Web Hosting Explained
Introduction
For a web site to be made available on the Internet, it has to be
hosted on a web server. This is where web hosting comes in. It's
just like renting property. There are plenty of companies that
will rent you space on a web server. The wide range of services
start from free hosting to buying a server for your sole use. You
could spend thousands of dollars a year on web hosting alone.
Choosing a host is not an easy task. There are so many features,
services and options to consider. The most important factor is
making sure that the host you choose will provide everything that
you need. Read through Web Hosting Explained and then use Web Host
Directory to select the right host for you.
What domain name?
Every website needs a domain name. If you are a business, you
ideally need your own domain name. If you are working on a
personal homepage, a domain name isn't as important. Some people
judge the quality of a website by it's domain name. To get your
own domain name click here!
What types of web hosting plans are there?
Web hosting plans range from free personal homepage hosting to
large global corporate websites. Read on for the low down on the
different packages.
Free Non-Virtual Hosting
If you need somewhere to host a personal web site then choosing a
web host is a much-simplified task. There are plenty of free hosts
that will host your website at no cost to you, giving you space in
a directory under their domain, e.g. 'www.thehost.com/yourname/'.
The catch is that you may have to carry some banners or mention
the free hosts name somewhere on your site. Check out some of the
leading free sub-domain hosts Geocities and Tripod.
Free Virtual Hosting
If you are on a tight budget but want to have a web presence then
free virtual web hosting is what you are looking for. You will be
able to host your website with your own domain name such as
'www.yourname.com', or a sub-domain such as
'yourname.thehost.com'. The compromise is you may have to display
your hosts adverts on your website.
Virtual Hosting
Virtual web hosting allows you to host your website using a domain
name of your choice e.g. www.yourname.com. You will be given a
certain amount of web space, measured usually in Mb on a server
you share with other people. This gives a professional image and
will allow you to change hosts with minimum hassle.
Dedicated Server Hosting
A dedicated server is one whereby you rent the use of a whole
machine. This can be used to host one or more of your websites.
Because you are renting the use of a machine, you have increased
control over what software will be installed on the machine. You
can even specify the set up. The major benefit is that this allows
increased traffic to your sites. You could alternatively co-locate
your own server at the host's data center who can look after it
for you.
Reseller Web Hosting
Reseller web hosting plans allow you to be a web hosting company
yourself. In fact, many web hosting companies themselves have a
web hosting company host their server. Some web hosting companies
provide a service where small companies can resell web space on
their servers for a small fee. You may wonder why go with the
smaller company rather than the big. Well the smaller companies
may add on certain features to make their plans more attractive
and provide more services. Resellers can sometimes be better. The
important things to consider are support, reliability and
competitive pricing.
What's the most popular type of hosting plan?
Virtual hosting is the most common plan purchased. It allows
people starting a serious business or money making web site to get
online at a low cost to begin with, and they can increase the
services they require as their website grows. A typical virtual
hosting plan can range from $10 to $30 per month, depending on the
features that you require.
What hosting plan do I need?
Before choosing your hosting package, you should identify what
your needs are. With all hosting plans, there will be some
facilities that you need and some offered to you that you don't
need. Make sure you focus on the essentials that are required to
launch your website. You may want all the nice extras but will you
use them? It's also a good idea to try and pick a host that will
allow you to expand and increase your plan as and when your
website grows. If you want to start selling online, an additional
e-commerce option for an extra fee will be easier and quicker to
implement than looking for and transferring to a new host.
To begin your search, you can check out this month's web host
award winners, browse the spotlight on a number of featured hosts,
or search directly for hosts who provide the services that you
really need. Good luck!
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What is uptime?
HTTP uptime specifies in percentages how frequently your website
is accessible to users on the Internet, while network uptime
refers to how often your network is up and running. For example,
if your website is available 99.9 percent of the time each month,
your host is providing 99.9 percent http uptime.
Some web hosts back up their uptime promises with service level
guarantees (SLAs) and escalating refunds for increasingly large
amounts of downtime. Without an effective SLA to back it up, an
uptime guarantee doesn’t always carry much weight; in fact, some
web hosts choose not to make uptime guarantees, arguing that they
are more of a marketing strategy than an actual reflection of
performance.
What is bandwidth?
Bandwidth refers to the data transfer capacity your hosting
provider supports for your website in a given time period (usually
measured monthly). For instance, a hosting plan that provides 2 GB
of bandwidth, or traffic, each month would be roughly enough to
allow 50,000 separate page views of one 40 KB web page (40 KB x
50,000 = 2,000,000 KB = 2,000 MB = 2 GB).
How do I know how much bandwidth I need?
The amount of bandwidth your website needs will vary widely
depending on how much disk space each web page requires, and on
which pages are viewed by visitors most frequently. For example,
assume your home page has limited graphics but a fair amount of
HTML text, requiring about 20 KB of disk space. In that case, a
monthly traffic allowance of 1 gigabyte of bandwidth would be
enough to support 50,000 separate views of your home page (20 KB x
50,000 = 1,000,000 KB = 1,000 MG = 1 GB).
Be liberal when projecting your monthly bandwidth usage. If you
underestimate how much bandwidth your site will use and choose a
hosting plan whose allotted bandwidth is significantly exceeded by
your site's traffic, you could be hit with heavy and unexpected
fees at the end of the month!
What’s better: UNIX/Linux or Windows?
Which is better — UNIX-based hosting or Windows-based hosting —
depends greatly on what types of web development tools, scripts
and programs are most important to you.
For example, you’ll want UNIX if you plan to run PHP scripts or
use a MySQL database. UNIX also is widely considered a more stable
and versatile platform for hosting, as well as a lower-cost one.
Linux, a free, open source flavor of UNIX, is free; all of
Microsoft’s software costs money (usually lots of it).
On the other hand, if you expect to make heavy use of Microsoft
tools like Active Server Pages, Visual Basic or SQL Server, you
should probably consider Windows hosting. Keep in mind that just
because you might use Windows on your home or office computer
doesn’t mean Windows-based hosting is the best option for you.
How many sites can my server host?
This answer cannot be answered definitively. Server hardware will
form one answer to this question. The better the server resources
– high processor speed, large amount of RAM – the higher the
number of sites it can host. However, the actual size of the
websites and the amount of traffic they get is an equally
important part of the equation. Generally speaking, most hosts
would keep 300 to 400 sites on a server, although some will go as
high as 1,000 (without problems, according to them).
What do I need to know about email services?
Whatever type of
web hosting you choose, you should have access to
basic email instructions through your hosting service provider.
Your host’s support area, FAQs and control panels might also
provide additional information on how to manage email.
Most web hosting accounts will come with POP3 email, which enables
you to retrieve email messages from the host’s server using a
standard mail program such as Outlook Express. Many hosts will
also provide web-based mail (similar to Hotmail) for sending and
receiving email from any computer with Internet access.
For more information about email and email terms, check out
Webopedia’s definition of email. If you still have questions about
how to manage email services, start by asking your web host, then
consult others on the online hosting forums
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