The Little Geeni

This article is useful for understanding the hosting industry and studies its dynamics to know what to look for before selecting a web host.

Firstly it is good to have a proper introduction of web hosting chain. It is termed as chain because here about 3 upstream providers serve the end consumer. First the web-hosting provider, who is in direct contact, then comes the web host’s upstream company who maintains the servers and sells space to web hosts, and above that, the data center that serves the purpose of providing the connection and houses the servers. There are some web hosts who act as the server administrator and liase with the data centers directly.

The growth of the web hosting industry in at saturation point due to the presence of hundreds of web-hosting providers claiming to provide cheaper and better services to businesses and individuals. The reason for this is the availability of resources in abundance and at cheaper costs with reducing disk space and data-transfer prices. Its easy to enter the web hosting business as there are large resellers of server space providing cheap hosting and reselling plans that provides ground to incomers to join the business.

Due to growing number of suppliers with cheaper reselling plans, more and more web hosting businesses are coming up providing web-hosting solutions to business and individual websites due to lower fixed costs and investment. Not only that this increase in supply is not caused by factors in any particular country. As Internet is not limited to the boundary of any country so the data centers present in any part of the world can easily provide the servers and web space for a local hosting company. Due to Internet it is easy to communicate to each other and providers can easily exchange their services in the global space.

Maintaining a proper balance between supply and demand is quite good for the customers. But imbalance has forced several new web-hosting providers to offer extremely low prices for their web hosting plans or packages in order to make them self stand in the tough market. Now it’s time for customers to choose the hosting providers having lowered prices from the vast number of providers.

However, continuous decrease in prices is quite disadvantageous for both the providers as well as the customers. By reduces prices, companies are able to earn nominal profit and are even not able to cover their support costs. Customers suffer by getting less support with their web-hosting accounts. It’s quite obvious if the profits do not justify the costs, web-hosting companies will easily close down and takes their clients’ sites with them.

The following are the factors to consider while choosing a web-hosting provider: -

The most important factor to consider is Support for any individual or small business looking for a web host for their websites. The Internet web-hosting provider who is unable to provide the facility of responding to emails within 24 hours is probably having problems providing fast and reliable support services. One can’t ignore the validity of these services especially for the beginners who needs guidance with publishing their websites on the web hosting account provided. The success of any web hosting business depends upon the relationships between web host and web hosting customers. To make business success, provider should be able to provide services when and where required also its crucial for customers to know when their site is going offline for sake of maintenance.

After support next important factor is Stability. It refers to how much uptime one can expect from the web-hosting provider, which in turn depends upon the providers’ servers and network. If the providers are not having reliable and stable providers, it would affect their servers and cause problems for the website. It is must to have an uptime of about 99.5% in the industry, as there are other external factors, which may be beyond control of the provider.

Third factor to consider is Cost which depends on the purpose of the website and budget. The budget may be smaller in case of Personal /Individual websites and so they opt to go with a cheaper web hosting provider, possibly in exchange for support and stability. But in case of business sites as they need better stability and support they opt for expensive host providers. It is most often observed that cheap web hosting providers are able to attract customers in the beginning by offering low prices but afterwards fails in providing quality support to their customers thereby creating problems for them. Also the large numbers of client sites cause sustained high server loads which leads to server crash thus hampering stability.

Another factor, which is not so important, is Location of the server. It is not considered important as it depends upon a user’s ISP/country’s connection to the data center where the server is located. Pings to the server normally tells the network latency to expect when people can access to one’s site. Lower ping rates leads to loading of site faster.

Last but not least one should take time to identify and contact a web host to check their service. This helps in providing an idea of the kind of support that one might receive and helps in deciding the reliability of the provider.

Domains and Hosting Domains and Hosting, Host, Searching, Tips

After creating and designing one’s own website he/she wants to host his/her own website other wise all the hard work will go in vain. Deciding the host for the website is far more difficult job then creating and designing it. While choosing host one should be very careful and should gain proper knowledge. One should consider all the factors while opting one host, as if this one decision went wrong then all the previous work will ruin.

Following are the few factors to be consider while choosing hosting plan-

1. Uptime of the web server?

2. Does the SSL is provided by the server or not?

3. Does the server avail server side scripting (e.g. PHP, ASP)?

4. What type of host to choose Free or paid?

5. What is the upload limit and file limit?

6. Support provided to the Customer.

Now we are going to take the above factors one by one:-

1– Uptime of the web server.

While hosting one’s website he/she wants that his/her server should always be up, as if website faces downtime it will result in the loss of traffic as well as of goodwill. The customer will never visit a website which remains down most of the hours so it is very important to choose host which provides maximum uptime.

Search engines will never give position to the website that always faces the downtime.

These kinds of websites should not expect the traffic from the search engines.

One can get a web server that is usually up, by the help of the reviews of the different persons who have already used the web host.

2. Does the SSL provided by the server or not?

If one created his/her own website just for the personnel use, not for doing any transactions on his/her website then SSL protection is not required.

If one who is not doing any transactions right now, but planning to do it in the future then he /she should opt for a web host that will provide SSL protection as and when required.

SSL is an encryption method which helps to encrypt any sensitive information like credit card info, names, etc

If a customer is going for a web host who is not offering SSL protection, in that case, installation of SSL will be very expensive as if afterwards he/she is trying to get it installed then the provider can charge what ever he/she wants for the SSL protection for transactions.

3. The third factor to look at it is does the server avail for server side scripting?

There are many web host providers who provides for server side scripting but still it’s important for customers to make sure that they do or don’t.

Server side scripting permits the webmaster to create pages which changes in real time.

For example, if one is running a business, and has all of his/her products stored in a database, and then a server side script will be helpful as it generates the pages that the customer sees according to the category/product he/she chooses.

If any of the web host provider is not providing the service of server side scripting, then it means that it will be a very silly decision to choose that web hosting.

4. What type of host to choose free or paid?

Now here comes the most important factor i.e. money factor which molds the customer’s decision. It’s hard for customers to decide that what to choose –free or paid host.

In case of free host, it has one and only one advantage that it is free, rest it has only and only complications in it.

The one who is not going to do any transitions by his/her site or created his/her website only as a hobby, then any of the free host will be ok for him. On the other hand for a professional customer, it will be good for him/her to not to look at for free hosting rather choosing for a paid host. Choosing free hosting will be of no use as it will never facilitate it’s customer due to lack of facilities in it.

Free web hosting has many disadvantages such as the hosters usually run ads on one’s home page.

The paid web host usually offers better customer support that is absent in free web hosting.

5. What is the upload/bandwidth limit and file limit?

If any customer is going for hosting large image files or if he/she wants to provide downloads to his/her users then upload/ bandwidth and file limit is very important.

But if anyone is making a hobby or business website then space is not a big deal for him/her and he/she can opt the host providing less space.

6. Customer Support

Now let’s talk about the Customer support which is very important. If any customer is suffering from any problem and he/she is not getting any support from his/her host then he/she will get irritate and leave the host. If any of the hosting company don’t want to loose his customers then it is important for the company to provide proper customer support and of course when ever needed.

Some web host providers even provide forums where customers like they can log in and post questions to other customers and web host staff.

Domains and Hosting Host, Most, Selection, Suitable

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

Mistake, which may appear with web hosting

Excessive downtime:

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

Features that cannot be put in use:

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

Ghastic support:

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

Poor communication:

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

Troubles of Billing:

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

Things to watch out for:

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

Untenable pricing:

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

Limitless bandwidth:

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

A website with unprofessional look:

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

Way to research web hosts:

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

Interpret particulars of web host package and TOS:

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

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

One should examine the web host forum:

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

User should examine web host reviews:

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

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

Inquire about the background of the company:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Email pre-sales queries

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

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

Domains and Hosting Dependable, Host, Ways

Given below are some straightforward rules, which surely help a person who is looking for a web host. The foremost rules is to stay away from free hosts to a possible extent, it is easy to think that a free service is preferable to paying on the basis of monthly fee however with web hosting this is insolently not the case.

There are several merits of Paid hosting over free hosting. Firstly the user will receive more useful features with paid hosting. Comparatively advance level technical support is provided whenever the user is in need of it. In a usual sense, Paid hosts will get much rapid connections to the internet so that user’s site will appear quicker. Prominently with the facility of paid hosting the user does not require to exhibit a banner per page, advertising the hosting company and advertising to the world that he/she is on a free host. Along with providing excellent hosting packages beginning from $6.99 a month there is no trace of any reason why one should not go with a paid host.

The next simple rule tackles with the choice in operating system. One will find hosts offering Windows hosting or else Linux Hosting. It is appealing to choose windows as it’s a name everyone is familiar of and several people mistakenly think that because their PC runs windows they require a Windows Host but in this case it is a total misconception. Whichever hosting package user chooses he/she will receive a control panel through which he/she can administer the site. These are graphical environments through the medium of which one can control many aspects of his or her website from configuring the web mail and installing forum software to form a database. By going ahead from the marble halls of business several main companies prefer to host their websites on Linux Servers. It is due to the fact that Linux Servers normally runs faster and is comparatively more secure than a windows server. This occurs partially due to the way the operating systems are built. Windows try to include every likely function in the base package as at the same time as Linux allows the host company to add the functions whichever they require.

The ultimate thing to consider at the time of choosing a host is the list of features they will put forward. If the user does not possess sufficient knowledge about html he/she can go on the alternative to look for a host that supplies him/her with free website building software and a few enhanced ones will even deliver free Domain names. One should look at a number of different companies and evaluate what they present as standard along with their hosting plans. Technical aspects which the user should keep in mind are; the quantity of disk space available to him/her, the amount of monthly bandwidth, number of he/she possess with them to use. The user should come across at how many email accounts he/she is getting etc. Customer support features also should not be ignored and the user must detect what their actual response time is and if it exceeds one hour he/she must search somewhere else, also one should check if the hosting company offers a money back guarantee or not.

The user should try to search what are the additional services which the host is including in the package for instance do they offer daily backups or not? One should make sure that they offer support for PHP as this is day by day becoming the programming language of preference with web programmers.

Thus one can reach to a conclusion that while choosing a website host one should look for a paid host with Linux hosting and then should compare the prices offered by different companies to get the most competitive one.

Domains and Hosting Choose, Host, Suitable

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.

Domains and Hosting Consider, Domains and Hosting, Host, Selecting, Tips

Choosing Your First Linux Web Host

Choosing your first Web host is an important decision. You will, hopefully, have a long relationship with whatever host you choose. To make a decision, first you need to decide that what you need and then visit the sites of several hosting providers and evaluate what they are offering in regarding your requirements. If you choose wisely you should get good value for your money, consistency and prompt well-informed support. Get a Good Linux Web Host at OnSmart.net

Linux and its predecessor UNIX and Windows 2000 and its close relate Windows NT are types of operating systems that web servers use to do its operations.

In most of the cases Linux Web Hosting Account is recommended because Linux is considered as more reliable, stable and more universally compatible with any operating system. This is due to the functionality and speed of the Linux operating platform. Without any doubt, Linux is far more stable than Windows in a shared-server, or multi-user environment. Get a Good Linux Web Host at OnSmart.net (http://www.onsmart.net )

On the other hand, if you know that you will be using Microsoft applications extensively, or you plan on developing extensively using FrontPage, especially FrontPage 2002, MS SQL, ASP.NET or if you are looking for E-commerce add- ons or you will be using high-end databases then Windows/NT Hosting is the right choice for you. But if you are looking for universal compatibility regardless of the operating system the end user has, Linux has the ability to run a much wider variety of custom scripts and programs than Windows 2000/NT, and it offers easier, lower-cost set-up for advanced applications such as CGI scripts, databases.

Under Linux web hosting operating system, there is, database, server software and gathering of coding. Linux is the most preferred and demanded operating system because of its features and vigorous environment and it is the next best alternative to Microsoft and UNIX operating system. Linux is widely used and chosen worldwide due to its permanent network and server operating system. Linux operating system and APACHE web server, MYSQL database, PHP server coding applications are clustered under one roof that is Linux web hosting and for this, it is also known as LAMP server. The most reliable web hosting under web based applications is the Linux, and Apache is grabbing the market of Microsoft servers according to a survey over million of sites. Get a Good Linux Web Host at OnSmart.net

Advantages of Choosing Linux Based Web Host

Following are the advantages of using Linux based web server compared to Windows based web server:

1. Stable:

Linux/Unix operating systems has traditionally been believed to be very stable and robust. A web site housed on a Linux operating system will have very high up-time (of the order of 99.9%). Of course, other factors such as power supply, network admin skills, and network load etc. also matter when it comes to maintaining the system uptime.

2. Low cost of ownership:

The Linux OS comes free of cost (or at very insignificant cost, usually cost of distribution). Also, it has full fledged server, and desk top applications that comes free along with the OS. These server applications (such as FTP, Web Server, DNS Server, File Server etc.) being free, are also very stable.

3. Ease of use:

When it comes to web hosting, it is easy to host on Linux web servers. The process of uploading and hosting is almost same for both Linux and Windows web servers. If you want to use a Windows based tool such as Front Page for uploading a web site on to a Linux based web server, make sure that the Front Page extensions are enabled. This is only required if you are uploading using HTTP feature of Front Page. Front Page also makes it possible to upload a web site using FTP. Note that if you select “Front Page Extensions” during web site design, you must enable Front Page extensions on a Linux web server also.
You can use almost all types of file extensions or scripts when using Linux web server. Commonly, the following extensions are supported: .cgi, .html, .htm, .pl, .php, .shtml, .xml, and others. Basically it means that you can host web sites that use different types of server side scripts including .cgi, .pl, .php, and .asp with plug-in. Get a Good Linux Web Host at OnSmart.net

4. Easy to move between hosts:

A web site designed to be hosted on a Linux based web server can be hosted on a Windows web server easily, where as the reverse is not always true.

Most widely used: Linux/Unix based web hosting is most widely used compared to Windows based web hosting.

5. Scalability:

A web site is dynamic. Usually, a web site starts with a few pages of html and grows over a period of time to suit the customer’s requirements. It is preferable to design a web site keeping these requirements in mind. A web site designed for compatibility with a Linux/Unix based web server meets the scalability requirement easily without making any site wide design changes.

On the downside, Linux based web server is not fully compatible with Microsoft technologies. If you are using any specialized applications or VB for development of your web site, it is preferable to host with a Windows based web server.

About Author :

OnSmart.net offers Premium Reseller Hosting, Web Hosting, and Dedicated Server solutions with 24/7 Support and 99.9% Uptime at an affordable price. OnSmart.net is a Established Hosting Company with an established customer base, that specializes in Linux-based web hosting. OnSmart.net provides budget, shared, advanced and other types of web hosting services to a wide range of clients ranging from small business to individuals

Linux Choosing, First, Host, Linux