Web Hosting Services

The one who wants to enter in this web world and desires for a long time survival, then he/she should be familiar with each and every terminology used in this field. If user considers all the important factors before choosing a hosting plan then only he/she will be able to have a successful future in this world .User should not choose any of the plan, rather he/she should opt the best and most suitable one and this can only be made possible by fetching more and more informations and also by studying properly all the requirements. New comers should start from the basics .They should learn the meaning of each and every term used and also in addition those factors that can affect his/her selection.

Web Host

Web host refers to a computer connected to the internet. Web host can also be termed as ‘web server’. The computer that is playing the role of the web server needs to be more powerful than normal PCs and the function of this web server is to serve up websites.

The website content of the user will remain will on this computer, so as the people who are surfing on the internet can get a way to access his/her website.

There can be three main categories in which the web host can be classified based on the economic factor and common features:

1. Free Hosts:

The users who are not professional but are making website only as a hobby then for them free hosting can be a good option. In free hosting space, bandwidth and other features provided are very limited. With free web hosting one can not only make his/her website successful but is also suitable for personal websites or for temporary usage. Generally free hosting enforces pop-up, text or banner ads. Reliability, best performance and customer support lacks in case of free hosting as well. When a user registers for a free host then the word free host gets added with the user’s domain name that gives an adverse effect in the eye of the visitors.

2. Shared Hosts:

The next type of the web hosting to be discussed is shared hosting. This hosting service is used by many of the web sites .This type of hosting service is Suitable for personal, small and medium businesses. This service can be used by paying $1 to $25 per month. The features provided by this service vary from very limited space/bandwidth to semi-dedicated servers. The users host their website by this type of hosting service and it has its own top level domain facility. No doubt that shared web hosting is quite better than free hosting but still it does not provide 100% satisfactory services. In case of shared hosting one server is shared by the number of websites so its performance and availability gets affected. More websites usually means less performance. If less number of websites are hosted by one server then it will be more expensive, but in this case there are more chances of reliability. There are many companies allowing customers to host multiple websites with different domains under a single account.

3. Dedicated Hosts:

The next type of hosting is dedicated hosting. This type of hosting is most reliable hosting. In this type of hosting a full server is dedicated to a single customer. Generally this type of hosting is used by large businesses, professionals and very active websites dealing with thousands of visitors daily. The customers having dedicated hosting can have their total control over the server as well as able to create as many websites as they like. Customers can run their own hosting company on a rented dedicated server. Payment module is mentioned according to specifications and services provided with the server, which varies from $100 up to about $800 dollars per month.

4. Collocated Hosts:

Now the other type of hosting service to be discussed is collocated hosting. This service is very much similar to dedicated hosting. The difference between collocated hosting and dedicated hosting is that in collocated hosting the customer owns the server hardware instead of renting it. In this service the server will be placed in provider’s data center. This service is more expensive than dedicated hosting.

5. Reseller Hosts:

In reseller hosting the providers offers web server storage to their customers, and resells the web server storage to them. Generally providers offer resellers a discount price.

6. Other Hosts:

Including the above type of hosts there are also many other hosts such as email hosts, media hosts, data hosts, etc but these hosts will not be discussed in this article.

Domain Name

Domain name is the name which shows the place where one’s website is located. The actual address of the website is a set of numbers. Each and every web server has its own unique address. Domain name indicates the real addresses of every websites. One can easily remember the domain name of any of the website. Remembering domain name is easier than recalling the IP addresses.

Space / Storage

Space is one of the services provided by the web host. It plays a very important role in the website development. It happens many times that the customer requires more space but the host fails to provide it, so customer should be very careful while choosing the web host. Storage is the amount of web server’s disk space available for customer’s website files, images and databases. Space can be according to the requirement; it can be as small as 5MB in some free hosts and as big as 300GB for some dedicated servers. Earlier prices of the space were very high but prices reduced significantly during the last few years. The hosting plans offering 3GB of space for less than $10 a month can be easily available.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth can be defined as the amount of data transferred from web server to clients’ internet browsers. When ever a person outlook a page the data is transmitted from the server to that person’ PC. If any one is having audio, video and images in his/her website then the bandwidth consumed is more in comparison of the website having only text contents. The bandwidth available in free hosting can be as low as 100MB per month where as in some dedicated servers the bandwidth available is as high as 2000GB a month. The customers who don’t want to pay more for bandwidth can easily find hosting plans offering 75GB of monthly data transfer for less than $10.

Server Type

Generally server means the operating system than runs the web server. Some common types are Windows, Linux and UNIX. Server type refers the server side scripting and database types. The difference between Windows server and Linux/UNIX is that Windows runs ASP and ASP.NET with Access or SQL Server databases where as Linux/UNIX servers usually runs CGI, PHP or JSP with MySQL or Oracle databases. The other difference is that Windows servers are more expensive than Linux/UNIX servers.

Databases

As server type is discussed earlier also, we are able to know that there are different types of databases available. The mostly used is MySQL as it is open source GPL (free) software and can serve a lot of online applications’ requirements such as forums, content management, mailing lists, etc. MySQL, rather its features are limited. MySQL is sufficient for small concern but it is not powerful for the complicated large business sites. Large business requires more powerful databases such as Oracle or SQL Server.

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Server Side Scripting

Usually the new comers prefer to use PHP as server side scripting. The reason behind this is that there are hundreds of open source (GPL) PHP scripts that are able to fulfill the webmaster’s requirements. However PHP also has some limitations in features required by advanced websites same as in the case of MySQL, due to this limitation some professional web developers prefer to use ASP.NET or JSP. Some other developers still prefer to use Cold Fusion, CGI, ASP or PERL.

Email

Now the next very important aspect to be talked about is Email. At present no one can move further in this computer world with having his/her Email account. The one who is planning to do any kind of activity through computer such as to run a business or to provide any kind of service, then the first thing he/she need to do is to open an Email account. There are many hosting plans that include the feature of having some email accounts with customer’s domain. The availability of number and size of email accounts totally depends on the hosting plan one opted. Generally this feature is not included in free hosting. Small plans provide only about 10 accounts where as big plans do not have the limited number. Usually those email accounts are web based and accessible through POP3 clients as well.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

The other service is FTP. File Transfer Protocol is a usual way of transferring files across the Internet. Most of the webmasters used to upload and download their websites contents through FTP. The process of uploading or downloading is performed by using FTP client software. Webmasters require FTP username and password so as to access their web server. There are any hosts who use to provide more than one FTP account to their customers as per their requirement. Rather FTP is unspecified; it is not advisable as per the security reasons.

Control Panel

Control panel is the service available by many of the web hosting companies to their customers. It is a web based application that helps in managing websites. Some important functions performed by the control panel are that it used to manage email accounts, providing statistics, managing FTP accounts, managing domains and sub-domains and managing databases. The control panel application that is mostly used by the user is cPanel. There are many companies who use to develop their own control panel application.

Uptime

Now after having all the services, the thing of concern which remains is how the user keeps his/her website uptime most of the time. If anyone is having a website with excellent features but it remains down most of the time it will be of no use, as when ever the visitors visit his/her website and found it down then later on they will think twice before visiting it. In result he/she will suffer the loss of visitors. Uptime is very important feature of web hosts and that is usually measured in percentage. If a server remains down near about 30 minutes a day will have an uptime percentage of about 99.98%, which is acceptable for most small to medium business websites. If any of the business website is not having at least this percentage of uptime then that website is not suitable for a business website. Mission critical sites cannot tolerate frequent outages, thus they may use web monitoring services to notify web administrators immediately when an outage happens.

Price

Finally the factor left is price. In this option also there is a great variability found like for example customer is having option to choose between the prices ranging from 0 to $1000 per month. For most personal, small and medium websites the total amount of cost involved is just $15 per month. Thus its not at all advisable for business website owners to select very cheap plans let say less than $5 because this price can lead to huge cost indirectly afterwards.

I need to find a way to buy an unused domain name for my social networking websites that I will start and also need web hosting provider that will work with me on the high traffic of the site with low price.

After a year and a half of hosting a CGI based database site with a shared hosting company, resulting in occasional server overloads and web site shutdowns, it’s obvious that I need to change my hosting plan. My former hosting company says that the CGI scripts are causing the overloads. Would a VPS hosting plan be a good alternative for me? Does anyone know any good, reliable VPS hosting companies?

Thanks!

The following are the tips one must keep in mind while choosing a new web host: -

1) One must make sure that the new web host plan offers the storage capabilities to handle all of the current website storage requirements. If the size of the website is 50MB, then one must check for the plan that offers at least that much space or more. In case one is not able to make estimates about the space required then he/she must ask his/her current host. Also this information can be found on control panel.

2) One must also check how does his/her current web host determine the amount of storage used for? It is necessary to check what one’s current and new host includes in the plan’s storage amount also one should check are one’s emails and log files counted towards his/her total storage, or the web files only?

3) Its necessary to know what operating system does one’s current hosting plan use? Windows or Unix? Mostly it makes no difference but in some cases it can make the difference between a working website and a broken website. In case one’s site is currently on a Windows server and the website uses ASP scripting, then its difficult to make things work well on a Unix server, as ASP is a Windows based programming language. So one should check immediately whether his/her hosting plan is on a Unix or Windows server.

4) Also its important to check if one’s your site currently use FrontPage? Before switching to new host one should check if the new host supports FrontPage and the prevailing version.

5) Another important issue to take care is the amount of bandwidth offered by the new host. One should check if the new hosting plan offers the same amount of bandwidth that the current host offers. This should be checked in advance to avoid unexpected high bills afterwards.

6) Make sure if the new web hosting plan gives the same amount of email accounts, auto responders and mail forwards that the current host provides.

7) Its necessary to check if one’s site uses a shopping cart that the current hosting plan provides? It is essential to have a suitable shopping cart replacement in case one desires to move the cart to the new host. So one must check that as well.

If one is using any scripts on his/her website, its important to check if one’s new hosting plan supports all of one’s scripts. One must make sure in advance if there is any need to make any modifications to scripts to get them working on the new server.

9) Don’t forget to set up the existing email accounts on the new server before transferring domain name to the new server.

10) In case user is just a beginner and even don’t know how to upload files, its necessary to check with the provider if he can do that with no extra charges. There are some hosts who offer such facility free of cost yet some don’t offer this facility because of liability issues.

It’s necessary to double check if the site looks and functions properly on the new server after completing the uploading process. Preview facility is provided in the form of preview link to see how the site looks and some hosts provide this facility before the domain name is transferred over. In case this preview facility is not available with the host, still there is a method to preview the site. One can modify his/her host’s file to preview the site. The host file tells the computer where to go to look for sites that are listed in that file and this works with any version of Windows. Here the file location can change but the file name remains the same. Below is the way to modify the host’s file:

The file HOSTS should be in the c: windowssystem32driversetc One can find a file named HOSTS.SAM (as in SAMPLE). That is OK; one can modify the HOSTS.SAM file as well and do a SAVE AS HOSTS.

In both the cases one should double click on the HOSTS file to open it. Thereafter one will be prompted by Windows to select an Application (Program) to use to VIEW the file.

Now scroll the list and select Notepad and then one should click on the OK button. The NOTEPAD program will now open, displaying the file HOSTS.

So, in order to tell computer that www.yourwebsite.com is at the address (replaced with the real IP) 12.345.678.90 one should add the following entry to the bottom of the hosts file:

12.345.678.90 www.yourdomain.com (As in the example).

Now one should click on FILE, slide down and click on SAVE AS. Then in the Save As one should type field, select ALL FILES. After completing that click on save. One warning will come which should be ignored i.e. the file already exists but that’s ok, then just one has to click YES.

Now one should close Notepad, by clicking on FILE, slide down to EXIT, and click.

Now when one will open the web browser, or try to ping the site, the system will go to the IP address one typed in the HOSTS file.

One should not forget to undo this when testing is finished else the computer will always want to go to that IP address whenever one want to go to that site.

After being satisfied with the site looks and functions, one can go to his/her registrar (where the domain name is registered) and modify the nameservers associated with one’s domain name to his/her new web host’s nameservers. In case one does not know his/her new host’s name servers, should confirm with them. However most hosts have that information listed somewhere on their website or in the email one first get after signing up for an account.

After the completion of domain nameserver modification it will take around 24-48 hours and the site will be displayed on the new server.

One must check his/her domain name and should see if the nameservers added are listed. If yes, the website transfer is complete to new web host. And after the confirmation is received one can cancel the old web hosting account.

My web hosting plan says it supports 5 add-on domains, this means I can host 5 additional websites?

Thank you very much for your help.

There are many exciting things that happen in world of web hosting. One such incidence is given below. John received an email in his email box yesterday. There was a short story over there. John read the story and found it quite interesting. It was around 5 to 6 lines in total and in the end there was a link and it was asked to click on that link. John did the same and waited for around 1 minute or so but no page got downloaded. John thought his internet connection is slow so he checked it but to his surprise it was perfect.

He tried several times but the result was same every time. John again continued his routine work and in the evening tried to open that link but it was same and so due to frustration he deleted that mail.

This incidence makes one think deeply why people don’t choose their web host carefully. It is really important to select web host carefully as one’s whole business depends upon his/her web host only.

After finishing the website the next important step which one needs to take is making it visible on the net, for that he/she needs a web host. One can get a very cheap or even free hosting services but one should not select free hosting if he/she is using his/her site for commercial purpose. There are several reasons for not preferring cheap host for commercial purposes. One such reason is with free web hosting users get pop-ups or ads and as a result their clients get annoyed by seeing every time these pop-ups when they surf user’s page. Thus due to these pop-ups, one not only loses business but also it damages his/her goodwill. Also biggest drawback is with free web hosting the address would be like for example www.myfreehost.com/my_sites now one can image what would be the effect of this on clients. Surely negative!

The following are some of the points one should keep in mind while selecting a web hosting-

1. Space

The first and the foremost point to consider is space. One should plan in advance the amount of space required for his/her site. If one is having just one or two page website with no downloads or big files then he/she should not worry about space but if one is planning to go for resale right product, in that case he/she easily need at least 100 MB space. There are several good web hosts offering minimum 1 GB space to their clients.

2. Bandwidth

Second important feature to consider is bandwidth. This is the only factor if not given considerable attention in beginning tends to cost huge amount of money afterwards. There are incidences where one has to pay fees up to hundreds of dollars for bandwidth and still they lost their host. Thus one should consider this factor before finalizing any web host .Mostly good host provides 25 to 50 GB of Bandwidth.

3. Support System

After space and bandwidth the next factor to consider is support. Support plays a very vital role in one’s success. This is due to the fact that in case of any problem it is only support which is going to help him/her out of the problem. It is also essential to get the response well in time else it would be useless. One should check in advance if the host is proving 24/7 phone support or not.

In addition to above there are some additional features which one should consider while choosing a web host-:

The amount of POP email account being provided by them.

What is the amount of databases they are providing?

Do they possess Web based e-mail?

Do they possess Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus filters?

Is password protected to one’s directories available?

Is there any provision to take regular backup in case of server get crashed?

Are they offering money-back Guarantee, if one is not satisfied with the services?

Do they support Perl, PHP, Crontab and Secure Server Layer? Etc.

The above mentioned facilities are the one which one does not require in the beginning but he/she needs them in the future. Thus one should always keep in mind the above mentioned points and he/she won’t get disappointed with his/her selection afterwards.

Does it mean that you can have 2 GB database space * 3 or more ?
What is the logic for offering multiple databases ?
Is the database space unlimited unlike the web hosting space /

I have a list of current movies hosted on Rapidshare (not mine, just those I’ve found).

For those of you who may not know, Rapidshare is a file sharing service. Many of these files aren’t exactly “legal”.

Are there any free web hosting companies that will allow me to post links to these files?

It’s attractive. There are several companies offering cheap services full with amazing post-futuristic techno-gizmo features. But does it helps in saving much money?

Answer is no, not at all as the maximum saving would be in some dollars only. If one is running a business site, saving $5, $10 or even $15 per month is not considered a big saving. There is not a single company whose survival is dependant upon 15 dollars but if the wrong web host is chosen by mistake then surely it can destroy the business.

Given below are 3 main reasons to ignore price issue while selecting web host: -

1. Usability. Confession time: Besides other issues usability holds an important place while selecting a new web host. Especially for a beginner it is important to have at least good control panel. There are example where one in the beginning opted for cheap web hosting and there after faced the problem of operating the control panel and often found him/her self traveling in circles trying to enter it.

Thus if one consider this factor of usability and just know little bit of CGI can easily manage his/her emails and can edit html files right on the server. What more is required for a beginner who was earlier not even able to find files on the previous host’s server?

2. Service. Second factor to consider is service. There are cases where in the beginning users were quite happy with their cheap web host as were even getting all the responses via email on time. Problem occurred when some guy with a chip on his shoulder filed a phony Spam complaint. Now the response was suddenly missing from the host when complaint was made. Infact no one was interested in speaking over phone. The remedy came when the user’s ISP responded to the same phony complaint immediately, sharing with user a copy and giving a chance to deal with it. Thus it is again recommendable to pay more but one must look for this feature.

3. Reliability. One must also look for the good uptime and should also check for reliability. There are many problems that occur when one ignores this factor like a form not functioning thereby resulting in lost sales. More worse is that Google comes crawling just when site is down and search engines don’t like sending people to unreliable sites.

Thus it can be concluded easily that paying little more is better than paying a lot more in lost sales and increased stress. One should keep in mind that his/her whole business is dependant upon website and so one must consider all the factors not just price while selecting a new web host.

The Basics:

If one wants to put his/her web site online, Web hosting offers the opportunity. For making a site go online, no matter it is having large or small content one has to go onto a web server. Thus a web server is simply a larger and much more powerful computer than user’s own computer. On these servers one’s Internet content simply sits for people to access and view the information available. These web servers are stored within data centers; all what is required is simply renting some space on the server.

Why to use a web hosting service?

The first reason to choose is its affordability. The work of the web hosting companies includes looking after and updating all software required to maintain one’s site, adding security patches making sure that one’s content is safe from hackers/viruses and unwanted Spam. The first step after registration of web site’s name is hosting it with the web server. In case there comes any difficulty with the web site, full technical support is supported by the hosting company. In chases one chooses to host by own, it will cost too much on hardware, bandwidth and ongoing software updates.

What is shared web hosting?

While searching for a web host Company one will find that many are offering shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is simply a server that has a number of different web sites sitting on it simultaneously. In case of shared web hosting one will be allocated a certain amount of disk space on the server and this allows user to have a number of web sites hosted on one server. It is a very secure service even though one is sharing the server with many different companies, as no other company will have access to other’s files. There are many people having wrong opinion that using a shared service will make the web site act slowly. In case of shared web hosting the information will be displayed and downloaded equally as fast as if it where on the server on it’s own. The concept used by Web host companies is that they offer shared hosting simply to use up all the space on the server, there is no benefit to user or them having empty hard disk space.

Why good hosting is required?

If one has developed a web site for business opportunity or to sell merchandise online what all is needed is reliability as downtime costs much money. Therefore less downtime means the better chance of making money by the user. One is required to compile a whole list of questions to ask the web host company when it comes to hosting his/her site. It is necessary to have a guaranteed response time if any problem occurs with the site or if it goes offline. One needs to have 24-hour access to his/her files with 24-hour support if the site is in business of selling products online, as most of the sales could be made in the evening or nighttime. Thus it is very important to have support all time for any issues that could arise. Not only that to check the effectiveness of site it is also important to look for Statistics i.e. how many unique hits (people visiting one’s site) one is getting so that one can see the trend of people just visiting to those who are buying. Thus one should check in advance the stats offered by different companies as some web host companies offer very substantial stats while others can be less informative, so one should always ask for a demonstration before finalizing any host.

Mouth publicity is a great way to hear as to who are a good host and a bad host. One should ask his/her colleague or who is already taking the experience of that host. There are several good as well as bad hosts in the market, therefore one should ask the questions and make sure that he/she is confident with the replies before signing up.

Will hosting in own country or another, effects the web site?

It is quite interesting to know if the company is providing 24 hour support to allow for time differences, then one should have the same level service as if the web host company was based just down the road. Thus it makes no difference if the host is of same country or of another. There are many people thinking hosting their website outside of their registered country will lead to losing their domain identity, which is totally wrong example if one is based in Ireland and is having a computer website it would be something like www.computerparts.ie The. I.e. is the identity of Ireland but if one wants his site hosted in the US then he/she would still keep the. I.e., and there is no need to change to. Com. Thus the great thing about web hosting is that the world is oyster and one can shop online globally until one is satisfied with the service.