Web Hosting Information

What Is The Best Web Hosting Service? July 31, 2008

Is there really a magic formula to determine the best web hosting service? I’m sure thousands of people want to know the answer to this question if there was one. To be honest, there is no absolute correct answer to this. As you know, individual results will vary from person to person in terms of what they want out of a service.

If there was a way to find the best web host to ensure you made the right choice, would you be interested?

Hopefully the answer is yes!

I want you to understand that there is no best web hosting service but there are some measures or steps to help find what’s best for you.

The tips that follow should help someone new or experienced choose the best possible host the first time around. It can even help those looking to switch hosts avoid making the same mistake twice.

Here’s a checklist to help you get started in choosing a great host:

* Look at what’s in front of you

* How is the service and support?

* Testimonial test

Let’s take the first point; look at what’s in front of you. No, really. Look directly at what’s in front of you. When you visit the web host, how does it present itself visually? If it doesn’t look up to par in terms of presentation you may want to avoid them.

Low-quality graphics may indicate your typical fly-by-night type of company that won’t be around very long. Even though anyone can produce high-quality looking websites, this should raise a red flag if identified. While we’re on the look of the website, another turn off should be misspellings.

Misspellings can indicate a business that doesn’t take pride in how they operate. Would you trust your website in a company that doesn’t take pride in their business? There’s no excuse for misspellings when a lot of applications contain spell checkers.

Service and support

This is by far the most important thing to have no matter what type of product or service you get. After all, things do fail or break down and you may need extended support. A way to check the reliability of a web host is to put them to the test.

Find a contact number (some even provide a toll free number) or send them an email to inquire about something they offer. That way you can see how long it takes before you actually talk to someone or for them to respond to emails. A good response time for emails should be within 24 hours. Especially with the large volume of inquiries they may receive on a daily basis. Doing this will allow you to see how friendly and helpful their support staff is as well.

Testimonial test

I’m sure you’ve seen many websites post testimonials to help give credibility to their products and services. A good cross check you can do is send the person who gave the testimonial an email to find out what they like and don’t like about the web host.

You should be able to contact the individual since websites will usually include the person’s URL back to his or her site as an incentive for giving the testimonial. Doing this task will help you make a better decision whether or not to invest in the hosting service according to the feedback received from the customer.

Using these three points is a great way to gauge whether or not the host is a good choice for you. Taking the time now to research the service will save you headaches and disappointment down the road.

I know there were 3 tips mentioned above, but I wanted to throw in a fourth way to help you get the best hosting solution possible. A word of mouth recommendation is one way you can’t go wrong. Ask a few friends or colleagues if they have used a particular host and for how long.

You may want to ask if they’ve switched from another host and the reason for changing. Be sure to inquire why they continue to stay with the current host. This is a great way to gather the pros and cons of certain hosts based on the first-hand experience of others. It will also help you make a better informed decision before deciding to invest your hard earned money on a host provider.

Larry Washington is the webmaster and publisher of GR8 Website Hosting where he provides great information on a low cost web host. You can browse his website to get more information at http://gr8-website-hosting.com. The article above can be republished only if this entire resource box is left intact along with the original hyperlinks.

Effectiveness Of Web Hosting Directories (WHDs) July 30, 2008

John is very happy today, for the first time in his life he has created his very own website. Now he is looking for a web host so that he can put his identity on the net. Casually he asks his friend Mac about it. Mac tells him that web-hosting directories are the best place to look for a web host. Getting curious John then asks Mac what exactly a Web Hosting Directory is. Mac responds that web hosting directories are a web hosting marketplace where prospective hosts list their products, plans, prices and other important information so that according to their requirements, customers can choose a suitable plan. Along with the details, it also contains web hosts rankings. John is now extremely happy as his dream is finally going to come to fruition. Like John, there are many beginners who are in search of a reliable web host and come across web hosting directories. Here a new question arises: Are these web hosting directories really trustworthy sources for novices like John? To find an answer its very important to understand the working of WHDs.

Basically web-hosting directories are of two types: paid WHDs and free WHDs. For paid directories, either web hosts pay a set amount for placing their banners on the site, or they pay commission if they get customers via that medium. On the other hand, free WHDs like www.askwebhosting.com and www.hostbyte.com etc. web hosts list their services without paying any fees.

Some people believe that paid WHDs are very easy to manipulate as the ranking of web hosts can be changed in unfair ways. Others have the view that WHDs that are actually free reflect the true ranking of web hosts companies. Whatever the case may be, paid or free, people should believe the web hosts rankings only if they are based completely on votes of customers who have actually given their remarks and have left their website address as well.

It is not possible for any web hosting company to have 100% positive reviews. It is also observed that at times customers who are satisfied with their web host forget to express their opinion about that host. However, a biased customer who is not satisfied with their web host does not forget to mention their opinion of that web host. This implies that a negative review doesnt always reflect the true picture of a web host company.

No doubt web hosting directories are very useful if the newbie like John wants to compare prices and features of different companies. But, when it comes to choosing a web host he/she should make an intelligent choice by referring to other resource sites (forums etc.) as well.

Priyanka Agarwal
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net

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MS SQL / MySQL A Case Study July 7, 2008

The release of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 on November 7th 2005 created a buzz around the office for IT professionals. The use of SQL server by businesses as in an in house data server has become increasingly more popular, this same popularity is now beginning to shift to the web hosting industry.

With the release of MS SQL 2005 Microsoft had this to say Microsoft SQL Server 2005 provides an integrated data management and analysis platform that helps organizations reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run complex business applications. With embedded reporting and data analysis tools included with SQL Server 2005, companies can gain greater insight from their business information. The norm for hosting companies has forever been mySQL. mySQL is a free license database server which has an easy to use php based interface called phpmyadmin.

The difference in these two database platforms has become more apparent since the release of MS SQL 2005. We will look at two website hosting companies one of which offers only mySQL on a windows server (http://www.6squared.com) and one which offers both a mySQL and MS SQL 2005 database to its customers (http://www.fivecubed.com)

It is very difficult to make a performance comparison between SQL Server 2005 and MySQL version 4.1. The performance of your databases depends upon the experience of the database developers and database administrator rather than the database’s provider. You can use both of these RDBMS to build stable and efficient systems. It is also possible to define typical transactions used in inventory control systems such as airline reservation systems and banking systems. After defining these typical transactions, it is possible to run them under the different database management systems working with different hardware and software platforms.

The comparison aspect being looked at here is how the two web hosting companies sell their hosting packages and which company in turn produced a greater number of sales based on its database offerings. Fivecubed.com who offers MSSQL anteed up a large amount of money to host MSSQL for its customers in the hopes that more customers would use the service solely for the MSSQL. The break-even point for Fivecubed.com was $8,000 because they purchased the MSSQL 2005 standard edition processor specific. This puts 6squared.com at a huge advantage over fivecubed.com.

Both companies offer hosting for all price levels and incorporate a large array of features, which puts them on a somewhat even playing field if marketing is ignored. Fivecubed.com and 6squared.com were studied over a period of 1 month. The results of their sales from the period beginning November 7th, and Ending December 7th were as follows: Fivecubed.com had new sales of only database additions (not including hosting packages without database access) totaling 189 sales which translates into $2,632. The databases are sold based on two criteria size and quantity. 6squared.com offered its databases free during this one-month period and generated no additional revenue from database sales. This puts 6squared.com ahead of fivecubed.com by $5,368 at the end of one month by not purchasing MS SQL server.

Now for a projection of sales by fivecubed.com’s finance department. They determined a growth rate of 10% per month for the next 24 months. At the end of this time the total number of databases sold will equal 1,692.36, which translates into $13,538.88. As long as these forecasts hold fivecubed.com will reach its break even point by the 18th month and will turn a profit on the 19th month.

The demand for MSSQL shown in the first month that fivecubed.com implemented it was enough to create a profit after only 18 months.

http://www.fivecubed.com

Is Dedicated Web Hosting The Right Choice For You?

If your website generates large volumes of traffic, a dedicated server is likely the best choice. Many web sites start by using a shared hosting plan but as they grow they need to scale their site to meet the added requirements. A dedicated server is the most effective way to do that.

Dedicated servers are used strictly for your website. There are no other sites sharing the resources on the machine. This lets you have ultimate control over the way the server is configured.

If you need more storage or more RAM, the hosting company can add that for you (at an added cost naturally). If you need to install a particular program or operating system, you can do that.

When looking for dedicated hosting services, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, ensure that you have a technical support and administration plan in place. This could be someone in your own company or the hosting company may provide these services for you.

Be sure the hosting company has planned for redundancy in case of system failures. If your server crashes, there needs to be a backup in place that can take on the load with minimal downtime for your website.

If your hosting company is managing the server for you, make sure they have a maintenance schedule in place for things such as security upgrades and operating system patches.

These kind of security updates are released on a regular basis, and you need to be sure that your web server is updated so it isn’t vulnerable to attack.

Web hosting companies are not all created equal. When choosing your hosting provider, you need to be sure that they are going to be able to keep your site up and running consistently.

If your website is large enough to justify a dedicated server, you can’t afford to have any downtime.

John Lenaghan writes about affordable business web site hosting and other website hosting topics on the Hosting Report website. Find out more at http://www.hostingreport.org

Four Types Of Web Hosting

Free Web Hosting Service

This is the most basic kind of Web hosting that you can get. Free Web hosting is typically advertisement-supported and offers limited features. This is the best option for those just starting out and only interested in hosting a small personal site that will be light on traffic.

Free Web hosts will give you a subdomain (yoursite.example.com) or a directory (www.example.com/~yoursite). They include a small amount of bandwidth and storage and tend to offer little to no support for MySQL, PHP, multiple e-mail addresses, and site statistics.

Shared Web Hosting Service

Shared hosting is the most popular kind of Web hosting service. Virtually all small businesses, medium to large Web sites, and professional sites see shared hosting as the perfect solution to their hosting needs. None of these entities require anywhere near all the resources of an entire Web server, not to mention the fact that it would be very costly for them to purchase and run one.

As the name suggests, shared Web hosts allow more than one site to be hosted on the same server. These hosts provide system administration, which is good for users that do not want to deal with the hassles of running a server along with a number of other users.

Although it depends on the specifics of the hosting plan, most server features will be readily available to the user, including PHP or ASP, MySQL, multiple e-mail addresses, and more bandwidth and storage than a free host. One downside is the possible security risks that are inherent with sharing a server with a number of other sites.

Dedicated Web Hosting Unmanaged

This is a great option for users who want more bandwidth, storage, and other server features that free or shared hosting cannot offer. Having a dedicated server means that there are unlimited numbers of databases and e-mail addresses that the user can create, not to mention bigger bandwidth capabilities. Normal dedicated server plans give the user about 500 to 1,000GB of bandwidth per month, and if extra storage is required, a new hard drive can be purchased for the server.

For some users, the one big downside of having an unmanaged dedicated host is that you must be your own server administrator. If you do not know how to deal with this task, there are two options: learn about how to be a server administrator, or just go for the next Web hosting option.

Dedicated Web Hosting Managed

So, if you want the big-time capabilities of a dedicated server but you do not want to deal with the hassle of learning about server administration, then this should be the perfect option for you.

Going this route means that you will have help in getting your server up and running, and you will have assistance readily available to you if something should ever go wrong. That being said, it is best to get a referral from a close and trustworthy person, or to at the very least do some diligent research on the Internet.

Pricing varies depending on how much reliability, security, and depth of support you want.

http://www.webhostingwonder.com

Why A Dedicated Server May Be Better

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think shared and virtual server hosting is great. I have a virtual hosting account with a provider, and a standard shared hosting account on another. I have also had access to a dedicated server numerous times. But what’s all the fuss about dedicated servers?

Dedicated resources is a major reason. Not having to share any processing speed, any memory, hard drive capacity or network speed with anyone else (in other words, having it all entirely to yourself) sounds pretty good. Shared hosting accounts can sometimes go onto a server where there are hundreds if not thousands of other accounts. This isn’t a bad thing, but if someone is abusing the service, everyone suffers. If you also wanted to run a special application or internet service, chances are you wont be able to. With a dedicated server, you can.

Your own IP address. For the uninitiated out there, an IP address is like your server’s internet phone number. It is what other computers use to call your server and talk to it. If you wish to run an ecommerce store on your website, you will need an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer a layer of encryption for protecting your personal and credit card details when making a purchase online) certificate. But personalised (not shared!) SSL certificates require an IP address. Sure, it is possible to get an IP address for SSL on a shared hosting account, but usually it’s quicker and easier to do this on a dedicated server.

Dedicated servers normally cost a bit more than a shared hosting or virtual server account, but the benefits you receive in return far outweigh any disadvantages. You only have to decide if a dedicated server is really suitable for what you need (don’t buy it unless you need to!) and/or if you can afford to keep it. Make sure your dedicated server comes with a flexible contract, or short contract that only lasts a few months at a time. This allows you to take advantage of any discounts and price drops that your provider introduces that you may not be entitled to on your current contract. The downside to this situation is having to remotely back up all your data in the event that you decide to move your business elsewhere. Talk to your provider about flexibility and their ability to accommodate your changing needs over time.

But if you play it well, a dedicated server will be the best internet purchase you could make. Or it could be a waste. Stick by these few simple guidelines to decide if you need one before rushing in. When you are ready, it’ll be there waiting to serve you.

Martin Coleman is a freelance writer and computer programmer. More information about his services and other articles can be found at http://www.martincoleman.com.

Choosing A Quality Web Host

If you are anything like me, youd probably like to have a website on the Internet but you just have no idea how to go about it. All this talk of web hosting, bandwidth, disc space, and other jargon can cause one to say, This is too complicated and technical, I just wanted to have a place to put all of my favorite skateboarding photos, cool information on ramp designs, and the best places to skate! To get a website on the Web you have to go through a web host. The question is how do you find the web host for you? If you type web host into your search engine like Google you will get thousands of sites. Hit on one of these and like any product on the market you will see all sorts of persuasive propaganda to incite you to use their company; that is if you can decipher any of the technical jargon that only computer-heads can comprehend. Some web hosts offer free business cards with an account; some probably offer free watcheslike all consumer industries you the buyer must beware. Im a writer so Ill use the analogy of a writers journal. The journal I like must not be too big or small in book size. It also must have a good amount of space allocated to each day, again not a whole page but not just a few lines. Of course I also want it to be cheap but of a good quality that wont fall apart while Im using it, and I hope it would last for posterity. I just want the diary, some nice pictures in it are O.K. but unnecessary especially if it adds to the price. Its the same with a web host and web site scenario. You want to get the right deal for you, enough space and enough access to the public that you wish to associate with. As a novice who doesnt understand all the jargon this can pose a problem. Are you an individual, small business, blog, or a big time corporation? What do you need and how do you get it? As far as I can tell the web hosting business is a lot like the fast food business. The big corporations have strict guidelines, will offer you special deals, and have monthly cheeseburger specials. But, Ive always been more interested in the Mom and Pop small time diners who have that real caring human approach. You know you are a customer and a person, not just a number on a sales receipt. I believe the hosting companies are the same. A smaller hosting company will probably treat its users with more honest integrity as well as having more flexibility in dealing with your individual situation. They can often tailor web site packages to accommodate exactly what you are looking for as well as the ability to update them quickly when your needs change. My advice is to contact a few of the smaller companies. Look for ones with good reputations or just arbitrarily email them and compare results from different places. Which one do you feel most comfortable with? Go for it; ask as many questions as you can, see how the different hosts differ in their answers. Try one; if it doesnt work out try another, its really easy to move around. Dont be afraid, youve got nothing to lose except the fear itself!

Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a novice in the computer world hoping to inform others like him that the Internet is nothing to fear.

How To Choose A Web Hosting Company?

Nowadays, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting plan for next to nothing; however, affordable price is not the only criterion which should be considered when purchasing web hosting services. In this article, I’ll explain the basics of what you should look for in choosing a web hosting company, not just concentrating on the best price and features, but also on reliability and honesty. You’re investing your money and effort into finding paying customers and you wouldn’t like to lose them in order to save a few dollars per month on a web hosting service.

When looking for a web hosting company, it doesnt matter if this is just for the inception of a web or the move of an established site; you need to consider a large selection of criteria to determine which company to go with:

Customer support

Website hosting service isnt just storage or bandwidth. Based on personal experience and that of others, even a top-notch service is worthless without customer support. If you own a business website, your hosting provider needs to be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem; otherwise, you may end up losing customers and money.

Downtime guarantee and service monitoring

Having a personal website go down is a minor inconvenience; having a business website go down is a serious matter. What amount of profit would you lose if your site had been down for a week? Long downtime may be very harmful to today’s companies which spend large amounts of money on advertising their websites. Essentially, there are two rules regarding reliability that one should look at:

1. You should check if there is an uptime guarantee offered. A truly service-oriented provider will also give a money-back guarantee, offering a discount or free service as compensation for downtime. Any company which avoids taking responsibility won’t put much effort into the service.

2. I definitely wouldn’t go with a company claiming 100% uptime, as there is no such thing as a server with 100% uptime. If anyone ever claims their server has a 100% uptime they are either lying or they don’t perform the necessary upgrades that prevent a machine from being compromised.

Reputable web hosts will post statistics on their site: What is the frequency of interruption? How about the average percentage of downtime? If these arent posted, ask; if the answer isnt forthcoming, that should be a warning sign. If you still go with a host which doesn’t monitor servers, you’ll have to do the monitoring yourself. I recommend www.siteuptime.com, as it’s one of the best monitoring services available for free in the market today.

Backups

There is no host which is safe against different types of technical and programical failures, so make sure that the company runs scheduled backups. The other advice would be always having a backup of your website yourself, as you never know what might happen. cPanel, which is the most popular web hosting management software at this time, has a very comfortable backup-making tool. It allows you to backup files and databases quickly and easily, so backups are no longer a problem.

Acceptable use policy

Web hosts may have 200-300 or more clients per server; there is no exact number, as companies have different hardware and each hosted website has different resource usage. There always is a possibility that a few of those customers host illegal content. There are web hosts who have had their servers unplugged, resulting in their clients websites going down. I’m sure you don’t want to put your business at risk and have your website hosted on the same server together with illegal pornography and software sites, so check host’s acceptable use policy to find out, if the host takes care of what’s hosted on their servers.

Hosting your site on an uncared-for server will also result in a low speed. If somebody on the same server sends spam, the server’s IP address will be blacklisted and you’ll have serious problems as recipients stop receiving your emails. Use the Spam database lookup feature on www.DNSstuff.com to check if a web hosting company is blacklisted. Spam is being sent almost everywhere, so having one or two red records isn’t that bad; but, if there are more, it may become a problem later on.

Unlimited bandwidth and web space

In web hosting industry, the adage you get what you pay for is almost universally applicable. Do not fall for hosts offering unlimited allowances, as there is no unlimited bandwidth, nor unlimited web space. Host’s pay for each GB of bandwidth themselves. Hard drives also aren’t free, so how can they say it’s unlimited? They simply are performing false advertising in order to attract customers. The average website doesn’t use more than 1GB of bandwidth per month; the customer is happy as he bought something unlimited and the host gets a new customer, which won’t cost them any more than $1-2 USD per month. But imagine what would happen if I had a website, burning much more bandwidth than an average site does, and I signed up with a hosting company offering unlimited traffic? The host would simply suspend my account and tell me, that it was using too much bandwidth. There even are companies which offer unlimited bandwidth and have a statement on their terms of service, explaining that unlimited bandwidth means 40GB, for example.

Will you really own your domain name?

When you buy a domain name together with a website hosting package, make sure the host will register the domain name under your name. It usually should be written in their FAQ, but, if there is no such information, simply contact them. This will also give you an opportunity to check how fast their customer support team replies to inquiries. If the hosting company registers domains under someone else’s name, you may have problems switching hosting providers later. If you were in such situation, you would have to file for a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which costs much more than both domain name and web hosting service together.

Control Panel

For ease of maintenance, a feature called a Control Panel is a necessity; this tool will normally allow for regular maintenance, be it email mailbox additions/deletions, password resets, web additions, web count reports, statistics and so on. If the site is for any sort of business, this is an absolute must. The most popular web hosting management software currently available is cPanel. It’s a next-generation web hosting control panel system that allows you to manage your domain through a web interface. The idea is to transfer as much of the control of managing your web site to you; you have the ability to manage all aspects of e-mail, files, backup, FTP, CGI scripts, and web site statistics.

Value-added services

Hosting companies offer different value-added services in order to set themselves apart from the competition. Of course, these are an advantage, but a common mistake customers make is choosing a host just because it offers many value-added services which won’t be used anyway. Some of the really useful features are:

1. Auto-installer script Auto-installers will save you time if you are going to install a forum, image gallery, content management system, etc. Installation procedures on an auto-installer script take seconds and can be performed by novices without the need of doing difficult tasks usually associated with installations.

2. Online website builder - It lets you design a website in a few minutes without having any creation software and knowledge. One very powerful website builder on the market is Site Studio; this editor allows for ease of use, full control of color schemes and themes, one-click publishing, and an array of templates to use.

The last tip

In this article, I’ve mentioned only a few warning signs which are worth considering. You should know yourself that price and allocations aren’t as important as the quality of service; if the budget is absolutely limited, then the price can be a valid criterion, but otherwise it shouldnt receive much credence.

By going through this article and asking questions, you can narrow down the list of web hosts to the point where a good, sound decision can be easily made.

About the author:

Karolis Petreikis is the CEO of UPHosted, a company that provides reliable hosting services for both individuals and businesses.

The Problem With Free Web Hosting Plans July 5, 2008

In my opinion, free web hosting is one of the most misunderstood concepts on the web today. Free web hosting plans are becoming increasingly popular as new webmasters bite into the idea without actually analyzing the consequences. I myself spent many years, at the start of my webmaster career, using free web hosting plans. This experience has giving me an insight into the down-side of free web hosting plans that many people seem to miss.

Would Coke promote Pepsi on their website? Although the rhetorical question above seems ludicrous, this concept is one of the fundamental problems with free web hosting plans. Forced advertising is the way that hosting companies can afford to provide free hosting. Whether it be through pop-ups, pop-unders, headline ads, or implanted adsense you will be hosting advertisements on your website that generate revenue for your hosting company whether you like it or not. Not only is this annoying it can also ruin the look of your page; the majority of the time you cannot control what the ads look like or where they go, they are simply dropped down onto your site and there is nothing you can do.

Traffic Jams The bottom line in web hosting is that bandwidth (data transfer) costs money and if your plan is free it is most likely your bandwidth will be limited. Too many times I have attempted to access a web site hosted on a free server and been given the message: This user has acceded their bandwidth limits, please try again next month. As a webmaster this can be infuriating. Imagine building a solid page, marketing it, gaining an audience, and then losing that audience because your page is not allowed anymore hits for the month.

SEO woes This is a problem that caused me a ton of frustration, but in the end taught mea lot about how search engines work and how search engines handle name resolution. In almost every case free web hosting plans do not allow you to point a domain name (www.yoursite.com) to an actual page. Instead you are forced to use a concept called URL redirection. URL redirection allows a webmaster to identify a site that the URL should point to. So if a user types in www.example.com and we have configured it to redirect to www.freehost/users/mysite.html it will end up on that page. This does not seem like much of an issue until you begin trying to get your website indexed in the search engines. So you submit your site (www.example.com) to some directories and you ake some good link partners and then you start to wonder, why am I not being listed in the SEs? I have 100 solid back links pointing to www.example.com, what is happening. The problem is that www.example.com has no data, it has no content, it simply redirects to your actual page at www.freehost/users/mysite.html. SEs not only will not index a page with no data or content but they may even view this as an attempt to fool their algorithm, thus banning your domain name. The only work around is to forget the domain name and optimize for your free hosting address, which is not really an acceptable work around.

But wait! Although I am a strong believer that free web hosting is not the way to go it is possible to find a free web host that works for you. There are some out there that do not force advertising, do not limit your bandwidth, and will allow pointed domains. The problem is finding one that does all three. If you are a serious, or even only slightly serious, webmaster take the hit and pay the money for web hosting. In the end you can get an awesome web hosting plan for as low as $5.95 a month, and trust me this will be WELL worth the money.

Be sure to check out Cheap Web Hosting Plans at my website.

Chris Hunt