Friday, December 29, 2006

Dedicated Web Hosting

As the term connotes, dedicated web hosting means provision of an exclusive, dedicated server to a single client. If you opt for dedicated web hosting, you will not have to share the server space as well as the bandwidth with the other websites. Besides, dedicated web hosting enables you to host multiple websites at the same time. And all your websites will run simultaneously without any hitch ‘n’ glitch.

In dedicated web hosting, an ISP offers you a personal, dedicated server (also called managed web server or an outsourced server) for your websites. This web server is dedicated only to your websites, and it cannot share space or bandwidth with any website that does not belong to you.

The ISP that offers its dedicated web hosting services to you manages the hardware, operating system, routing equipment, network connectivity, backup facilities, and all the jazz. You have full rights and complete control over the server as well as all the software applications and hardware equipment. It is up to you how you use that dedicated sever and how many websites you want to host on it. In simple terms, you are the master of the web server.
Despite being the master of the web server, you don’t have to worry about taking care of the server. All the care and maintenance has to be done by your web hosting service provider that actually owns the dedicated server. If there is any technical hitch or a hardware glitch, the web host has to get the things sorted out.
Dedicated web hosting offers specialized and customized services to you. Your web hosting service provider puts you at liberty to choose definite disk space requirements, CPU speeds, bandwidth, software applications, and other hardware components. All these customized features enable you to carve out your own web hosting packages that suit your online business requirements.
Dedicated hosting can be highly beneficial to online businesses that require exhaustive, complex applications such as hi-tech e-mail solutions and databases. And the fact that a web host service provider that gives you a dedicated server is aptly equipped to provide hi-tech 24/7 customer support. This ensures that your online business marches ahead without any interruption.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Choose a Web Host that suits you

Once you have a website, and you are ready to host it; your search for picking the right web hosting company begins. It is really imperative for you to choose a web host judiciously. Online market is beset with a whole host of web hosting service providers. It is for you to zero in on the right web host that suits your requirements.
However, the task of choosing the right web host is not that easy, particularly when everyone claims to equip you with the best of web hosting services. Your choice will depend on a variety of factors such as the space you want to buy, speed, add-on services you want, and the overall quality of the services on offer.

By and large, everyone wants high quality services at affordable rates. However, before you start looking out for a web host, you need top be clear about one thing – Do you want an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to host your website, or you want a web hosting company to do the job for you?

Well, if speed is not much of a concern for you, you can opt for an ISP to host your website. Not that an ISP would have a dawdling speed, but the fact is that an ISP provides bandwidth both for online users viewing the website and the people dialing in to access the internet. All this has affects the speed.

Therefore, if speed, consistency, and reliability are something that you don’t want to sacrifice; an expert web host might be a better option for you. The reason is simple. A web hosting company has the expertise to cater to your needs. Besides, a web hosting service provider will be using all the available bandwidth to offer the best speed and services to you.

But this is not the end of it. Before you zero in on a web hosting service provider, you need to have a look at the different aspects of the services offered. You have to check the credentials of the web host service provider you want to choose. Besides, you have to ensure that your web host has a T3 connection.

Other aspects that you need to keep an eye on include space, downtime (a good web host should have at least 98 percent uptime), technical support, secured server for online transactions, money back guarantees, and bandwidth restrictions. Therefore, the bottom line is that you got to be absolutely sure about the services you will be offered and the exact costs involved.

Can I be my web host?

Web hosting is a specialized job. That is why millions of people all across the globe get their websites hosted by professional web hosting service providers. However, if you want to be your own web host, no one can stop you. You can actually be your own web host!

But before you slip into the garb of a web host, you have to judiciously understand the web hosting dynamics. Web hosting is a simple process for those who are into this profession. However, for a layman, it can be a convoluted, drawn-out affair. You need to know the technical aspects of web hosting. Apart from that you got to have the resources for carrying out all the processes involved in the hosting of a website.

Here is a list of points you need to contemplate on before you decide to host your website on your own.
• First of all, you have to be absolutely sure that you can handle the technical things on your own.
• You must do your home work on how to host a website.
• To host a website on your home computer, you need a non-stop internet connection.
• You need to have a permanent IP address.
• You should know about installing and configuring web server software such as IIS and Apache.
• You should understand that using your computer for purposes other than web hosting can make your web pages move slowly.
• Being your own web host means that you are a one man army. If any problem arises (mind you, there does arise a lot of problems!), you should have the knowledge and expertise to deal with the same effectively and quickly. You should have everything ready to deal with any problem.
• You have to understand that web hosting is not just about hosting a website on a server. Web hosting involves a whole host of technicalities and security issues. In fact, security problems are a key issue you have to deal with as a web host. Therefore, you must be equipped enough to address any such issues without wasting any time.
• Do you know how to elude the nasty hackers? If the answer to this question is not in the affirmative, go and look out for a professional web host service provider! There is no fun becoming a hacker’s victim.
• Web hosting calls for constant updating and advancements. A professional web host company has the manpower and the resources to take care of all this. However, it is quite a task for an individual to be able to handle such things.

Therefore, be your own web host only if you feel you can efficaciously shoulder all the responsibilities of a web host.

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Key Elements of Web Hosting

If you are looking for the best hosting solution, look for reliability and customer service instead of the cheapest price. You need to look for the right web host that will take care of all your needs. Here are some key elements of web hosting that you need look at.

1) Customer service: This tops the list. Is it easy for you to reach the web hosting support desk easily and how fast do they respond? You will always need to be in touch with your web hosting provider so make sure that you get a company that is reachable at all times as well as responsive to your requests. Make sure that the hosting provider has a toll free number and that they actually answer their calls. Before you sign with anyone, pick up the phone and give them a call.

2) Reliability: Are the servers that host your business up? Make sure that you are guaranteed server uptime as part of your agreement. Some companies charge more for better “up time” guarantees. So if you pay higher monthly fees, you will get a better network. This is something that you really need to think about if you are considering free web hosting.

3) Control panel: The control panel is the heart of websites features. This is where you control many of the features needed to run a proper website. A good control panel can allow you to block IP addresses from accessing your website, Password Protect Directories and so much more.

4) Disk space: This all depends on the storage capacity that you require. If you want to load the server with MP3’s and large files, you will need to keep in mind disk space limitations.

5) Bandwidth: This is the amount of data that you broadcast from your website on a monthly basis. Most of the packages that are offered allow you to upgrade if you are in need of more bandwidth.

6) Domains: Decide on how many domains will be sufficient for you. Maybe you need a single domain name, sub-domains or unlimited domain hosting. Good domain management will allow you to put several domain names under one URL. Your web hosting provider must offer you these features.

7) Web statistics: For you to realize your traffic, you need to get a full analysis of your website. A full analysis will also allow you to know what keywords are used to find a website or browser types. In addition to this you can get to know which pages are the most visited. Good statistical analysis programs will let you view Raw Access Logs for you website, disk usage, bandwidth, error logs and so on.

8) Email hosting: Email is very important to the running of your website. This means that you should have the ability to create suitable business email addresses. Auto responder, POP3 and mail forwarding would be required. Management of email will be easy once you have the right tools.



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