosting plans
varies a lot.
You can easily search for hosting
plans that match your specification at
www.hostpulse.com. Make use of the
Advanced Search to find the exact hosting plan that you need. You
can also take advantage of the
HostPulse's HostMatch feature and automatically receive a list of
web host companies matching your web hosting requirements. Make sure
that you know what you want to get before signing up with one. A good
and decent shared hosting plans with proper support can range from US$15
to US$80 per month depending on the hosting requirements that you are
looking for.
Good luck in your search!
About HostPulse.com
Founded in 2001, the
HostPulse.com site was formed to focus on the specific needs of web
users who are looking for web hosting services on the web. Today, the
HostPulse.com has over 20,000 web hosting plans from over for users to
browse and research. These information helps users to select suitable
hosting, provide insight into the future of hosting support services, a
road map of best practices within the hosting. HostPulse.com has become
the center of support providing a reliable and comprehensive hosting
resource for news, research, benchmarking, and reviews
Best Virtual Private Server
Hosting
Award 2003
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