Web Hosts: The Basics

Before you start searching for a web host, you must familiarize yourself with the terminology used in this field. The following terms are also considered key factors in deciding the suitable hosting plan that meets your requirements. You can start learning what does each term mean and how does it affect your selection.

Web Host
A web host, also known as web server, is a computer connected to the internet. This computer is more powerful than normal PCs and is set up to serve up websites. Your website content will reside on this computer, which will give people who surf the internet a way to access your website.

Web hosts can be categorized into three main categories based on the price range and common features for each category:

1. Free Hosts: limited in space, bandwidth and other features. Suitable for personal websites or for temporary usage. Usually enforce pop-up, text or banner ads. They do not provide the best performance and/or reliability. They provide minimum or no customer support. If you register for a free host, your domain will be something like yourname.freehost.com or www.freehost.com/yourname.

2. Shared Hosts: most websites are using this type of hosting. Suitable for personal, small and medium businesses. Prices range from $1 to about $25 a month. Features also range from very limited space/bandwidth to semi-dedicated servers. Your website has its own top level domain (e.g. www.website-hostings.net) The number of websites on a server affects its performance and availability, more websites usually means less performance. Servers hosting less number of shared websites are more expensive, but more reliable. Some companies allow customers to host multiple websites with different domains under a single account.

3. Dedicated Hosts: A full server dedicated to a single customer. Usually used by large businesses and very active websites with thousands of daily visitors. The customer will have full control over the server, and can create as many websites as he likes. Customer can have his own hosting company run on a rented dedicated server. Prices depend on the specifications and services provided with the server, starting from about $100 up to about $800 dollars a month.

4. Colocated Hosts: very similar to dedicated hosts, but the customer owns the server hardware instead of renting it. The server will be housed in provider’s data center. Prices are a bit higher than dedicated servers.

5. Reseller Hosts: providers offer web server storage to customers, who then resell the web server storage to their customers. Providers usually offer resellers a discount price.

6. Other Hosts: there are few other types of hosts such as email hosts, media hosts, data hosts, etc but these are out of the scope of this article.

Domain Name
http://www.website-hostings.net/ is an example of a domain name. It’s a name that points to where your website is physically located. The actual address of your website is a set of numbers that looks like (70.86.135.242). This address is unique for every web server. Domain names are just pointers to the real addresses. It’s easier to remember the domain names than the IP addresses.

Space / Storage
The amount of web server’s disk space available for customer’s website files, images and databases. It can be as small as 5MB in some free hosts and as big as 300GB for some dedicated servers. Space prices reduced significantly during the last few years. Customer can find hosting plans offering 3GB of space for less than $10 a month.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred from web server to clients’ internet browsers. Each time a person view a page data is transmitted from the server to that person’s PC. Audio, video and images contents consume much more bandwidth than text. Bandwidth can be as low as 100MB a month in some free web hosts and as high as 2000GB a month in some dedicated servers. Customer can find hosting plans offering 75GB of monthly data transfer for less than $10.

Server Type
Usually means the operating system than runs the web server. Common types are Windows, Linux and UNIX. Server type determines the server side scripting and database types. Windows usually runs ASP and ASP.NET with Access or SQL Server databases. Linux/UNIX servers usually runs CGI, PHP or JSP with mySQL or Oracle databases. Windows servers are usually more expensive than Linux/UNIX servers.

Databases
As you have seen in server types, there are different types of databases. The most commonly used is mySQL because its an open source GPL (free) software and can serve a lot of online applications’ requirements such as forums, content management, mailing lists, etc. MySQL, however, has some limitations in its features. Complicated large business sites will need more powerful databases such as Oracle or SQL Server.

Server Side Scripting
Most new users prefer to use PHP as server side scripting. The reason is that there are hundreds of open source (GPL) PHP scripts that can meet a lot of webmaster’s requirements. Similar to mySQL, PHP has some limitations in features required by advanced websites, which makes some senior web developers prefer to use ASP.NET or JSP. Other developers still prefer to use Cold Fusion, CGI, ASP or PERL.

Email
Most hosting plans include the feature of having some email accounts with customer’s domain (e.g. admin@website-hostings.net). The number and size of email accounts depends on the hosting plan. Free plans do not usually have this feature, small plans give about 10 accounts where big plans do not limited the number. Those email accounts are usually web based and accessible through POP3 clients as well.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
A standard way of transferring files across the Internet. Most webmasters upload and download their websites contents using FTP. The upload or download processes are usually performed using FTP client software. To access their web servers, webmasters need FTP username and password. Some hosts give more than one FTP account to their customers. FTP can by anonymous as well, but its not recommended for security reasons.

Control Panel
Most web hosting companies provide their customers with a control panel, a web based application that helps in managing websites. Common functions in control panels are: managing email accounts, providing statistics, managing FTP accounts, managing domains and subdomains and managing databases. The most commonly used control panel application is cPanel. Some companies develop their own control panel application.

Uptime
An important feature of web hosts is their uptime, which is usually measured in percentage. A server that goes down for an average of 30 minutes a day will have an uptime percentage of about 99.98%, which is acceptable for most small to medium business websites. Anything less than this percentage 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
With the wide range of options available for customers, the price is also ranges from 0 to $1000 a month. Most personal, small and medium websites shouldn’t cost more than $15 a month. It’s not recommended for business website owners to go for very cheap plans (less than $5) because this price usually means a compromise in the quality of support and reliability of the server.

Linux Dedicated Cheap Web Hosting Servers Delhi India

Reliable, Affordable and Business web hosting service is necessary element for online transaction companies. hosting are many type such as reseller hosting, virtual private server, free web hosting, collocation web hosting, managed dedicated servers and shared dedicated hosting etc.

When we want to run of website on Internet then we require a space on Internet. This space provided by web hosting company. Web hosting service provider offer many attractive package but these packages may be fraud. Actually we require cheap web hosting and dedicated servers.

Now most popular hosting servers are Linux dedicated hosting servers and windows hosting servers. When we select company to web hosting service we should be notice following features:-
Web space 100MB and 1500MB etc.
Bandwidth/Month such as 500MB, 1000MB, 2000MB, 3000MB and 5000MB etc.
Other features such as Install activation, secure c panel and web mail, .htaccess support, MySQL database, phphmydmin GUI, web logs and reports, anti virus protection, own SMTP sever, FTP accounts, multi language control panel and company charged according features.

Free Web Hosting: free cpanel hosting, free Linux hosting and other web hosting service offer only for advertisement supported and limited functionality.

Shared dedicated hosting: multiple users share same server such as cpanel hosting and plesk hosting.

Reseller Hosting: Linux or windows reseller hosting provides total control themselves clients. Reseller Hosting web hosting offer lot of unlimited features such as unlimited MySQL database, change password, unlimited FTP access, unlimited SMTP server, unlimited sub domains and many other features.

Virtual Private Server: this is also popular as Virtual Dedicated Server. In this technology a big server divided into multiple servers and each server can reboot independently.

In India has many companies those provide windows and Linux website hosting service. Some company offer low cost reseller hosting, free Linux hosting, banner exchange and ecommerce web hosting service solution.

The hosting services should be dedicated and reliable because all IT and other companies depend on online transactions. Now offshore outsourcing work is requirement for all countries and Time to time need information from whole world. Any query or important information can come from any where to company. If hosting company server down then lot of dolor amount will be destroy. So hosting companies responsibility increase round the clock.

Choosing the Right Web Hosting Package for Your Business

Do you have a number of websites hosted in different hosting accounts?  Do you know that webmasters of today can have hundreds of websites hosted under one single hosting account without spending too much on hosting? 

If you ever wonder how in the world they do that, the answer is simple. This is made possible by using one of the Shared hosting features called “add-on domains.”

Today, many web hosting companies will offer you one or more free add-on domains with the hosting account you purchase from them.  More often, a web hosting package allows you to have unlimited add-on domains, which means you can host any number of websites within your hosting account without paying additional fees. This is one way to inexpensively run several websites without spending a lot in hosting.

Signing up under a reseller hosting account is also a great way to host multiple websites on one account.   At the same time, a reseller account will allow you to sell web hosting accounts to other webmasters.  A reseller account running under Linux environment is provided with a Web Host Manager which you can use to set-up individual accounts for every customer.   Within the Web Host Manager, you can add, modify and delete individual hosting packages that you want to sell.  You are also free to set your own price, the space, bandwidth limit and the number of domains that can be hosted per hosting package.

If you decide to use it for personal use, it allows you to set-up an individual control panel for every domain name that you have.

Selling website hosting is also a great way to make money.  That is the reason why a lot of online entrepreneurs already entered the web hosting business.  A reseller account sometimes comes with many great features like unlimited email accounts and subdomains.  The features that you get will depend on the kind of reseller plan you sign on with.

Hosting using Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Dedicated Servers are also some other types of hosting that enable you to get more control over your hosting account and both types supports multiple domain hosting plus a lot more advantages than the shared hosting.   

A Virtual Private Server for example, can be useful if you want to run an e-commerce site, host multiple domains, set-up an intranet and others.   

Hosting under Virtual Private Server, unlike the shared hosting, would enable one to own and manage the hardware and all one have to do is to rent space and internet connection from the data center.   Virtual Private Server is also called co-located server and is a very wise alternative if you are outgrowing your shared hosting plan.

The dedicated server on the other hand, is a single computer server which aims to support one’s every need in a network.   With a dedicated server, one can install and configure any program he wants.   It is normally more expensive than a virtual private server plan and since you are in control of the server, you are also responsible for its installation and maintenance.

A dedicated server is designed for those who are experienced in administering their own network but can also be for those who are willing to learn.   

Signing-up for a dedicated server hosting plan will allow one to fully customize or build his own dedicated server.  One can also just choose and pay only for the features he needs.  One advantage of having your own dedicated server is it doesn’t put you on the risk of the server being congested because of other people’s bandwidth unlike the shared hosting.

So before you sign-up for a web hosting account, it is important that you evaluate first your needs and then decide what kind of web hosting plan that fits for you.

Top Ten Reasons To Choose A Web Hosting Provider

Choosing a web hosting provider is different for everyone. Every website has a specific set of needs and you have to find a web host that provides the needs that are specific to your website.

However, there are certain things to look for when choosing a web-hosting service. In this article I will give you the ten most common things people should be looking for. These are not necessarily in the order of priority, because as I said every website has different needs and your priorities might not be the same as the next website owner.

1. Tech Support: Tech support in any business venture is always important. As a website owner though, the tech support that your web-hosting service provides is going to be crucial to your business. If your website is offline or not working properly it will cost you sales.

If you have been buying traffic to your website and it goes offline, you are still being charged for all of those visits to your website, which they never saw. The money you are spending on your ad campaign, AdWords program or other traffic sources is going right down the drain. You cannot afford to choose a web host that does not respond quickly when you have a problem.

2. Feedback Forums: A web host that provides a forum, message board, or chat room to discuss hosting issues or to get help in is more likely to get a user to use their web-hosting services. The reason behind this is people feel more comfortable with a web host that gives a personal touch and one that cares enough to provide a higher level of service.

3. Room to Grow: If your web-hosting service only offers one package, it’s a bad sign in most cases. What happens as your web business grows and so do your web hosting needs? If they offer upgrades to dedicated servers, larger storage and bandwidth plans, and a lot of other options, then you can feel confident choosing them as your web hosting provider. You don’t plan to stay small and your web host shouldn’t plan for you to stay small either.

4. Storage Space: This is usually only an issue with websites that will be offering users a lot of downloads such as music or software. The average website can get by with about 10 megabytes of storage, but again you want room to grow, plus you can actually use your storage to back up files from your computer. Don’t backup secure documents there, but a lot of your files can be backed up online. You have storage so use it. The more storage space they offer, the better.

5. Bandwidth or Transfer: This is the size of every file visitors to your website download automatically to their computers each time they visit. The average webpage is around 30k and then you add the graphics and other files that are displayed to the user and you get your bandwidth or transfer usage. The average website can get by on less than 10 gigabytes of bandwidth per month. However if you are offering downloads like software, music, and movies, or you are going to be driving a lot of traffic to your website, you may want to choose a plan that offers you more bandwidth. Make sure your webhosting provider has options that give you room to grow here as well.

6. Easy to use Control Panel: Cpanel is one of the most popular control panels for web hosts to offer, but there are others. Ask what type of control panel your web host is offering to provide you with. Again, this need is different for everyone and this is based on your level of expertise. Some advanced users would rather not have or don’t care about control panels because they know how to configure everything in the server by themselves. Less advanced users need to be sure they pick a web hosting service that provides an easier interface so they can feel comfortable making the alterations they need to their website.

7. FrontPage extensions: A lot of people that do not know HTML still use FrontPage or other programs to design their websites with. If you use FrontPage, you need to make sure your web host is set up for FrontPage extensions.

8. Type of Servers: An example of this is websites that will be built using the .NET framework or ASP. For your website you will need to make sure your web host has a windows based server. Most web hosting providers are on Linux or Apache and ASP websites will not function on them. A better choice is to stay away from building a website that requires a windows server in the first place.

9. Added Features: Instant Install is a feature offered by most web hosts these days even if they call it another name. It’s an automated process for installing databases and database driven features you can add to your website like photo galleries, forums, blogs, content management systems, calendars, guestbooks, and more. It’s just as easy to choose a web-hosting provider that gives you these features in case you need them as it is to choose one that doesn’t. Again, room to grow is important.

10. Is your web host a good neighborhood: This one is a little more difficult to explain and find out about but it is important. Some search engines punish websites who are in a bad neighborhood. They do this by banning websites that come from a particular set of IP addresses due to previous problems with websites on those IP addresses. You need to see samples of other websites that are hosted by your web hosting service. If a lot of them are warez websites, porn websites, file sharing websites, or other websites whose activities do not seem to savory, then you may be looking at a bad neighborhood and may want to find another web host.

That’s my top 10 tips for choosing a web hosting service. I hope you find these tips helpful when you look for where to host your next website!