Hosting Ratings asked:


Usualy , the choice to host your website depends upon the scripting language that is used in your website.

If languages are PHP, MySQL, or Perl , Linux web server hosting is preferable.

But if you are thinking for ASP Dot Net scripting language and MS SQL database , you should chose only Windows Based hosting.

If you would like a few interactive facilities similar to chat or searchable database, Linux may not be the best choice. Also, a Linux-based web server is not fully acquiescent amongst Windows technologies. If you are using any Windows-centric technologies like Visual Basic, then Windows-based servers might be the required opportunity for you.

Advantages of Linux server hosting

Linux is an open source software product and so it does not need the high endorsement fees that other operating systems do; you can freely download and use it at no cost. A Linux website can easily be converted to a Windows website without much hassle. Also, the website can easily be changed as the necessity of the user grows. Linux web hosting is acutely cheap as Linux is a cost free operating system. Usually, merely the cost of distribution is borne by the host or owner. When the scripting language covet PHP, MySQL, or Perl etc. are required for your website then Linux server hosting is the most reliable and cost effective solution for you. Unless heavy load of scripting language, presently ought to not be traceable. There are multiple kinds of databases that run on Linux hosting, but the various widespread most likely among web host providers are mSQL, MySQL and PostgreSQL. These databases are relational by nature, and permit vastly optimized communication with your website for rapid reclamation of data. By lots of circles Linux hosting is supposed to be much securing than Windows hosting, and for that reason only Linux server hosting is also the more popular option for web designers and programmers.



Advantages of windows server hosting

.NET technologies like ASP dot net VB dot net are obtainable on this platform. If you have a website built with Microsoft .NET technologies then you ought to have to select a Windows server hosting plan. If you need an enterprise class database there are some different features so run on a Linux platform but if you desire Microsoft’s MSSQL database, a Windows hosting bill will be your best choice. Access Databases are only obtainable provided a Windows server hosting plan. Access can easily run on a Microsoft Windows platform and thus it is unavailable on a Linux hosting. If your site needs particularly this feature then you will undergo to accept windows server hosting. If you are using some of the Microsoft’s Sharepoint services a Windows Hosting guidelines is sole reliable choice for you. Windows plans typically significantly costly due to the fact that of the license price compulsory by Microsoft.



Normally, Linux server hosting plans are at least 20% cheaper than windows server hosting plans.

If you need not to undergo any unique features for your website, covet cart, searchable database etc, Linux server hosting is a finest non&wshyp;traditional for your needs.

When you are required for specific Microsoft technologies, Windows hosting plans generally is planning to be your favorable think. But for all miniscule business owner needs Linux hosting plans will generally perform quite perfectly for its cost effective features



OurNetBuds

Web Hosting asked:


There are several sensitive areas, which a user should take into consideration while selecting a web host:

1. Disk space

2. Bandwidth

3. Scripts and utilities

4. Dedicated/Shared servers

5. Customers service/Support

6. Uptime/Reliability

7. Price

8. Free Hosting Providers

1. Disk Space: It denotes space provided by the host to the user in which he/she can locate his/her web site. It can ranges from 25MB to GBs to store all the essential requirements of the user. One can easily calculate storage space if his/her site is already constructed by considering all the aspects. This is the least requirement by the user. For sure success one should go for a plan having additional resources in comparison to user’s current requirement.

2. Bandwidth: One of the crucial parts to verify is regarding bandwidth. There are several sites, which loose their host due to excessive downloads causing budget going beyond their expectations. Occasionally, host even charges in hundreds of dollars for the additional bandwidth. One should confirm about this before dealing with any of the host. Usually, ideal-hosting providers deliver initial bandwidth of 25 to 50 GB to the users.

3. Scripts and Utilities: Does one’s priority is dynamic information related to his/her products and services? If the answer is yes! Then user’s plan should include a database tool. One cannot deny the fact that, Databases are extremely multitalented and will change according to the operating system, which the user chooses for his/her hosting server.

If one talks about further famous scripts it usually includes chat rooms, forums, blogs, and calendar programs and help desk software. Such scripts, which come along with user’s hosting plan, are pre-configured by the service host so that user can properly work on their server. There are several hosts which even propose the Fantastico script package known to be the combination of 36 different free scripts which a user can easily install to his/her website.

Next thing to consider is the 3rd party script. These are those scripts which are available on the net to purchase and one can easily install to his/her website. One should note that there are only few of the scripts, which one can run on both the operating systems i.e. Windows and Linux; however, others are meant for only one operating system to be used.

4. Dedicated or Shared Servers: If one talks about the key difference between a dedicated and shared server then it is that there are several sites present on a shared server, however, there is only one website in case of a dedicated server.

Through a shared server one can save a high amount. If one talks about the drawbacks then Spamming and blacklisting from different search engines are the key problems. Such problems arise due to the reason that several sites are assign to one particular IP address. One should demand for a separate IP address for his/her website (on additional monthly charges) to secure the user from such problems.

Dedicated servers are considered best for big, highly trafficked websites, which requires large amounts of server resources to run. One of the negative points of dedicated server is that the server’s resources are divided across all the sites it’s hosting and answering page requests for. Thus, if one is working in a dedicated environment he/she always has to keep an eye on his/her resources. Another disadvantage is that dedicated servers costs around $50 per month or even more whereas shared hosting can be purchased for mere 5$ a month.

5. Support system: Another important aspect to consider is support. What is host’s response time? Does their phone support is 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Additional features one should verify for:

Is there POP email account, if yes, then how many?

What no. Of database is there?

Is there Web based e-mail with the host?

Does they provide Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus filters?

Do they provide the facility of Password Protected to user’s directories?

Is their frequent backup if by chance crash in server takes place?

Does user get some money return back, if he/she is dissatisfied with services?

Does there is assistance for Perl, PHP, Crontab and Secure Server Layer?

There are several good hosting providers in the market, who known for their rapid response and numerous amounts of other excellent qualities for reasonable price.

Hence, one should before choosing should keep in mind the above-mentioned points, which can prevent the user from unexpected future problems.

6. Uptime and Dependability: Another influential factor. Is there any performance guarantee provided by the host? Can user expect a refund if he/she is suffering from downtime form a very long period? Is there any money back guarantee in the contract? There are several hosts in the market who refund full or partial amount of monthly fees (excluding spamming or other illegal activity) if user is dissatisfied with their service quality and want to quit their service option.

7. Price: In general one will get hosting service between the ranges of $5.00 – $10.00 dollars a month; it may very according to features provided. Service below $5.00 a month is quite awful in usual sense. Similarly, any service above $12.00 a month can provide not only a package of awesome features but probably can also include a complimentary domain name; a unique offer not provided by everyone.

8. Free Hosting Providers: In today’s market one can enjoy website hosting at quite nominal amount. Hence, there is nothing worthwhile in going for a free web hosting; as there is nothing free as it seems like.

Conclusion:

One can end the search on an ideal host by thinking ahead. One should purchase as much possible bandwidth and disk space at the most reasonable price he/she can. One should know that every website requires room to groom which user needs to deliver without any form of much risk.



Game Player Online

Web Hosting asked:


First of all, the question arises, WHAT ARE WEB HOSTS? They are the service provider companies that give place to the net users on their servers that provide space on their servers for internet users. Web hosts provide online systems for internet connectivity and for storing information, image mediums and other internet content to their users. If a company wants web as a medium of conducting business, then selection of web host is a crucial step in any internet marketing strategy.

The user can get various kinds of web hosting services from the market. They are broadly divided and described below:

Free Hosting: Least expensive, however, very restricted when one talk about services and space; though one can began with a free web host when the person is an individual professional or obtained a small business to begun with. For a company looking for rapid growth, boundations like restrictions on advertising, bandwidth and permissible edit sites, can adversely effect.

Shared Hosting: Here the user’s site is placed in the company of several other sites (estimating about hundred), centralized on the same server. However, they give more liberties as compare to free hosts.

Reseller Hosting: Hosting providing the facility of an ample amount of bandwidth and space to an e-business on its account and split the space as per requirement. This is however similar as compare to a shared hosting due to the reason that user’s server is located on the same server related to others. However the user possesses the right to judge about the number of divisions and along with whom he/she has to share.

Hosting Choices providing liberty

One can find total resemblance in the inferences of dedicated hosting and Virtual Private Server. A dedicated hosting however demands more money for its service but the user can enjoy several features in comparison to other hostings discussed earlier. With dedicated hosting, the user not only gets his/her own server but can also indulge in services without many restrictions.

With the help of Virtual private server technology a server gets the potential to host numerous virtual environments. Such environments possess the features of individual stand-alone servers. Though, the inferences are the same, still, a virtual private server hosting is cheaper as compared to others. Along with Collocated hosting, the user can install own server at the data center of the host. For the cost of services generally related to other types of hosting, has to be paid by the user of collocated hosting, making this option quite expensive.

It is obligatory that the user should have an existing website, if he/she wishes to acquire a web-hosting service. Thus after the development of website, the next very important thing would be the selection of web hosting service for the website. Thus one should act very careful while selecting a web hosting service for his/her business.



SexAddicts

Web Hosting asked:


One cannot deny the fact that, the reach of internet is vast and through out the world and when it comes to marketing scenario the customer is consider being ultimate. He/she is an individual who comes to the market with well defined objectives and requirements. Thus it is a challenge for a hosting provider to aim customer’s well defined objectives. Web host needs to move straight forwards with the certain strategy focusing on the futures such as price, uptime, reliability, support etc.

A few time ago there was a research conducted about the selling aspect of the hosting industry. Can a low priced host perform well? How nice it will be if a low priced host will propose features like maximum bandwidth and disk space. At the end the conclusion was that the largest host would be the low priced host with the maximum bandwidth and disk space, with an outstanding support and placing advertisements all over the client’s site. It can be useful for several people, but the Return of Investment (ROI) may consume the entire life-time of a person.

The web hosting industry contains majority of SMEs. For them large investments in marketing may not provide results as per expectations. Still one can find several web hosts in the market who have flourished themselves from a mere reseller hosting system to a thousand servers within a little spare of time. It is quite surprising that the number of hosts selling at low price was zero. They had done nothing but created a niche market for their purpose.

One web host concentrated merely on resellers and termed it as private label reseller programs. They gave out additional amount of disk space and bandwidth and demanded for additional charge. Their merits – slighter customers, advanced cash turnover and comparatively smaller support requests as the resellers takes care of their own customers. Another web host concentrated merely on webmasters. In fact, Webmasters usually possess more than one site. Hosting cannot be considered their main business and they demand a reasonable solution. In addition to it, the majority of webmasters have the technical knowledge and in comparison they require a community where interaction with other webmasters is possible.

Everyone knows that in a little span of time identical things take the place in market and adopts the standardization of industry. This is again test the way to effectively control the market by the host. They can take the step to concentrate on merely on certain services of hosting. For instance, email only hosting. This can be very helpful for the people for whom email is highly decisive. The user may go for the emails on another server which is totally dedicated to emails only. Thus, if by chance the prime site faces downtime, they still have an alternative route to get the mails. One can take backup hosting as another suitable example. At this juncture, the web host would backup the whole information related to a site in a frequent period of time.

Web hosting provider can also concentrate on definite languages and software which are very well-liked. There is not majority of hosts offering Java Servlets, Postgresql, and Zope. If one takes the example of only Zope hosting then it definitely escort all the Zope developers to apply and as well as propose the Zope community a web hosting provider who is specialized in field of Zope hosting.

Everyone knows that price of broadband had declined by the time, it also created a ray of optimism in the mind of web hosts that due to this the market of application hosting also gets popularity. One can find new market of large and small corporate who never thinks badly in keeping their data in secure networks. All requires is to log into their servers and access their data from any part of the globe. They search for the applications like Compiere or rather a groupware where user can easily access, share and pile up the data online. If there will be a requirement for paying premium for such services the Corporate would never mind. But, web hosts have to promise protection and dependability in such situations.

Merging some of the additional features in the offered package will definitely attract the customers to that hosting provider. It can include few of the software’s also.

One can put forward hosting services along with a post nuke, gallery and phpBB forum all packaged into one. Due to this the customer will receive both opportunity and time to concentrate on what he/she requires to do instead of wasting time on thinking the way to implement a CMS system or picture gallery.

There are many sites offering software such as ikonboard, eZpublish, phpShop, Zope, A-Cart etc along with their hosting package. After selecting the ideal one as per requirement user can create scripts to automate the process of installation. Thus, one can save the time wasting on ordering new things.

At the end, user needs not to take any step like investing a huge amount of money for the purpose of advertising with search engines or rather with web hosting directories. All requires is to advertise on the elected software’s home page and remain present on their forums/mailing lists to assist the client.



Swap a Shirt

Web Host asked:


Due to Various inefficiencies of Old Web Hosting provider like poor technical support, down web server, inability of old provider to met with your requirements, expensive web hosting service, an Online Business owner decided to go for a new Web Hosting provider. Because of all above-mentioned and many more not in the list you would opt for new web hosting service. So the next step is to transfer your web site from current web host to new web host which can be done by following the under mentioned steps. Transferring of Schedule For transferring the old web hosting, planning should be done in advance, atleast one month before so as to ensure smooth transfer, as transferring in less than one month can led to inaccessibility of your web site.

Registering new web hosting service.

Once the above step is complete, user must go for a new web hosting service and must sign it accordingly within 24 hours so as to enable new account earliest.

Taking Files Backup.

As soon as you created a new web hosting account, you should take back up of all your web files for the new provider. Generally you already have all files of your web site on your local computer still it is beneficial to backup all your files from old web server. Further including HTML files, backup of any script file, database file and even of server logs file should be taken. Thereafter create a directory structure similar to directory structure on web server and then load the file in their respective directory.

Uploading of files

You will receive a notification email from your new web-hosting provider after the notification of your new web hosting account. Information needed to set up a website including FTP server information all will be provided within that email. With the help of that FTP information user can now FTP his new web-hosting server and can upload all his files. First the user should create a directory structure and then can upload all his files in their respective directories. User can also install any script file or databases if used in his website and also should setup his email accounts with the help of administration panel.

After finishing of uploading of all the files and installation of script files or databases temporary URL can be used to test the new site. This temporary URL can be obtained from through notification email from new web hosting provider.

Testing of new website

The new website can be tested online by using temporarily URL directory. As different web hosting server require different server environment to work, that’s why user needs to verify all the scripts like CGI, Perl if they are working as per the requirement or not. Further all the hyperlinks should be tested in the normal web pages so as to confirm that no broken links are there. Your website hosted on the old web hosting provider is continued to be operational, even when you are testing through the temporary URL directory. Transferring of domain name After finishing of testing new website on the temporary URL and verification of its perfect execution, next step is to contact the new domain name registrar so as to change the old domain name server to point the new DNS of the web hosting provider. There after the user will get DNS information through email after he finishes the successful registration with new web hosting provider and also would get the information from website of his new web hosting provider. The purpose of Domain name servers is to control how to resolve the domain name. Commonly the domain names are in following format:

NS1.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

NS2.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

Some domain name registrar requires the IP addresses of the DNS. In this case you have to provide the IP addresses of your new DNS. For example:

NS1: 216.193.194.212

NS2: 216.193.207.106

DNS record to change and propagate through all the WHOIS servers takes typically 24 to 72 hours. Whois tools such as whois.com can be use on Internet to monitor the status of DNS transfer. New DNS will be displayed once the transfer is complete. Even minor modifications are possible like the user can upload his own file or picture to the new web-hosting server. When the user checks his homepage through the normal domain name he can notice the new home page, which makes sure that transfer of DNS is successful. Final Testing Now, your website on the new web hosting provider is officially transferred and online. You should repeat all the tests to ensure it is fully functional.Thereafter you can go ahead to terminate your old web hosting account after the final confirmation is received.



GamingUser

Web Hosting asked:


After the registration of domain name selection of web host is another rational step a user need to consider. Though, finding an ideal host is a daunting task. One can find several companies offering web-hosting services to the clients. While locating keyword web hosting in the search engines one will find more than 100 million outputs!

One cannot deny the fact, for a successful online presence a dependable web hosting is must. Online presence and accessibility of a web site is must. If not, one should remain ready to loose clients and prospects. For an instance, if one compare this with a traditional business.

CATEGORIES OF WEB HOSTING:

One should select a web hosting deal according to his/her site. One cannot fulfill his/her requirements from same hosting deal for a personal web site, web site meant for email newsletter subscription and archives, e-commerce site or web forum. Web hosting can be divided into four prime categories:

1. Virtual (shared) hosting,

2. Dedicated server,

3. Collocation server and

4. Reseller hosting.

Two most applicable hosting are virtual (shared) hosting and dedicated server.

What is Virtual (shared) hosting? It is a condition in which several web sites share one server. It is a low cost hosting because price is divided between several users. One can locate a standard virtual hosting at a rate of $100 a year.

In a Dedicated server hosting company lease the whole web server from a particular web hosting company. The site of web server is the web hosting company. One can opt dedicated server as a suitable option who does not wish to share a server with other web masters. One can find a dedicated server in two forms managed and un-managed. If one talk about managed server, company will take care of all the setups of user’s server. However, in unmanaged server user needs to take care of all these by him/her self. The benefit of this sort of hosting is that one can fully lodge web hosting as per his/her requirements. Moreover, for a site with ample amount of visitors a dedicated server is the only rational choice. Due to higher cost, starting from $100 per month, those companies that know the worth of Internet business generally use it.

One can say that Collocation server is quite identical to dedicated server. Disparity lies in the fact that company doesn’t take the web server on lease. Their own web server is placed in the web hosting company. In addition to it, company has material access to their web server, which is not available while talking about a dedicated server.

If one mention about Reseller hosting it is aimed to those companies only wishes to begin their own web hosting business.

ASPECTS, WHICH ONE NEEDS TO CONSIDER:

There are many factors which a user needs to consider to prevent any future miss happens:

Web space:

Requirement of Web space vary from site to site. Off course, if user requirement is only a web site containing basic information about him/her and his/her work excluding the use of web applications, then space of 50 MB is quite sufficient. However, a complex e-commerce site along with numerous products in one’s database demands a capacity of 1 GB.

Bandwidth:

The term Bandwidth refers to data transferred from user’s web site and that comprise of graphic details, images, banners and files for download. One should have accurate knowledge of Content before going for an amount of bandwidth. When one talks about the majority of sites, bandwidth of 10 GB a month is quite sufficient, though for few other sites like sites related to desktop wallpapers can frequently consumes even hundreds of GB a month.

Up time or visibility:

It symbolizes time articulated in percents displaying the period a site remained online. One should not be cheerful because someone assured him/her to provide say for 98% up time because it is not going to fulfill his/her requirement. One should get at least 99.7% uptime. Believe it or not, it definitely matters.

Email accounts:

Email accounts are an integrated and crucial part of web hosting package. It is quite interesting to know for how much will one get only a so called catch –all forwarding which means that all emails sent to somewhere@mydomain.com will arrive to one’s email address or one can set-up email accounts for several users? Also the thing is for how much? Is it intended for 5, 10, 100 or limitless email accounts? In addition to it, there is no harm to verify whether user get a so-called POP3 email address (“real” email address), web mail or rather both? If one has a POP3 email address then he/she can check his/her emails via favorite email client and web mail facilitate the user to inquire his/her emails at any place demanding just a computer and Internet connection.

Form of Server, tools and control panel:

When one mention the two generally utilized hosting then the name of Unix-based or Windows platform comes first. It matters for the result program languages, databases and scripts that one can apply. When one talks about Unix-based platform, general selection is relayed to PHP language along with MySQL, however, when it comes to Windows platform ASP or ASP.NET language will be along with SQL Server. One should enquire that is database is available with package or not, if yes, then how many? Nowadays, contemporary web site must be database-driven.

Too, one should have full knowledge related to tools coming along with web hosting package, if there is only applications for web statistics, file manager and things it is not an concern issue.

Technical support:

A crucial aspect while selecting a web hosting particularly for a user without having adequate technical skills is technical support. A proper technical support does not take a responsive time more then a day. This is not liable only to selection of web hosting company, but, crucial to any of the company selling products and services, Software Company can be one of the examples.

The coordination of few of the companies is so well thought-out that it takes only 1 hour to give response to user’s queries! Through their source of contact one can predict about the future response. Do the concern company has only email support or also have phone support? Does they provide a toll-free number? Do they offer the facility of trouble-ticket system? Working time is another crucial aspect. What is their strategy of providing technical support is it during working hours only i.e. 9 to 17 or does they provide the facility of 24×7 technical support? An ideal way to detect their professionalism one can create a list of fake queries, drop a line to them and hang around to know their reply time.

Testimonials:

Several web hosting and software companies have this smart way to increase their customer strength. Testimonials section contains the approval of satisfied customers, attracting more people to their service. This section is not completely reliable. Several hosting companies offer their clients to analyze their portfolio, instead of doing that one should contact webmasters who are taking the service of concern host and register their opinions. One can take help of several sites for further information regarding best web hosting deals and suggestions.



Earn Money Off your websites

Web Hosting asked:


For a user it doesn’t matter that in what way and at which place he/she should host the web site but the whole marketing strategy will get affected when user’s site suffers from downtime. Since, several years there are people using almost a dozen different web hosts providers. By that time, if one talks about really good ones which are virtually hassle-free, then they are just one or two and who charges good amount of fees.

One cannot deny the fact that web hosting costs have declined remarkably in past few years, still one should not measure a hosting service only on the basis of price. It may probably happens that service provider demanding high charges can also be the reason of user’s loses of several dollars in the business.

While exploring a reliable host user should give preference to quality in front of cost. Only paying excessive amount is not the criteria, rather user should find a host through whom he/she can enjoy several features without much hassle.

Technical assistance:

An ideal hosting company provides 24/7 tech support to their clients. User should ensure that company should not only have an email support but also phone support, so that in case of an emergency one can directly contact a representative to tackle down his/her problem.

Period of Down Time:

Every hosting provider will claim one or the other form of uptime guarantee. One should carefully analyze the written material on the small print in order to fully understand their actual assurance. There are certain chances that the assurance provided was only for the website but not for the email services.

One can find several hosting providers in the market claiming for a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Which denotes that they are assuring downtime will be not more than 45 minutes each month. Certainly, if the user is involved in a big business such a small spare of time can be critical and can be quite enough to damage the whole business operations.

The user will certainly get some compensation if the hosting provider fails to meet the assured up time, but it will be not quite enough for the user to fulfill the damage occurred due to lose of traffic and even in the business. If the user is suffering from down time more then one’s a year then he/she should look for another host providing adequate service.

Server Load Monitoring:

One should verify that his/her host should bear the feature of handling the server load that user’s site will produce. Particularly, when user’s site will catch a large amount of traffic while dealing with majority of host’s, it is at that time that user will receive a restrictive amount of bandwidth only. If he/she exceeds it may needs to be compensate with extra amount of money.

Hence, one should have full knowledge of bandwidth allocation. So that, nothing undesirable should not happen while user was enjoying a large amount of traffic.

Secure Server:

Secure server can be very useful for the users who do not want their credit card details or storing personal data to be disclosed to anybody. This is because protection is a demanding aspect for every internet shopper.

There are few of the hosts who navigate their clients to the secure portion of their server and due to this URL will actually change making site inaccessible to the visitors. The drawback of this is that several web sites place their online store on such a secure area which will remove user’s potential web pages making it away from the potential search engine rankings.

To avoid all these problems one can secure an area in his/her own site, which the user can do through buying a secure certificate for his/her domain name. This is later “installed” by the web host providing infinite secure areas in his/her site with own domain. One can consider it as a remedy of professional level getting rid of all sorts of troubles.

In-House Hosting:

There are several companies which are the web hosting providers altogether in favor of hosting their sites on their own in-house servers. Thus, one can get few benefits of doing this but one should go for this if he/she possesses a full-time IT person who is specialized in web server management.

One can promote site accessibility through In-house hosting. The capability by which visitors can access to the site and can download material from it highly rely on user’s local ISP and the connection efficiency. Still connectivity with broadband DSL or cable, cannot provide adequate speed as required. It will raise the time taking for the download and adversely affect the efficiency of site if there is a huge amount of traffic.

There is no assurance of uptime while dealing with In-house hosting and in some way also lag behind in adequate technical support.

However it doesn’t matter whether user’s server is suffering from downtime, or there is no Internet access, or scarcity of power, one’s site will remain inaccessible to the visitors.

Thus at last one can conclude that there are several pros and cons of every hosting need.

What can be the suitable one is up to the choice of the user.

Varieties are spread out….go and search out.



SavePicture

Web Hosting asked:


Web hosting may be defined as renting space on a web server in its simplest form. One should keep in mind that a website is a collection of files linked together by HTML code to display text and graphics on a computer. However website is not complete here until and unless it is displayed on the net. To make it visible for the world it has to be housed on a computer somewhere that has access to the Internet. This is not possible by just a computer rather special device is required termed as web server. A web server may be defined as a computer set up with special software that allows it to receive requests from the internet for the website files it has stored on it and to send those files out over the internet so that the requesting computer can display them.

Web server in addition to making site visible performs several other functions as well like it provides the ability to create email addresses based on one’s domain name and even helps in sending and receiving emails with them. There are several types of software installed on the web server that allows one’s website to run programs, create and manage databases, display video, etc. One must note that almost any type of computer can function as a web server, but it’s the software that’s on it that makes it a server.

When one goes buying a web hosting, the monthly fees to be paid includes cost for maintenance and upgrading of the server’s hardware and software, the cost of keeping it online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a secure data center with a fast and powerful internet connection, and cost of professional proving these services. It is surprising to know that it is possible to turn one’s home or office computer into a web server if one really desires, but it is just not economical. Therefore it is better to outsource it. There are several kinds of web hosting available which are discussed below:

Kinds of web hosting:

Shared Hosting – Through a shared server one can save a high amount. If one talks about the drawbacks then Spamming and blacklisting from different search engines are the key problems. Such problems arise due to the reason that several sites are assign to one particular IP address. One should demand for a separate IP address for his/her website (on additional monthly charges) to secure the user from such problems.

Dedicated Hosting –Dedicated servers are best for big, highly trafficked websites, which will require large amounts of server resources to run. One of the downsides to shared hosting is that the server’s resources are divided across all the sites it’s hosting and answering page requests for. If you are in a dedicated environment you can better monitor your server resources. The downside is that dedicated servers will run you generally $50 per month or more. Shared hosting can be purchased for as little as 5$ a month. Most small or medium sized businesses will have neither the website size or bandwidth requirements to make dedicated servers cost effective.

Server Co-Location – If one wants to have full control over every aspect of his/her web server, he/she might very well choose to buy one and maintain it himself/herself if he/she is having sufficient knowledge. Still there are possibilities that one is not having enough resources to keep his/her server completely safe from power outages, roof leaks, thieves, unwary employees and other problems and in addition it is not possible for him/her to keep it on the internet on a fast, high-bandwidth connection through out. Thus he/she needs a data center to provide those services for him/her.

Co-location is the center providing facilities like physical security on rental, continuous electrical power and a fast, reliable Internet connection for a server that one owns. However, the data center is not responsible for any of the hardware or software maintenance of a co-located server, rather user his/her self. Thus it is a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting if one is having the necessary expertise and time to run a web server by own.

There are several web hosts offering UNIX hosting and Windows hosting.

UNIX Hosting

There are several web servers in the world running mostly on UNIX. UNIX is an operating system originally developed for servers and networking. Till now many different versions of UNIX have been written by programmers around the world under the open-source protocol, which means that the code for the operating system is openly available so as to enable programmers to customize and make improvements when and where necessary. The two most popular forms of UNIX are Linux and BSD that comes in several varieties, like Red Hat Linux, Debian, SuSE, and FreeBSD. The best part of UNIX is most of above mentioned versions can be obtained free of cost, making UNIX hosting cheaper for a web host in comparison to other operating systems. Other plus points of UNIX are that UNIX hosting platforms are generally considered to be stable, secure, powerful and fast. That is the reason why most web programming applications can be performed by software that is available for a UNIX platform.

Windows Hosting

Another very popular operating system developed by Microsoft is Windows operating system, Windows Server 2003. Like every thing useful it is having price and can be obtained by purchasing a license, which in turn increases the cost of operation for the web host and usually results in higher hosting prices. This is considered a negative point as compared to UNIX. Plus points of Windows include it is mainly user friendly however it is generally considered to be less powerful and secure than UNIX for operating in a network environment. There are several scripting languages like ASP, ASP.NET, and Cold Fusion, which will only run on a Windows server, as will the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access database programs. Thus the above are some of the most popular scripts for certain web programming applications, and if one is thinking of using them while building his/her site, he/she will first definitely need to find a Windows host.

Before searching for a web host, it is essential to know some important terms used in hosting. They are discussed as under:

Storage or Disk space –As one’s website is a collection of files being offered on the Internet for viewing, it is necessary for storing them somewhere for retrieval and take up space. For each and every web server there is a limited amount of hard disk memory, which is divided up and offered to hosting customers. Different package levels are there, so as to enable to pay more for more space and vice versa divide specifically that space up. If one’s website expands its space then the user needs to buy extra space from the web host.

Bandwidth or Data Transfer –One of the crucial parts to verify is bandwidth. There are several sites, which loose their host due to excessive downloads causing budget going beyond their expectations. Occasionally, host even charges in hundreds of dollars for the additional bandwidth. One should confirm about this before dealing with any of the host. Usually, ideal-hosting providers deliver initial bandwidth of 25 to 50 GB to the users.

Uptime –It is a universal truth that if one talks about perfect web servers then they are the one, which would be up, and running and offering web pages to the world round the clock, whole year. But, it is also true that web servers are mere computers, and like any other computer, they may fail or needs repairing or updating. Often web hosts gives 99% uptime guarantee, and if they fail they refund a certain portion of user’s money depending on the amount of excess downtime they experienced.

Traffic Statistics – By traffic statistics we mean those programs that track visitors to one’s website. These programs are capable of telling how many times a user visited one site, how many visitors were unique and how many came back more than once, which pages were most popular, from where the visitors came to one’s site, what search terms they used in the search engines etc. In addition they offer several types of information which are useful for marketing one’s website to a target audience. There are several web hosts offering some sort of traffic statistics software with their hosting packages.

CGI Scripts – There are several web hosts offering a variety of free CGI scripts with their packages. CGI Scripts are the things like hit counters, guest books, form mail programs, message boards, and other programs that enable one website to perform commonly desired functions. Most CGI scripts are written in common programming languages like Perl, PHP or ASP.

Thus one should take care and keep all the above points in mind while selecting a web host.



Swap a Shirt

Hosting Web asked:


Now a days web hosting companies are growing at very fast rate. However the point to worry is that they are least concerned for one’s business. So now the point emerges that how do one pick out one hosting company for another for that big Internet move? The following are the 5 ways to differentiate a best out of the worst-

1. Traceable Testimonies – There are several web hosting companies providing a testimony page. The main feature of so-called good web hosting companies is that they will actually link to the person who ‘said’ what is posted. In case there is no linking it means that the hosting company simply made up the testimony. So if one is worried for the success of his/her business, he/she should not get involved with a company with doubtful reliability.

2. Testing Quick Response Claims – Its very easy and recommendable to test the response of a web hosting company i.e. just by emailing them. One should check carefully that the host he/she is going to choose should provide an email address or at least a feedback form. In order to check the effectiveness of support and response one should simply ask a question about their service, and should check how fast they respond. Thereafter one should compare that with what they have ‘advertised’ as their response time. Thus the truth will be visible soon.

3. Online Help or Ticketing System – there are several hosting companies offering online ticketing/helpdesk. For the start it’s enough to find that one’s host is having this feature.

4. Sense of Community – There is still possibilities that good web hosts have problems. In case of honest web hosts they are open and quick to resolve them. There are several hosting companies offering online forums i.e. a place for their customers and potential customers to post questions, comments, testimonies, and complaints online. Thus the simple criterion to select a good company is that really good hosting companies will not only answer these questions, but will also supply educational posts that may answer similar future questions.

5. WHOIS – there are several links available to guide users. One such is www.whois.sc, which provides a lot of information about one’s web host. Besides providing technical information, it also tells how many websites are running on that server. One should always keep in mind that more websites doesn’t always equal better company. Thus it’s really important to check that the server isn’t bogged down.

Another utility of this is that it is a good place to make sure that the host isn’t on any blacklists. By blacklist it means that there are documented reports of spam coming from that server, which is not at all good for one’s business.

Thus the conclusion is that whether one is a newbie or an old one, if he/she will consider the above tips he/she is certainly going to benefit in his/her business.



MakeaPost

Bluehost Hosting asked:


If one’s new website is all set to upload, the next desirable thing for him/her is a web host. Conceivably he/she already possesses a web host, but uptime and support are lacking. With several scattering web hosts all around how can the users choose an ideal one? One should be aware of what can go wrong and what to look out for, and investigate prospective web hosts cautiously.

Mistake, which may appear with web hosting

Excessive downtime:

It is inevitable that problems arise in the course of time happen, but even in the condition in which they don’t appear server maintenance results in a minimal amount of downtime. One can not only hope a dependable web host for well maintenance of his/her servers, but also expect monitoring the servers and fixing of problems immediately. With the type of web host one want to avoid, however, his/her site may be down for days.

Features that cannot be put in use:

Once the email of the user doesn’t work, his/her business shuts down. Problems related to databases and other features can also deliberate down or stop his/her business. Such problems are taken into consideration by several web hosts, but a few don’t concern to give high priority on keeping not only the user’s site online but everything working as well.

Ghastic support:

The response time taken by the dependable web hosts to answer tech support questions is utmost a single hour. Other web hosts, however, have been recognized to take several days to give response. And when those responses come, often they’re canned responses that don’t deal with the issue.

Poor communication:

If proper level communication skills are present, it supports people to restrict problems from becoming bigger problems. As told, “Everything looks fine here, so the problem is solved,” promotes irritation. Thus, one’s site can shut down because it has used plenty of resources rather than the web host contacting him/her about the problem first.

Troubles of Billing:

Yet problems persist even after user cancels his/her account. A number of below dependable range web hosts don’t repute their refund policy. Others do not discontinue the automatic billing even after cancellation of account.

Things to watch out for:

One should consider the following as the red flags to warn the user of possible problems that can come on their way.

Untenable pricing:

If the pricing looks to the extent of superb to be true, it perhaps is. Will it be sufficient to pay for server maintenance and tech support? One gets similar what he/she deserve to pay for.

Limitless bandwidth:

There is not anything which is really unlimited in real sense. If one signs up for an account offering limitless bandwidth and then uses a lot of bandwidth, anticipating having the plug pulled on his/her site. The web host may locate further excuse for discontinuing his/her account, but “unlimited” classically represent that “as long as you don’t use a lot.”

A website with unprofessional look:

The user foremost consider how much effort the web host is putting in providing a usable website along with informative content. Does it really mean that user has got full confidence in the web host, or is it overwhelmed of unsubstantiated statements and grammar and spelling mistakes? A web host doesn’t require being a specialist in spelling insertion, of course. But if the company hasn’t advertise much enough to the user about their services, will they be meticulous about matching the clients’ requirements?

Way to research web hosts:

It is quite easy to look out for web hosts. Search engines can be one of the ways to went on the websites of thousands of web hosts. But short listening after going through features and price, how can the customer look out which web hosts are reliable?

Interpret particulars of web host package and TOS:

If the host provider is offering hosting packages with huge amounts of disk space and bandwidth for quite cheap prices, that means something is fishy around. One should not expect that company to be well equipped with enough money for maintenance and support.

If one wants to be sure that he/she can get a refund if he/she want one, should ensure what the Terms of Service (TOS) signify about refunds.

One should examine the web host forum:

User should be aware about the questions like, what is the ambience in the forum. Are clients’ questions answered satisfactorily? The user should not be anxious on seeing a problem but in the condition when they don’t. It is quite common that, some web hosts remove posts that don’t demonstrate their company in a positive light. But if posts about problems stay in the forum, the user can easily monitor the way the host use to tackle the problem.

User should examine web host reviews:

There is no lack of cases in which, client feedback at the web host’s site perhaps may or may not be legal. One could not ignore the possibility of manufacturing of feedback and tracing it from other sites. The user should inquire about that via different web sites.

There are several forums which permits people to post their web host reviews. While reading the reviews, one should deem the poster’s credibility. A few people knock their hosts just because of the reason that they’re unhappy about somewhat. If the host posts in response to a problem, the user should inquire the way host tries to resolve it.

Inquire about the background of the company:

The page which displays the points like “About Us” or “Company Background” should disclose the answer of following questions.

1.) The experience of the company in this sector. A new company perhaps is excellent, but it’s good to keep in mind that an ample of businesses fails within the first year.

2.) Does the company use to publish a privacy policy? And does this policy clearly protect clients’ privacy?

3.) Where are the servers located? Ideally, they should be in a datacenter, and not in someone’s basement.

4.) About the server uptime statistics? If the web host doesn’t publish a link to a server uptime monitor, one should ask for a link to one. Uptime of about 99.7 percent or higher is usually considered good.

5.) Does the company publish an address? The user perhaps should not be in the need of it, but when he/she placing his/her company website in another company’s hands, it is his/her right to know that the company is legal and handy.

Email pre-sales queries

Response to user’s pre-sales questions will tell more than enough about the web host. One can easily judge how fast the company responds and about their communication efficiency. One can ask questions about any of the above points as well as questions precise to his/her requirements.

There is no doubt, that, Finding a dependable web host spends time, but dealing with problems and moving one’s site rather takes more amount of time. The time spent searching for a reliable web host is a worthwhile investment.



GamingUser