Virtual Web Hosting vs Dedicated Web Hosting
Why do some organizations choose to host their own Web site on their own managed servers, while others contract with a Webhosting company or purchase their ecommerce hosting services through an ISP (Internet service provider)?
While cost (including risk) and flexibility are often the two primary considerations when choosing how to host a website, understanding distinctions among Webhosting options and the pros and cons of each will help you pare down the list to something considerably more manageable, ensuring that you make the best decision.
Webhosting plans can be categorized broadly into two types: virtual server hosting and dedicated server hosting. Small to medium-sized businesses typically choose a virtual server plan where multiple ecommerce web sites are hosted on space within a single server. This service allows you to share a server with others, but your site is further protected or isolated with its own server resources including processor, memory, and disk storage. This arrangement works well for small sites that rely on dynamic generation of content from a backend database, small ecommerce sites, or for customers who wish to manage several separate web sites.
The reason that vendors can offer low-priced domain hosting for virtual private servers is because the customers look the same and require a set of web services that are essentially identical from site to site. Webhosting vendors who are able to package similar services across a huge volume of customers most effectively are generally the most successful since they can capture substantial economies of scale.
Dedicated hosting on the other hand is an option for mid- to large-sized businesses that require or desire the flexibility that comes with dedicated servers. While more expensive, this type of plan generally provides a higher level of security, support, and maintenance with a guaranteed level of availability. Offering this type of guarantee generally reflects a level of redundancy within the vendor’s data-center operations that severely decreases the chances of downtime or removes the risk all together. Depending on the vendor’s plan, flexibility means you can write and run your own custom scripts or applications and even use a content management system to manage the web site but not worry about managing the network, server hardware, or operating system.
The easiest decision will likely be whether you intend to host the site yourself or contract with a webhosting vendor. Scale is the primary decision-making factor. Going it alone takes money and the willingness to assume the activities and risk associated with managing the server hardware, software, and connectivity. For organizations that already have a dedicated IT staff and data center, hosting may be an affordable option. The IT department may, in turn, offer a shared server arrangement where organizational entities such as the organization’s library are provided space on the server. But for those who are unable to tap into existing resources or who are working for companies without IT resources, contracting with an external webhosting provider is the only cost-effective option.
Narrowing the choices down can be difficult since there are so many vendors from which to choose. The first step is to list your requirements for developing, managing, and offering a web site to your users. For very simple sites, the vendor may provide tools for creating and managing your site along with available services to extend your site’s offerings, such as online form capabilities. Alternatively, you can use your own HTML authoring tool and upload pages as needed.
Vendors try to make choosing plans as easy as possible by packaging most-requested services together into specific webhosting plans. Doing so allows customers to more easily select what they need; they also benefit from a cost structure that can be kept fairly low. Most plans require an upfront set-up fee along with a monthly fee covering the plan you choose and any additional services (extra e-mail boxes, additional storage, etc.) that you request.
Finally, choosing a webhosting vendor can be confusing due to the array of options. A winning approach includes developing your list of requirements along with a plan for current and future growth to allow you to substantially clarify how your needs map out against your domain hosting options.
About The Author:
Copyright © Active-Venture.com’s (http://www.active-venture.com) virtual webhosting service. This article may be reprinted freely online or in print, provided an active link is maintained to our website at http://www.active-venture.com
What you should know about your Web Hosting
Yesterday I received a nice email in my inbox, I read that short and interesting email, it was like 5 to 6 lines max, at the end was a link which I was asked to click on. I did exactly that. I wait for about 1 minute but no page downloaded. I think my Internet connection gets down so I checked it but it was perfect.
I refresh the page many times but results were same. I read all other mails and did my routine work. In evening suddenly I remember that mail. Since it was so Interesting, I again read it and click on the link but this time also same results appears. I finally give up and delete that mail.
This whole episode left a question in my mind that why people don’t choose their web host wisely. In fact it’s the most vital part of Internet business.
A web host is the first important step towards building our Internet business. You can get cheap or even free hosting services but don’t prefer free hosting for commercial sites. Your users are going to get blasted with annoying pop-ups every time they surf to your page, it’s going to be impossible to get a decent position in a search engine, and you don’t even get a real business URL. No one’s going to remember your web address if they have to type www.myfreehost.com/my_site.
So the question is what points we should consider before select our web host.
1. Space It’s the first point to consider that how much space your host is providing to you. If you have one or two page website with no downloads, it’s not an important point but if you are planning to go for resale right product, you need at least 100 MB space. Most good web host provide minimum 1 GB space to their clients.
2. Bandwidth It’s the most important part to check. Did you know that sites with high downloads causes many people to go over budget on bandwidth and lose their host? Sometimes they have to pay fees up to hundreds of dollars. It’s essential to check before buying any hosting services. Most good host provides 25 to 50 GB Bandwidth.
3. Support System It’s also key point. If you get stuck at any point, how long does it take to get support? Do they provide 24/7 phone support.
Some Additional features we must check:
How many POP email account they are providing?
How many database they are providing?
Do they have Web based e-mail?
Do they have Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus filters?
Can you Password Protected your directories?
Do they take regular backup in case of server get crashed?
Do they have money-back Guarantee, if you don’t like their services?
Do they support Perl, PHP, Crontab and Secure Server Layer? (You don’t require these facilities in beginning but after some time you need it.)
I personally trust “Ultimate Web Hosting Services” for my hosting needs. They have all features that a professional host must have. The must to tell feature of this hosting service is that it gives one hour response guarantee but usually I get response in 5-10 minutes. I prefer this hosting service just because of its speedy response and its tons of superb qualities. You can try their services at: http://www.ultimatewebhostingservices.com
I am not saying that they are the best. There may be other companies that have even better services but in terms of their prices they are the best.
So whatever host you choose you must consider these points so you never get in trouble.
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Copyright 2005 Raamakant S.
Raamakant S. is owner of http://www.umtezine.com. Subscribe to his Ultimate marketing Tips eZine by sending a blank e-mail mailto:umtezine@getresponse.com — Learn Everything You’ve Been Wanting to Know about Internet Marketing. REAL Tips, Tricks and Techniques You Can Use In Your Business and Consistently Produce MASSIVE Amounts of Profits.
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How to Choose a Web Hosting
Once you decide that you need web page either for your business, non-profit organization or simply a fun personal page, you then have the Herculean task of choosing a web host. Hopefully, the host you choose will be easy on the pocket, and offer maximum uptime, enough bandwidth support, appropriate web-space, and excellent customer service and support. Most web hosting services will not excel in all areas, however if you take the time to make an informed decision you can have it all!
The type of web services you desire and the purpose for which the web site is being created plays a major role in the choice for a web host. If the web site to be hosted is a commercial website, checking uptime period of the considered server is vital. Anything less than 99.5% uptime would be unacceptable for most commercial web sites. This is because search engines may be indexing your site at any moment of time and if your site were down it would lose its chance to be indexed on that particular search engine and hence lose probable business. Also, existing customers who would be visiting your site and are unable to load your web page may develop a negative impression about you that could harm business reputation. If the site is for a non-profit organization, a club or any personal page intending to only keep related people informed about certain aspects, a requirement for 99.5% uptime might not be a major criterion in your decision.
Another important aspect is the amount of file space that host offers. An average commercial web site normally contains not more than a few hundred web pages, some java or php scripts and image and multimedia files. All this information ordinarily does on not require web space more than 50-100 MB. Some hosts will charge a lot for additional space, while others will provide much more than 50-100 MB at a minimal cost.
Bandwidth is another issue you should carefully consider. If your site is just a personal homepage, it is unlikely you will get much traffic. However, if your site is an ecommerce site and you are expecting upwards of a thousand visitors a day, you should check the monthly bandwidth allowance that the host offers, since you will be charged if your site goes over this amount.
Make sure to check what “extras” the host offers. Does it give you up to 3 email accounts, or up to 100? Does it allow you to setup subdomains? What technologies does it support? For instance, if you plan to use PHP, make sure that server actually has PHP installed!
Finally, you should check out the web host’s reputation. Have they been in business a long time? Do they have a good reputation within the industry? Are they known for customer service? If your web site is a critical piece of your business, it would be wise to entrust it to a reputable hosting service.
Paul Herbert writes about a variety of Internet topics, but focuses on UK Web Hosting.
Web Hosting Providers Rule The Web
It has been reported there are currently more than a staggering 50,000 web hosting providers all competing for the honour of hosting your website.
Every day dozens of new web hosting compaines are launching and struggling to get your attention and your web hosting business.
Even though the web hosting industry is really quite young, it is certainly one of the most competetive and cut-throat industries on the web today. Yet the growth of this marketplace is assured for the forseeable future.
Now each and every week it is estimated more than 50,000 websites are launched and need to be hosted somewhere online. This figure continues to grow and grow.
In fact the current monthly count for the number of searches at Yahoo for the term ‘web hosting’ is a whopping 2,149,851. That’s right, over 2 million!
Also just recently it was reported that the popularity of blogs was seeing tens of thousands of new blogs launched each and every day. While many of these are hosted freely, the more serious bloggers each require an account with a reliable web hosting provider.
Of course every paid web hosting account usually requires at least one domain name registration. Here are some amazing domain name figures for you:
The registrar holding the largest number of domain names is said to be WildWestDomains. They may be better known to you as Godaddy. They currently hold over an estimated 5 million domain name registrations!
The registrar holding the second largest number of domain names is estimated to be Enom. The registrar holding the third largest number of domain names is estimated to be Networksolutions.
Domain Name Registration Growth:
By far the most popular top level domain is the .com There are currently over an estimated 40 million of these registered.
The .com top level domain currently holds over an estimated 70 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The .net top level domain currently holds just over an estimated 10 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The good news for web hosting and domain name customers is that incredible deals have become available as competition increases among web hosting providers.
In fact the price of web hosting has plumeted to just under $10 per month for a quality service. Domain names that cost up to $35 just a fews years ago can now be bought for as little as $4.99.
This is a winning situation for both the web hosting providers and their customers. The quality of service continues to grow. The new web hosting providers must impress their customers to compete with more established organisations.
There has never been a better time to find a web hosting provider and establish an internet presence of your own.
About The Author:
Andrew James is the webmaster at http://hostingdiary.com providing daily web hosting news, reviews and special offers. Visit us today and subscribe to our RSS feed. This article may be distributed in full and must always include an active link to our site.
Truly Dedicated Hosting: Surviving Katrina
Many hosting companies talk about reliability and dedication. But when hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, one hosting company in particular showed the world what dedication truly is. This is the story of directNIC and the men and women who kept the datacenter alive through the most horrific of conditions.
On Saturday, August 27th, 2005 at 11:05pm, Michael Barnett made the most ghoulishly understated comment since Captain Oates told the Scott expedition he would be “gone for some time.” Observing the approaching hurricane from a 10th floor office on Poydras St. in New Orleans, Barnett posted an entry in his LiveJournal account that read, “Hmm. This could actually be a nasty storm.”
The coming days would show the world not only that this was no ordinary storm, but that Barnett was no ordinary man. Known better by his handle “the Interdictor”, Barnett is the crisis manager for directNIC. He is there because the 10th and 11th floors of this building house the directNIC datacenter, and this, most assuredly, is a crisis.
Commanding a crack team of 5 individuals, including the CEO and the Senior VP of directNIC, the ex-Special Forces soldier led the company through what can only be considered the absolute worst of all worst-case scenarios. The storm blew out windows, cut power and water to the city, and eventually flooded New Orleans with water that was later described by officials as a “toxic soup.” But Barnett and his team stayed. Exempt from the mandatory evacuation order, directNIC weathered the storm, the floods, the fires, the looting and anarchy. They carried barrels of diesel up countless flights of steps to feed the generators. They kept the building secure, and they kept the servers up and running.
Throughout the disaster, directNIC kept one of the few, if not only, lines of communication open. They brought servers from nearby businesses and government buildings into their NOC to keep valuable and sensitive data safe. And through their cameras, IRC and Blog channels, they kept the rest of the world informed of the situation in all its gritty and unfiltered detail. They sheltered law enforcement and military personnel and provided logistical support for operations in the area. In short, Barnett and his crew went above and beyond the call of duty to serve their city, country, and their clients.
It is fortunate that not every hosting company will have the opportunity to prove themselves in the face of such horrible adversity. But one that did persevered, and did so in an exemplary manner. For the web hosting industry, directNIC will forever be the company that defines reliability and dedication. While “bullet-proof” hosting may be a fine marketing slogan for some companies, directNIC has undeniably shown us what it means to be hurricane-proof.
More about Michael Barnett, directNIC, and Hurricane Katrina:
Michael Barnett is an ex-Special Forces serviceman who currently works as Crisis Manager for directNIC. His LiveJournal account of his experiences surviving hurricane Katrina can be found at http://mgno.com/, and is well worth the read.
directNIC is a web hosting and collocation facility based in New Orleans, LA. Since the devastation of Katrina, they are seeking a new location for their facilities.
Hurricane Katrina has been called the most destructive natural disaster in American history, and has devastated hundreds of thousands of lives. For more information on how you can help the victims of Katrina, please contact the American Red Cross.
Nate Landerman is the founder and CEO of iNetpublication, a site dedicated to providing webmasters with the tools they need to create and maintain successful websites.
Truly Dedicated Hosting: Surviving Katrina
© 2005 iNetpublication.com
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