Getting into the world called internet might be a little cumbersome sometime with the increase in the number of hackers,crackers and spammers it would be very helpful as a beginner to understand some terms before you start your journey of creating a website and As the number of Web pages grows to trillions of pages on the Internet, Webmasters have too many hosting plans to choose from - affordable web hosting, Cheap Web hosting, ASP Web Hosting, Budget Hosting, Dedicated Servers, eCommerce Hosting, FrontPage Web Hosting, Hosting With Templates, Managed Web Hosting, PHP Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Shared Hosting, Unix / Linux Hosting, Virtual Private Servers, Windows Hosting and Co-location Hosting.
Those commonly used web hosting terms represent the many faces of web hosting. All web hosting plans and terminologies can be classified in terms of cost, programming languages, operation systems, Web servers and functionality.
Cost - Web hosting plans are referred as affordable web hosting, budget hosting and cheap web hosting. Cost of web hosting is the first thing that many small site owners are looking for. Affordable web hosting, budget hosting or cheap web hosting plan often cost less than $5 per month.
Programming Languages - If you want to add dynamics and interactivity to your websites and you happen to know something about programming, you want to hosting plans that support the programming languages that you know well or want to master. The commonly used wen development languages include PHP, ASP, JSP and PERL. The hosting plans that support those programming languages are referred as PHP Web hosting, ASP Web hosting, JSP Web hosting or PERL Web hosting.
Operating Systems - Once you've picked up the programming language(s) for your Web development, you still have freedom to choose the operating system that hosts your Websites. Besides ASP which works only on Microsoft Windows, other programming languages, PHP, JSP and PERL, work on Windows, Unix and Linux. Hosting plans that support particular operating systems are referred as Window Hosting, Unix Hosting or Linux hosting.
Servers - Apache is the most widely supported Web server in Web hosting industry. ASP works only on Mirosoft Internet Information Server or IIS server. Weblogic or Websphere is needed for JSP hosting. When webmasters are talking about Web servers, they're most interested in the server performance - Managed Web Hosting, Shared Hosting, Dedicated Servers, or Virtual Private Servers (VPS). Shared hosting is the cheapest plan, and you can host as many sites as you like with a Reseller Hosting option. VPS costs around $50 a month, and Dedicated Server plan will cost from $50 - $100 or more a month dependent on storage space and bandwidth of the hosting plan.
Functionality - There're hosting plans out there that either make the site creation easier or offer support for secure online transactions. A simple website can be easily created in hours if you choose hosting plans that support various templates. Ecommerce hosting plan is the choice for sites that provide shopping carts and accept payment online.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Once you have your website set up and running couple of months later,you have been having lots of hits,traffic and visitors and the goodies have been pouring in but before you know your web hosting company knocks on your door,that you've been eating a lot of resources now you have to look for a better option which is VPS ,Cloud Server or Dedicated server but actually this article is about VPS and Cloud Server. VPS has been one of the widely used and highly acclaimed technologies in the industry of web hosting. Its only due to the providers who offer affordable solutions and hence enable enterprises to cut down their expenditures. What the hosting provider does is, using a virtualization technique, a single physical server is divided into limited number of logical partitions which is termed as the Virtual Servers. This type of server is considered to have the qualities of both shared server hosting as well as the dedicated hosting.
One of the unique features of VPS Hosting is its capability to offer a dedicated like environment to users. Root access enables users to have complete access of the server hence allowing them to install applications and software's of their choice. Before the evolution of this technology, this feature was only available with a dedicated server. But, since the cost of a single dedicated server is divided into number of VPS accounts, users can avail the packages at fairly affordable price.
Unlike the cloud hosting, the responsibility of a VPS needs to be borne by you. Initially you would need to get all your basics right, learn how you would secure your server, get the updates added and learn all sorts of maintenance techniques. There may be fluctuations in the performance of your VPS, in that case you should be able to identify the programs that are causing the spikes. But if you wish to get rid of all this, you can opt for a Managed Web Hosting service offered by a reliable web hosting provider.
On the contrary, Cloud hosting is one new solution that is comparatively pretty new to the hosting industry. It is known to offer scalability and reliability. A Cloud is basically a cluster of multiple servers, and the computing resources of these servers are shared between each other. Almost any number of servers can be added to a single cluster, hence, one can consider Cloud to offering limitless hosting.
These cluster of servers are connected with a fully redundant network hence decreasing the chances of downtime.
As i have said before once your websites gets big with a lot of traffic then you'll have to move from you little web hosting plans due to much resources you've been using then the only option for you is to look for a better option which is a VPS, Dedicated Server or Cloud Computing but this article is about Dedicated Server or Cloud Computing so read on.
To have a strong and viable online presence people build websites. And every one of us know that a website can never remain up and running without a proper hosting in support! However, now a fantastic point has come up in choosing hosting services - dedicated Vs cloud computing. People are getting little confused! Which one is better for them? Should they go for dedicated service or it is best to use cloud on 'pay for the usage only'.
Let us try to have a comparative look at the matter - dedicated Vs cloud server. Below I have tried to point out a few interesting facts that come in consideration when choosing cloud or the dedicated server for hosting a site:
The first point that comes in consideration in the discussion of dedicated Vs cloud computing is the time consumption in deploying the servers at service. Cloud servers are ready-made with so many options to choose according to needs. But dedicated ones need to be configured and that process surely takes time with high level of expertise.
One of the most fuming points that people have to consider when trying to tally dedicated Vs cloud server is scalability between the two. Whether it is vertical (adding hardware) or the horizontal (adding network to balance the load) scaling cloud server is very much useful and can be scaled fast. But in dedicated servers the hosting service has to be down or new backup server creation takes time.
The point on which people keep thinking is the reliability of dedicated Vs cloud. Sometimes it is found that the cloud servers are can not establish as the reliable one against the dedicated servers or the vice-versa. Actually it depends on reputation of the hosting service providers selected by the client.
In the tussle of dedicated Vs cloud computing the service does matter. Sometimes dedicated servers are best as pressure on servers is less. But in clouds management tries best in providing highest level of service yet influx of huge visitors may create problem. Whereas in dedicated servers maximum root control remains on the client but in problem conditions service providers are found relaxing or unavailable too.
In the matter of affordability cloud servers are far ahead of the dedicated servers. It is the reason for which cloud servers are winners in the fight dedicated Vs cloud. In cloud servers clients only pay for the usage of the hosting space and services. But in dedicated servers a certain amount of space and level of service are always bought, whether in use or not. It comes as loss of money and resource too.
So from the above point hopefully you have understand how the topic dedicated Vs cloud computing has become a real matter of debate and consideration when people think of hiring or buying the space for website hosting purposes. Both dedicated and the cloud hosting has their unique features for providing best hosting service. Actually it depends on the requirements of services. If the client wants to go for pay per usage, cloud is the best. On the other hand if you know the limit or the amount of space you require in future, go for dedicated hosting. Finally it is found that people are going for hybrid of the two to avoid confusion of dedicated Vs cloud computing and get top-level service.
Well as the saying goes the bigger you get the bigger your demands get but sometimes your demand might remain the same which is the case of when you are on a regular web hosting but thinking to move well this article is meant for you.To have a strong and viable online presence people build websites. And every one of us know that a website can never remain up and running without a proper hosting in support! However, now a fantastic point has come up in choosing hosting services - dedicated Vs cloud computing. People are getting little confused! Which one is better for them? Should they go for dedicated service or it is best to use cloud on 'pay for the usage only'.
In an era of budgeting, most organizations out there are looking for efficient ways to save their precious dollars. Because investment on web hosting package is a long term deal, small as well as large businesses don't like to spend too much on web hosting packages. The fact that web business is evolving constantly, most web owners are looking beyond the conventional means to host their website, and in the process seek better service and also save some money. Talking about new age technology, cloud hosting seems to be an emerging trend that has garnered great interest from the masses. Needless to say, a quick comparison between cloud hosting and other traditional hosting packages out there will give out a clear picture about the pros and cons of each hosting package.
Shared hosting is often the first choice among web owners who are on a tight budget. Basically, it's a low entry hosting solution. The reason why shared hosting is more affordable than other hosting packages is because the server resources such as CPU, bandwidth, Memory etc are shared by multiple users. Needless to say, it can make way for unwanted troubles such as downtime and slow speed due to server overload. Although cloud server may not be accessible at a price at which you can avail shared hosting, cloud servers set up are reasonably priced as well. Websites that are hosted on cloud servers run on numerous connected servers, which imply that one doesn't have to rely on a single server to keep the website running. Therefore, one doesn't have to worry about website shutdown or server downtime.
More than often, the next logical choice after shared hosting is VPS. With increase in traffic, most web owners choose to upgrade to VPS hosting. Just like cloud hosting, VPS makes use of virtualization technology. This enables VPS users to host their websites on multiple servers. However, VPS servers are found to be less efficient because VPS users are allocated certain amount of resources that cannot be rerouted to others, which implies that one user might be enjoying numerous resources for free, while another user might be overloaded. This is not the case with cloud hosting, which is why cloud hosting finds an upper edge over VPS.
Dedicated server is often considered as a better pick over shared hosting and VPS. However, dedicated hosting involves an initial set-up fee and one year contract. In some cases, users may have to commit for a higher contract period. On the other hand, one doesn't have to bear a high cost with cloud hosting. Also, most providers don't stress too much on minimal contractual terms. Switching server is also a daunting task with dedicated hosting, whereas cloud hosting enables server switch with great ease, thereby ensuring maximum uptime at low cost. Not to forget the fact that cloud hosting users are also blessed with easy to use control panel and other features, and there are not set-up charges for cloud hosting.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6108275
After a while if you website as gone boom i.e lot of hits and traffic then you'll have to change your hosting plans if you were on a small plan before because of the high resource usage.
Yes am talking about dedicated servers. Figuring out all of the options and services can be very confusing.
But No Worry!
I will try and give you some tips and hopefully guide to your perfect server.
So let's not waste any time and start with first segment.
What is a Dedicated Server?
Dedicated Server is a single computer connected to a network (internet). This computer and all of it's processing power is dedicated to a single person or organization. Meaning that the computer resources are not shared by anyone else. You have the full control of the machine and you are free to run any software you want on that computer.
Generally dedicated servers are used to serve web page requests ( html, images, videos...etc) but they can be used for many other purposes as well.
Do I need one or more servers?
To simplify things we will divide the use of dedicated servers into these two groups:
Full Web site Hosting
Specific Service Hosting (Database, email, httpd...etc)
Single Web site Hosting
Hosting of a single or several web sites. In this kind of setup, all of the services/programs (http software, DB software, email software...etc) are installed and running on one dedicated server. Sometimes these services/programs can also be referred as "servers" them self.
This is the common setup for small to medium trafficked web sites since all of the necessary software needed to run the web site are located on one physical machine.
Advantage to of this setup is that it lowers the cost, but disadvantage is that all of the machine resources are shared by all of the software and processes.
Specific Service Hosting
Hosting of a single software or service on it's own dedicated machine. All of the resources on the machine are dedicated mainly for one type of service or functionality. For example, one might host only Database Software on the server so that all of the resources on that machine are only dedicated for processing of Database Queries. You are able to handle more queries, or deliver more pages.
Usually medium to high trafficked web sites will run this kind of setup.
Traditional setup will consist of one or more server that will only handle web (http) request, then one or more servers only handling database requests and maybe one or more servers only handling processing of the emails. Theoretically there is no limitation on the amount of servers. As a group working together these servers are used to process in millions of requests a day.
Which setup do you choose?
This of course depends on the amount of requests and traffic that your web site will be receiving. So to be able to answer this question we need to first understand little bit about what services are needed in order for web site to be accessed by the user.
Generally today's dynamic web sites require two main service types to deliver a full working web site to the user's browser.
WEB SERVERS / WEB SCRIPTS ( apache, IIS, php, perl, java )
DATABASE SERVER (MYSQL, MSSQL, ORACLE)
Use of the word "servers" in the above text is referring to the application / software and not to the physical machine. This is a common term used to describe the type of application.
Web server handles all of the initial requests from the browser and decides on how and where data from the Database is returned.
Database server handles requests from the web server in a form of queries. These queries retrieve data from the storage (hard disk) and return it to the web server.
As you can see both web and database server work together to deliver the final product (web page) to the user.
Usually web server handles more of the logic part so FASTER CPU and bigger MEMORY are always in need more then Hard Drive speed.
While database server handles more of data retrieval so FASTER HD and bigger MEMORY are always in need more then cpu speed.
In any case more memory is always needed:)
It's important to note that all of the server software always uses some of the CPU, MEMORY and HARD DISK resources. Eventually they start fighting over the available resources.
One way to stop this fight over the resources is to separate them onto each own dedicated server.
Another reason to separate service types is that is easier to optimize the machine to run well for one specific task then it is for all of the tasks.
For example:
Since we now know that Database needs faster Hard Drives, maybe we use more expensive faster Hard Drives in DB machine, and leave the cheaper hard drives on WEB machines where HD speed is not as important.
But maybe instead we use faster processors on WEB machines since they perform most of the logic.
Doing it like this we have optimal performance without wasting resources and $$$!
These are just general suggestions, and depending on the web site and it's functionality these configurations will vary.
Server Features and Components.
OK now that you understand what each (web, db) server is hungry for, how do you know what components to get?
Because of the sheer amount of different types and models of each component I would need to write several books just to cover that subject.
So I am just going to give you some general guides for each type of component, which whould help you on your next server purchase.
CPU Speed:
This is a no brainer. More speed (Ghz) that processor has the faster it can do the calculations and faster the pages are going to get returned to the user.
Some CPU architectures are known to perform better then others in server setups so I suggest you do some research on that subject.
Number of CPU Cores / Processors:
Another no brainer. More cores or processors your server has, more taks it can do simultaneously. Since most of the actions on the server are based on requests and each request usually spawns a separate process, you can see how more CPU Cores enables the server to handle multiple requests at the same time.
Amount of RAM:
I think you see the pattern here "MORE". Needless to say that more RAM your server has, more requests it can handle at the same time. Reason for that is that each request requires certain amount of RAM so that it can be processed. This amount is dependent of various factors like: Software type, Operating System, Installed Modules...etc
For example popular web server software APACHE can take about 7mb to 15mb of RAM per request or process and that's not accounting for any other processes already running or being spawned to compliment that each request.
Memory is probably best investment you can make in your dedicated server.
Hard Drive RPM speed
Again the faster the disk spins, quicker it can get to the data on disk. Some popular Har Disk speeds are: 7200RPM, 10000RPM and 15000RPM.
Biggest performance increase by faster Hard Drives will be seen by applications which access the Disk often. Some of those applications are: Database servers, File Servers and Video Streaming servers.
SATA vs SCSI vs SAS
If you were wondering what all of these acronyms are related to, they are the 3 most common Hard Drive interfaces used in dedicated servers.
Starting from left with SATA being the most affordable but usually not being the best performer. While with SCSI generally you get better performance then SATA but at much higher cost and with a lot less disk space. With SAS you get better performance then SCSI and you also get more disk space.
Of course there is a lot more differences between these interfaces. Luckily there is tons of articles on the internet explaining it all. I suggest you spend some time researching.
Generally unless you are running very High Transaction DB server you are fine with SATA. And if you are looking for best performance and you don't care about the cost then go with SAS.
To RAID or not to RAID
So yes we are still stuck with the hard drives. When you see a word "RAID" being used in a server setup, that means that server has 2 or more HD's joined in an array forming one logical unit. Raid usually provides increased storage reliability through redundancy. There are different RAID setups and you've probably seen some: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10...etc
Two most common ones you will see in server setups are RAID 1 and RAID 5
What you need to know about RAID 0 is that provides you with some performance and increased total disk space but has no redundancy. If one drive fails, you loose your data.
RAID 1 provides redundancy through mirroring and in certain cases performance increase, but you do not get increased disk space. If one drive fails you can still continue operating and be able to replace the broken drive without loss of data. This setup requires two Hard Drives.
RAID 5 provides redundancy and increased disk space. It requires minimum on 3 Hard drives. Maximum of disk space you can have is:(Size of Smallest Drive) * (Number of Drives - 1). If one HD fails you can still continue your operations.
RAID can be implemented via two common methods, via software or via hardware.
Software RAID uses Computer resources while Hardware RAID uses it's own dedicated resource on the card.
If you have a powerful machine then performance difference between Hardware and Software RAID could be negligible
Generally it is thought that if available Hardware RAID is a better choice.
If you have an option to "RAID" your server, I say go for it, at least RAID 1. Servers are 24hr nonstop workhorses and any interruption due to single Hard Drive point of failure could cause serious downtime for your web site.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the term used to describe the amount of data that server will deliver over period of time. Hosting companies can choose to offer various pricing structures for cost of bandwidth.
But some of the most popular ones are:
Metered Bandwidth
Unmetered Bandwidth
Metered bandwidth packages usually come with certain amount of included bandwidth a month and if going over the included limit you are charged certain fee per transferred GB ( GigaByte ) of data.
Unmetered bandwidth packages allow you to to transfer as much as you can at the maximum included transfer rate. This maximum transferred rate is measured in Mbps ( megabits per second ).
Each pricing structure type offers its own advantages and disadvantages.
With metered bandwidth you usually have access to much faster connection so your speed can burst up to the hosting provider's maximum bandwidth capabilities. This enables the user to download the file quicker if capable. Since you are charged per amount of data transfer, you are only limited to the speed of your uplink port.
With unmetered bandwidth you are limited (capped) to certain speed of your connection (10Mbps, 50Mbps, 100Mbps...etc). Amount of data you transfer is not measured. In nutshell hosting company says here is your max speed so you use it up to the max speed or not, you are charged one flat fee for that speed.
With metered bandwidth you have to make sure that amount of data transfer included a month can actually be delivered over a included uplink port.
For example: Lets say with your server you get 6,000 GB of outbound transfer a month but your uplink port speed is 10 Mbps.
With this type of uplink speed if you were to continuously transfer for one month at the maximum speed of 10 Mbps you would only be able to transfer 3,240 GB of data. So to fully be able to utilize all of the allowed transfer usage you will have to upgrade to higher port speed.
Operating System
Usually hosting companies offer several different types of Operating Systems, but most of them are grouped into Linux/Unix based and Windows Servers.
OS X Server is a very rear breed to find on dedicated servers.
Choosing an operating system is mostly dependent on the requirements of software, libraries and applications you will be running on your server.
Certain software is available on both Linux, Unix and Windows, while others are only available for specific OS.
Linux based Operating Systems are very popular choice since most of them are free and usually require less resources to run then windows.
Control Panel
Control panels allow for easy management of dedicated servers. They allow you setup new virtual hosts, domains, emails accounts and various other tasks that can without a control panel be vary tedious and hard to setup.
Some are free and open source but for most of them you have to pay. Usually paid ones come with more features and support.
Most popular paid ones are: Cpanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin.
Most popular free ones are: Virtualmin GPL, W
If you are a novice with dedicated servers and your web server is unmanaged by the hosting company then I would strongly suggest having some kind of control panel installed. It will make your server management easy and you will be able to spend the nights actually sleeping instead of trying to figure out why your apache server is returning "500 Internal Server Error":)
One thing to note is that some Control Panels take over your OS and embed them self so deep with the OS that it can make doing setups and installs not supported by the control panel difficult.
Web Hosting Support and Management
Managed or Unmanaged?
Most of the Dedicated Server packages come as "Managed" or "Unmanaged".
With unmanaged servers it's your responsibility to manage the server. Meaning that installing and configuring any software on the server falls on you. Unmanaged servers are usually much cheaper and if you do not have any "System Administration" experience it can be difficult to manage the server.
One option is to get some type of control panel which can make the management of the server much easier.
With managed servers responsibility of managing of the server falls on the hosting company. If you are very new to all this or you do not have time to manage it your self then this is your best bet. Usually managed servers are much more expensive. Managed services come with different levels of management. Make sure that you find out exactly what is included in the management of your server, some tasks or software might not be covered and you might get charged hourly support rates.
Remote Reboot
Is referred to an option that enables you to instantly Hard Reboot your machine. This is usually done via web interface and it is useful since gives you the control to restart the server at your command. Once in a while something will happen with the OS or software on the server so that it crashes or freezes.
This requires the hard restart of the machine (cutting the power off to the machine, and starting again).
If remote reboot is not available, you can usually issue an email ticket or call the hosting company them self and they will perform this for you. Problem is that sometimes support team might not get to your ticket in a while, which is why remote reboot comes in handy.
Technical Support
Things do go wrong and they usually happen when you least expect. Servers crash, Hard drives fail, Processors can burn out and what do you do then? You are possibly thousands of miles away from the server and there is nothing you can personally do. You are in the hands of technical support.
There is all types of hosting companies out there, from those run by one person to those run by hundreds of skilled technicians. Some offer 24/7 manned phone, chat and email support, while some have only limited email support. Be careful when choosing your hosting company, pay good attention to the level of support they provide and see what is covered. For support that is not covered in your plan some hosting companies charge as high as $150 per hour. Make sure you read their SLA (Service Level Agreement) to see if they offer any guarantees for any down time as well
Have you had the idea of hosting your own web Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host? Have you switched web hosting companies too many times? Do you have the ambition to control and manage your own web server?
If you answered 'yes' to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch.
When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components.
You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it.
Pros:
Own sense of responsibility
Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings)
No monthly hosting fees/accounts
Incompetence no longer exist
Non-shared environment (dedicated server)
Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc.
More bandwidth
No more waiting on someone else time
Complete control
Cons:
Exhausting at times
Faced with server/hardware problems
ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense)
If server goes down then the website is offline
No technical support team
Software, hardware, and network expenses
There could be many more pros & cons but I've pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites.
Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the "web hosting", having someone do it for you isn't always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error - "Event ID: 1056" it's a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution.
Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers' website. In this case "microsoft.com" would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don't want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.
You should had found this (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)
What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description.
Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google's operator tags is http://www.soople.com Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn't recommend it, I still would go to the developers' site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server!
When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly).
What to buy?
First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.
Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP.
A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster.
Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year - be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need.
Example:
Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB
In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).
Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.
Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a "hardware firewall"). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine.
Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz - 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.
Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location...like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines.
Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.
You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don't have a hardware firewall already in place.
Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made.
Where to put it?
Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.
The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. It's the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option.
It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.
Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window "especially open"). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet.
The server should sit at least 4" inches from the ground
Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices.
Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a built-in firewall).
Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.
Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.
If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead.
The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn't experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven't found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network.
Hosting your own server usually is not a money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. - 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
If you're planning to start an on-line enterprise, or if you've already got one, you'll know that there are many different web hosting plans out there - each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
The least expensive is very popular shared hosting with hundreds of web sites all sharing a single, very large hard drive. However this type of Hosting is not always well suited for all sites, especially for high traffic sites, because it is not always possible to isolate each website from other sites that share the server. The really big sites employ dedicated servers. One company. One server.
In between these two options is virtual private server, or VPS. VPS is less expensive (much less) than a dedicated or private server, and offers more freedom and many more options to a growing on-line business than shared hosting. With a Virtual Private Server, each web hosting account receives their own operating system. Users can configure these components without affecting other users on the same physical machine because they are working within their own virtual server. Moreover a VPS hosting environment can be smoothly scaled to even more powerful physical hosts as demand increases. In the long run, hosting on a VPS can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership.
VPS isn't suitable for every site owner. Some people wish to host a low-to-moderate traffic website and are happy with the level of control offered by a web hosting control panel like cPanel or Plesk. These individuals will prefer Shared Hosting for its perceived simplicity and ease of use: they generally do not have linux system administration experience and they are not interested in picking up any. Other have outgrown their shared hosting account or aren't happy with site performance (30-second download times) then it's definitely time to move up to a VPS account. A good web hosting company will help you migrate from your shared account to a VPS account without any breakdowns or hassles.
Do I Need VPS? If you plan to expand, offering more products and services, then consider a VPS plan even as a start-up. The difference in price between a good shared hosting plan and a good VPS plan is negligible in the whole bang-buck equation.
These are the main advantages:
PERFORMANCE
Shared server accounts are always dependent on the performance and good behavior of neighboring accounts. If one account violates their terms of service and sends out a mass-mailing of spam, this will load the server and negatively impact the performance of all accounts on that server.
VPS have guaranteed resources. One customer can not run away with a large share of the resources. You service will run reliably and predictably. If you have a bad VPS neighbor, they will tend to impact only their own account, as each account appears like a separate server to the Internet.
They will not be able to grab your memory when you need it, get your server blacklisted, etc.
HIGH CUSTOMIZABILITY
Virtual Private Servers are very feature rich. They are functionally equivalent to a dedicated server.
Some applications require that certain ports and/or protocols be opened or closed in the firewall. With Shared hosting, custom firewall configurations are not advisable for security reasons. Under the VPS, custom firewall configurations are feasible because of the partitioning between customers.
With a VPS, you can close ports using the IPTables feature.
You have your own IP Address.
You have Root Access.
Freedom to reboot your VPS at any time.
You can customize services such as web, mail, database, panels, domains
and much more...
The only limitation is you are not able to install your own kernel. This is due to the nature of how a VPS work.
SECURITY
Shared hosting is inherently difficult to secure completely. If an account on a shared server is broken into, the criminal may cause damage to the entire server, causing extended outages. If a spammer causes the server to get blacklisted with Spam organizations, this may impact other accounts that produce legitimate mailings until the server is whitelisted again.
VPS accounts are insulated from each other, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access from hackers as well as other customers. The isolation of your account also minimizes the risk of being impacted by a DoS attack that was intended for someone else.
SCALABILITY
Virtual private servers are inherently scalable - whether you need a minimal allocation to run a simple e-mail server or virtual private network end-point or a webserver with enough resources to support extensive database applications and heavy traffic, there is always a VPS hosting plan to meet your needs. Moreover you can anytime easily downgrade or upgrade your service with very little or no downtime!
UNLIMITED WEBSITES
Another advantage to VPS is the ability to manage numerous web sites. You won't run into problems with hardware sharing even if you run a dozen different sites. Your access to server assets is assured through the use of server-side software such as Apache Virtual Hosts and similar VPS packages. VPS hosting plans are a bit pricier than shared hosting. But with more and more sites coming on-line (approximately 6,000 a day!) VPS offers better value for your server dollars when you can host as many sites as you want. When considering VPS plans, amortize the monthly costs over the number of sites you anticipate creating. You'll quickly see that VPS monthly costs are consistently lower than shared hosting on a per site basis.
There may be a little downside to VPS for some people. VPS = more responsibility. That means you are responsible for many of the software installations, site maintenance, site security and many of the other responsibilities that come with on-line business ownership. If you don't know much about server side administration, VPS may be a bit more than you want to take on yourself. This is something to farm out to an expert if you're not familiar with maintaining a VPS, but you still need the power and control of VPS.
The solution - get a managed vps, the hosting provider will take care of those things for you and you can pay full attention to your websites content.
Compare best VPS hosting plans at [http://www.vpscomparison.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_George_Nelson
Q SUPPORT ARTICLE
Speaking in simple terms, there is not much of a difference between dedicated web-hosting and VPS hosting except that with VPS hosting, you as a web-site owner, you will be able to save a lot of money in the process of keeping your websites working. To understand the concept better, take for example, that a dedicated server is like owning your own separate bungalow. In this case, you would have to spend a lot of money in maintaining the entire house while still enjoying all the resources that the home will have to offer you, sometimes this kind of expenditure can more or less become an overkill because of all the expenditure that you will incur because of the home. And more often than not, these resources might not even be needed by you. In the same way, dedicated web-hosting will require you to be spending a lot of money, granted you will have a lot of resources and features to use but you might actually not need all of it.
In the same way, imagine that VPS hosting is like owning one apartment or one condo in an entire apartment building. This way, you will have access to a lot of features and services yet, since the money will be divided, you will also be saving a lot. Therefore, with VPS hosting, expenditure will be a lot less although you will have your own disk-space and RAM and many other features and resources.
So the point is, that VPS hosting is somewhere in-between a dedicated server and a shared one because you will have much more independence and space than a shared server yet you will not have to waste money and all the resources being offered by a dedicated server. Saving money, therefore is the biggest advantage.
Speaking in simple terms, there is not much of a difference between dedicated web-hosting and VPS hosting except that with VPS hosting, you as a web-site owner, you will be able to save a lot of money in the process of keeping your websites working. To understand the concept better, take for example, that a dedicated server is like owning your own separate bungalow. In this case, you would have to spend a lot of money in maintaining the entire house while still enjoying all the resources that the home will have to offer you, sometimes this kind of expenditure can more or less become an overkill because of all the expenditure that you will incur because of the home. And more often than not, these resources might not even be needed by you. In the same way, dedicated web-hosting will require you to be spending a lot of money, granted you will have a lot of resources and features to use but you might actually not need all of it.
In the same way, imagine that VPS hosting is like owning one apartment or one condo in an entire apartment building. This way, you will have access to a lot of features and services yet, since the money will be divided, you will also be saving a lot. Therefore, with VPS hosting, expenditure will be a lot less although you will have your own disk-space and RAM and many other features and resources.
So the point is, that VPS hosting is somewhere in-between a dedicated server and a shared one because you will have much more independence and space than a shared server yet you will not have to waste money and all the resources being offered by a dedicated server. Saving money, therefore is the biggest advantage.
Cloud computing has been touted as the answer to problems associated with keeping both software and hardware on local systems running smoothly and up to date. And while it has many advantages, enabling it to start to take hold of the industry at large, cloud computing still has its detractors. They claim it's not always the best answer to our computer processing needs, especially in the field of hosting.
Let's take a look at arguments on both sides of the debate regarding the pros and cons of cloud hosting technology.
Pros
Reliability is one of the most important factors for choosing cloud hosting. Because resources are spread across multiple servers, any single fault won't bring down your website or application. Scalability with a cloud host is much easier to obtain than with traditional servers. Extra resources can be made available in an instant, meeting any demand head on and without delay. This means spikes in usage won't affect users negatively, which is an all too common problem with non-cloud based servers.
Billing for cloud hosting is comparable to a utility such as electricity; you simply pay for what you consume. With a fixed rate plan, you can often end up paying for resources you never use. This is suitable for companies that might experience large shifts in resource usage, depending on seasonal fluctuations of their user base. Backup and recovery is easier to maintain on cloud hosting and therefore can be a safer choice to maintain important data.
Cons
The pricing structure of cloud hosting can be a problem if your website or application is not properly optimized. Because you pay for what you use, a poorly performing installation can end up costing you more money than it would otherwise. Also cloud hosting is still taking time to become more mainstream compared to its dedicated and shared hosting counterparts. This means that in some cases you can pay more for this type of service.
Privacy can be another concern. Because your data is handled differently than a normal host, the safety and confidentiality of this data is sometimes more at risk. This makes it even more important to select a quality host that has a good track record for keeping their clients data safe and secure.
Migrating to a new provider can be more difficult if you decide to switch at some point. Again, a thorough check for the best provider will go a long way to helping you avoid this type of problem. A final potential issue that some people have concern over is the lack of carbon friendly cloud hosting data centers. Hopefully, over time more and more providers will switch to more green solutions that are better for the environment.
Conclusion
Although cloud hosting is not without fault, for many businesses the advantages it holds far outweigh any negatives. As the technology matures, some, if not all of its downsides, can be eliminated, making it the perfect choice for any organization large or small to host their business presence online.
When you are starting out with a virtual private server (VPS) as your primary means of website support, there is the temptation to feel discouraged. After all, if a VPS is more advanced than free or shared hosting, then it must require more knowledge, correct? The reality is that you can thrive on a VPS without having to worry about how much you know or developing any special skills. When you are ready for one of these upgraded servers, you will know it. The need is usually characterized by slower response time, user frustration, and the act of exceeding one's goals.
Buying in to a VPS is all about achieved growth. You would not want one of these servers if you were starting out and had not yet built an audience. So do not feel like you are ready if you have yet to log your first visitor. Still, if you are reading this now, then you are probably actively growing your site and you either need the extra help or you will before too long. The good news is that you do not have to understand programming language, nor the mechanics of how a VPS works in order to use one effectively. Another big draw for this type of technology is that it can accomplish all of the same great features that a dedicated server can without the exorbitant costs. You do not even have to buy special hardware, nor have the experience to handle it.
What VPS does is manipulate a shared server into "thinking" and "acting" like a dedicated server. By compartmentalizing the different clients on their own private sections of virtual real estate, the VPS is able to split costs of operation among several different customers, thus driving your overall costs downward and allowing you to spend more on the things that matter-like running your business.
Along the way you get the support of your hosting provider's customer service professionals whenever you have a question or encounter a problem that you cannot solve on your own. These pros are usually handy 24 hours per day 7 days per week, which is of enormous importance to your plans for growth and expansion. You may also benefit from the easy and intuitive controls that allow you to manage your domain (or domains) with a self explanatory setup that will have you operational with just a few clicks of a mouse button.
Making the decision to switch to VPS is not something you must do overnight. However, it's something that you should consider if you have poured your heart and soul into your blog, site or online business, and are starting to see positive results. When this occurs, the need to switch is near.
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Secure Hosting is necessary because of the increase of attacks while transferring files and other sensitive information. To execute commands on the server from the terminal, we can use Telnet but it is declined because of insecure. It sends the commands to the server side for execution as it is (Plain text). That is without performing any encryption techniques.
SSH Feature
In Simple words, Secure Shell is a program which is used to log in to remote computer and can execute some commands on that machine and can also transfer some files over a network. Typically, SSH is the predecessor of Telnet Shell which is one of the important features provided by the web hosting providers for secure hosting along with SSL. With the feature SSH, we can exchange sensitive data using Secure Virtual Channel. So the anonymous person cannot intercept with our data. SSH is designed particularly to send information like passwords, public keys, and some other sensitive datum over an insecure network such as Internet with confidentiality and authentication.
The Need of SSH
Unlike Telnet, SSH sends the commands and data to be executed in the remote server only after doing some encryption and applying algorithms. With SSH, we can authenticate the remote computer and vice versa. We can also login and administer our account using UNIX/LINUX command line instructions with this secure channel in SSH Hosting. Some of the tasks that we can able to perform with the feature SSH Hosting are file transformation, running programs in the remote computer and so on.
Some cryptography techniques are also used to provide secure path for remote terminal access to computer systems. Some of the Protocols that are needed while transferring files in Virtual Private Network established by the SSH Hosting are SSH file transfer protocol and Secure copy. With these protocols we can get ability to transmit data with SSH under some Government recommended encryption. SSH is mainly used to access our account through more secure virtual channel using the protocols like SFTP and SC, and can transfer and modify files, and can able to run some programs on the remote server.
Applications of SSH Access
To directly access our hosting account on the web server
To easily configure our account
To transfer large files more securely
To make Backups directly
Setting up a web hosting account for the first time can be confusing and frustrating for the novice. This article will guide you through the steps of setting up a new web hosting account for your website.
Setting up your web hosting account will depend upon many things, the first of which is:
Do you already have a website built and ready to be hosted?
If the answer to that question is yes, then your next set of questions should be:
How was your website designed? Did you design it yourself using Microsoft FrontPage, or did you use some other WYSIWYG website building software? Did a professional designer build your site for you? Did they use Microsoft FrontPage, or did they use some other WYSIWYG website building software? Did your designer use a database driven software, such as Cold Fusion? Maybe they coded your site using a text editor - you'll need the answers to these questions.
If you have a FrontPage website, you'll need a web host who supports FrontPage. If your site was developed with Cold Fusion, you'll need a web host who supports Cold Fusion. This also applies to other design software not mentioned here. Check with your web designer and/or web design program's documentation for further help with this.
Maybe you haven't yet designed your website. Many web hosts offer online website building software that requires no programming or HTML knowledge. If this is your strategy, make sure your web host offers such software, and find out if there's a cost for you to use it.
Finding The Right Web Host
Locating a web host that gives you the reliability you need, plus excellent customer service, and that offers all the features you're going to need, can be challenging.
You can begin your search by asking business associates, friends and relatives who have websites of their own, who they use. Just as you would get a recommendation for a good restaurant, word of mouth can sometimes steer you in the right direction.
You can also check out the many web hosting directories on the web. These directories are set up to allow you to search using the features that you're looking for in a web host. Keep in mind though, that many of the listings you see may also be paid listings that are pushed your way for obvious reasons.
Once you narrow down your search to a few potential web hosts, your next step will be to visit the many web hosting message boards and forums on the web. Perform a search on each of the potential web hosts that you have in mind - read through the posts and see what other people's experiences have been with the hosts you have in mind. If you see too many negative comments or experiences by others, you might want to take a hint from that and rule out that particular hosting company.
Once you've narrowed down your search to a few web hosts, you should make contact with them and get answers to any questions you have. Since you're a beginner at this, you might strongly consider using a web host that provides telephone support. A web host that provides only email support may not be able to fully answer questions that you have - this applies to sales questions as well as support questions.
When you make your inquires, keep track of which host responds to you the quickest. Which of these hosts answers your questions patiently and takes the time to go over details with you? Do they seem more interested in getting you to sign up, or do they address topics you have no concern about, beware of those danger signs.
Signing Up For Your Web Hosting Account
Most web hosts have multiple plans that you can choose from. The trick is to choose a web hosting plan that provides you the features you actually need, without choosing a plan that offers you features you don't need, or may never use. This is probably the most difficult thing a novice will be faced with when choosing a web host. You'll need to choose a plan that strikes an even balance between what you need right now and what you may need a month or two down the road. Your website might remain the same size as it is today, by next year; however, your site may grow quickly, requiring additional resources in a relatively short period of time.
Consult with your web designer and with your potential new web host about these issues. Ask you potential web host if it's easy it is to upgrade your account if you need additional services. Ask if there are any additional charges if you upgrade your account.
The last thing you should do before signing up for a web hosting account is to read your web host's AUP (Acceptable Use Policy), and/or their TOS (Terms Of Service), and/or their SLA (Service Level Agreement). Make certain that you understand and agree with your new web host's policies, and that your website does not break any of your new web host's rules and regulations. By not reviewing your new host's contracts with you, you may find your website and email shut down without prior notice for breaking a rule you were not aware of, or you might end up paying for fees you didn't know you were liable for.
The majority of web hosts require you to sign up for a hosting account by using your credit or debit card. Some hosts offer online check payment, as well as paper check payments. Many web hosts accept PayPal. You might want to ask if your host offers discounts for advance payment. Some hosts offer substantial discounts if you prepay a year in advance. I don't recommend this until after you've had some time to experience your new host's level of service and support.
Most importantly, don't rush into signing up. Wait until you get all of your questions answered to your satisfaction.
Now you have everything setup and ready you have decided to get your website up and running but the price for web hosting plans might be discouraging sometimes but then again you don't have choice than to go for the cheap ones, The fact is, most free and really dirt cheap web hosts sound like a good deal, but they really aren't. Basically, there are problems with using a free web hosting company for any type of e-commerce or business website, and I'm going to discuss those issues now.
If you're only looking for a spot to put a small, simple personal website, then free web hosting may be what you're looking for. But, if you can afford to spend even a few dollars a month, a paid host is a better deal, even for a personal web site. If you really can't afford to pay anything, and you want a "free" website, my best recommendation is to get a blog at either Blogger.com or WordPress.com, and use that for your website. Both of these platforms are stable and easy to use, and as long as your purpose is simply to have a personal website accessed by a few friends and relatives, they'll do just fine. If you want to make a few bucks, you can set up AdSense accounts on these sites, or put links on them that lead to your affiliate sales pages. If you're looking to make a commercial web site, Blogger.com is a little more friendly to these kinds of things than WordPress.com. Plus, the search engines like these sites, and you may find an audience and discover that your blog is much more popular than you thought it could be.
Most other free web hosts come with one or more of the following problems, and really limit your ability to conduct business online.
1. Long urls, with the free web hosts name in them. This doesn't instill much confidence in prospective buyers or clients.
2. Free web host sponsored links and advertising. People who click on these ads make money for them, not you, and leave your website.
3. Space and bandwidth given to web sites by free hosting companies are normally quite small.
4. Most free hosts restrict your ability to advertise or run a business web site that processes purchases.
5. No ability to obtain SSL certificates or handle transactions securely, even if they are allowed.
6. Technology used at these sites is not state of the art, and they are often slow to load.
7. Pearl, CGI and scripts are often not updated to current versions, and requests for updates are usually denied.
8. Support is, at best, not very good or quick to respond. At some free web hosts, it is virtually non-existent.
9. Most do not give you the tools you need to build a web site, like an online site builder and templates, or a free script library to install blogs, galleries, or other features.
10. Cron jobs, necessary to run certain scripts and other features, are often not provided or allowed. Databases may not be provided or allowed.
On top of all of this, free web hosting and really cheap web hosting (especially those that allow you to pay by the month), attract spammers, scammers, phishers and hackers. These low-lifes of the internet world may wind up on your shared IP address, and can cause problems that I'll talk about when I discuss cheap web hosting.
In my opinion, if you just want a personal web site to put your thoughts or opinions online, get a free blog and start writing. But if your intention is to make a living online, or at least to have a professional online business presence, you're going to have to pay for a real domain name and your web hosting. If you expect to be successful, and you want to make getting a full featured professional web site up and running as easy as possible, plus you want access to a quick, responsive tech support team to help you do it, you really need a "premium" web host.
As with free web hosts, if you're just setting up a small personal site, but want to build the site yourself, and want more flexibility as to the template you use, and want to be able to add pictures, video and audio, then a real dirt cheap host may be a good deal for you. But for a business or e-commerce web site, cheaper is not always a bargain.
Really cheap web hosting plans usually have one or more of the same problems as free hosting. Slow speed, small space and bandwidth, overselling of both space and bandwidth, lack of service and tech support, and less than state of the art security and equipment. And there are a few problems with really cheap web hosts that can really impact your business website.
First, if you're building your first website or your tenth, you're probably going to run into some problems or issues. A good premium hosting company will help make the process easier by giving you a online Site Builder and templates to make building the web site easier, and will also have a script library to make installing a blog, photo gallery, forum, or online store much easier and simpler to do. Still, you may have problems or questions as you build and launch your web site. In my opinion, having a good, quick tech support system in place is the biggest benefit of going with a premium hosting company. A really good one will have sufficient staff to provide rapid responses to support tickets, plus chat and phone support, for when you really need it.
You may think that going with a well known web host that may offer what appears to be an unbelievable deal is your best bet, but the primary complaints that most people have with the really large cheap hosts have to do with their lack of support. Many of them seem to spend more on advertising and celebrity endorsements to gain more customers, than they do on providing service and support to their existing customers. If you never need to use tech support, then one of these web hosts may work just fine for you, just make sure you understand how some of their advertising "low balls" their actual costs.
Really cheap web hosts advertise prices from $2.95 to $4.95 a month, and some also advertise month to month payments. I even saw one that had a special deal and offered the first month of hosting for $1! What they don't reveal in their ads, is the fact that to get the lowest price or the special deal, you often have to pay for your hosting for 2-5 years in advance! For example, one site the advertises a $3.95 a month plan, and a monthly payment option, only gives you that $3.95 price if you pay 5 years in advance. For paying for one year, the price is actually $8.95 a month, and to pay by the month it goes up to $9.95 a month! Some web hosting companies also offer great specials for the first month or first year, to get you to sign up, but then the price to continue hosting with them is much higher than you would pay for a good premium hosting plan.
The final major problem with really cheap web hosting, especially from sites that offer month to month payment plans, is that they attract spammers, phishers, hackers and other internet bottom feeders. The problem for your business web site, is that your may wind up sharing an IP address with one of these sites. If you use email to send newsletters or sales flyers to your clients, you may find your emails blocked by one or more of the major mail servers, simply because a spammer who shares your IP address has broken the rules. Eventually, your web host will confirm to the email service that they have removed the offending account, and eventually your IP will be unblocked, but in the meantime, you can't communicate with your customers. Meanwhile, the spammer or phisher knew their account would be shut down in a matter of days or weeks, and they don't care. They spend as little as possible to open the site, paste up a cloned website, make a few dollars on their scam, and just move on to another really cheap web host when their account is closed.
The fact that these bargain hosting companies get so many spam and phishing complaints can hurt your business in another way. You may be unfairly accused of spamming, simply because a few of your clients click your email into their spam folder, rather than clicking on your unsubscribe link. Many people simply don't realize that doing that can lodge a spam complaint against you with their email provider, they just didn't want to receive your emails anymore. When they receive the spam complaint from the email provider, most premium hosts will give you a chance to provide documentation that you aren't a spammer, before they close down your account. However, some of the large really cheap hosts have adopted a policy of "guilty until proven innocent", since the majority of the complaints they receive are valid. You may find your website shut down, and your domain name locked up for weeks, while you prove your innocence to your hosting company.
For the most part, when it comes to web hosting, like with most things, you get what you pay for. But, this doesn't mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to get great hosting. In fact, the difference in price between a good premium web host and a dirt cheap one is only a few dollars a month. Of course, you can pay a lot more, and some premium hosts charge up to $39.95 a month or more to host one website. But you don't have to pay anywhere near that amount to get great, full featured web hosting. I've been building and marketing web sites for years, and before I switched to the web host I use now I researched literally thousands of web hosting companies to come up with the best one for e-commerce hosting. I tried out dozens of the ones that made the initial cut, using their 14-30 day trial periods to find out if they were as good as they said they were, and came up with a list of Top Ten Hosts that really deliver exceptional service and excellent hosting packages for a bargain price.
Ok, so now you have decided to make your appearance on the web,cus that's the easiest way to reach out to millions of people in split seconds or You've got your new business all established now and you're ready to take the next step and set up a website to tell the online world that you're here and you've got something to offer. You've found a catchy domain name to call your own and now... what next? Well, the answer is that you need to find web hosting for the website you're going to build. So what does that mean and how do you figure out what kind of web hosting you need? First let's start with the basics.
Just what is web hosting anyway?
In simple terms, web hosting is renting space on a web server. A website is not simply a domain name, it is a collection of files linked together by HTML code to display text and graphics on a computer. In order for anybody to see this collection of files you've created, it has to be housed on a computer somewhere that has access to the internet. Not just any computer will do, of course. A web server is a computer set up with special software that allows it to receive requests from the internet for the website files it has stored on it and to send those files out over the internet so that the requesting computer can display them. It is very much like a waiter in a restaurant taking your order and bringing the food that you ask for from the kitchen, hence the name "server."
Along with making sure your files can be seen by internet users around the world, a web server provides other important services as well. First and foremost is the ability to create email addresses based on your domain name and to send and receive email with them. The web server also has various types of software installed on it that allow your website to run programs, create and manage databases, display video, and many other functions you might find useful. Almost any type of computer can function as a web server, but it's the software that's on it that makes it a server.
When you buy webhosting, the monthly fee you pay goes to the continued maintenance and upgrading of the server's hardware and software, the cost of keeping it online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a secure data center with a fast and powerful internet connection, and to pay for the expertise of the people who do all that work. It is completely possible to turn your own home or office computer into a web server if you really want to, but in most cases it is far more economical to pay someone else who is dedicated to providing this service in a properly reliable manner than it is to try and do it yourself.
What kinds of web hosting are there?
Shared Hosting - Most websites are not huge affairs with hundreds of pages and thousands of files and graphics, and they are targeted toward a particular audience, so they will not get as many visitors as the large general sites like Yahoo! that are targeted at everybody who uses the internet. As such, the average website therefore is not going to require the full resources of an entire web server to run it. Web servers are designed to be able to handle dozens, even hundreds of websites at once because they are powerful machines.
Shared hosting is simply the concept of hosting more than one website on a particular server. Over 95% of all websites on the internet are being run in a shared hosting environment. Since the resources of the server can be split among the clients hosted on it, so can the costs of operating the server, so shared hosting is universally cheaper than any other type. Shared hosting packages are generally designed so that each client is allotted a certain amount of each resource, with different payment levels representing different amounts of resources such as disk space, bandwidth, email addresses, and so on. Shared hosting is also known as virtual hosting.
Dedicated Hosting - If you do have a big, powerful website that gets lots of visitors and has a tendency to hog resources, then you might want to have a web server all to yourself. Some companies also prefer the extra security of not having to share the server with anyone else who could do something accidentally or on purpose to crash it. Renting the use of an entire server is known as dedicated hosting. The web hosting company still owns the machine and takes responsibility for maintaining the hardware and the web hosting software, but you have greater control over the configuration and use of the server. There is also such a thing as semi-dedicated hosting, in which a web server is only split between a very small number of clients, such as 2 to 4, with strong partitions between each to prevent them from interfering with one another. Since the hosting company is still responsible for the upkeep of the server, this type of hosting is also known as managed hosting. For obvious reasons, dedicated hosting always costs significantly more than shared hosting.
Server Co-Location - If you really want complete control over every aspect of your web server, you might very well choose to buy one and maintain it yourself if you have sufficient knowledge. However, chances are that you still don't have the resources to keep your server completely safe from power outages, roof leaks, thieves, unwary employees and other hazards and keep it on the internet on a fast, high-bandwidth connection at all times. You need a data center to provide those services for you. Co-location is the rental of physical security, continuous electrical power and a fast, reliable internet connection for a server that you own. The data center is not responsible for any of the hardware or software maintenance of a co-located server, you are. This can be a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting if you have the necessary expertise and time to run a web server yourself.
Some web hosts are offering UNIX hosting and Windows hosting. What's the difference?
The terms UNIX hosting and Windows hosting refer to the operating system (OS) that is running on the server. The operating system, of course, is the software that allows the computer to function and manage all of the other hardware and software that is installed on it. Chances are good that you are reading this on a computer running a version of the Windows operating system, the most popular operating system in the world for personal and business computers. Other operating systems that are growing in popularity are Macintosh and various versions of Linux. However, the operating system you use on your computer is irrelevant to which type of hosting you choose. Here are some of the main features of UNIX and Windows:
UNIX Hosting
Most of the web servers in the world today run on one of the many variants of UNIX. The UNIX operating system was originally developed by universities for servers and networking, and many different versions have been written by programmers around the world under the open-source protocol, which means that the code for the operating system is openly available for programmers to customize and make improvements. Linux and BSD are the most popular forms of UNIX and come in many varieties, such as Red Hat Linux, Debian, SuSE, and FreeBSD. Most of these different versions (and much of the software that runs on them) can be obtained for free, which makes UNIX hosting cheaper for a web host than other operating systems and allows them to offer lower prices. UNIX hosting platforms are generally considered to be stable, secure, powerful and fast. Most web programming applications can be performed by software that is available for a UNIX platform. "UNIX hosting" has become a generic term to refer to any platform that is derived from the original UNIX.
Windows Hosting
Microsoft has developed its own operating system for servers as a special version of its Windows operating system, Windows Server 2003. It is a commercial product which requires the operator to purchase a license, which increases the cost of operation for the web host and usually results in higher hosting prices. Windows is designed to be user friendly, but it is generally considered to be less powerful and secure than UNIX for operating in a network environment. ASP, ASP.NET, and ColdFusion are scripting languages which will only run on a Windows server, as will the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access database programs. These are popular for certain web programming applications, and if you are planning on using them to build your website, you will need to find a Windows host.
What are some of the terms I need to know when I choose a web host?
Disk Space or Storage - Because your website is a collection of files being offered on the internet for viewing, they have to be stored somewhere for retrieval and take up space. Each web server has a finite amount of hard disk memory to divide up and offer to hosting customers. Typically that space is divided up by different package levels so that the more you pay, the more space you are allowed to store pictures, web pages, videos and whatever other files you like on the web server's hard drive. If your website gets bigger than the space you are given, you will need to purchase more disk space from the web host.
Bandwidth or Data Transfer - Whenever you visit a website and view a page, you are transferring a copy of the files that make up that page over the internet from the web server to your computer. If the page you are viewing consists of an HTML file that is 3KB in size and three pictures of 47KB, 100KB and 250 KB, then you have just used 400KB of bandwidth or data transfer, because that is the total amount of data you just downloaded from the web server to view that page. Bandwidth is a commodity like disk space that the web host has to buy from its internet service provider, so it too is divided up and offered to the customers in specific amounts. Bandwidth amounts are usually measured in gigabytes (GB), because while only one copy of your files needs to be stored on the server, thousands or even millions of copies may be downloaded for viewing. If your website is viewed more times than the amount of bandwidth you are allowed can handle, your website may be turned off until the next billing period starts, or you may simply be billed for the excess amount used, depending on your host's policies. You can always purchase more bandwidth as your site's traffic increases.
Uptime - In an ideal world, every web server would be up and running and offering your web pages to the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week forever. However, web servers are computers, and like any other computer, things happen to make them fail, or they get old and out of date and require maintenance and repair. When a web host gives you a 99% uptime guarantee, they are saying that the web server will be up and running for 99% of the billing period. If they fail to meet this guarantee, most web hosts will refund a certain portion of your money depending on the amount of excess downtime they experienced.
Traffic Statistics - Website traffic statistics programs try to track visitors to your website. They can track how many times your site was visited, how many visitors were unique and how many returned more than once, which pages were most popular, where the visitors came to your site from, what search terms they used in the search engines, and many other types of information which could be useful to you in marketing your website to a target audience. These statistics can be displayed in tables, graphs and charts by hour, day, week, month or year. Some statistics programs are better than others and offer more types of data, better displays, easier navigation or other useful features. Most web hosts today offer some sort of traffic statistics software with their hosting packages.
CGI Scripts - Many web hosts offer a variety of free CGI scripts with their packages. These are things like hit counters, guestbooks, form mail programs, message boards, and other programs that allow your website to perform commonly desired functions. You can use the ones your host provides you with or you can upload and run custom CGI scripts written by yourself or somebody else to perform different tasks like conducting a survey or processing customer information to produce an automatic price quote. Most CGI scripts are written in common programming languages like Perl, PHP or ASP.
You could spend a long time trying to learn everything there is to know about web hosting, but if you've read this far then you should be armed with the basic knowledge you need to understand what different web hosts are offering you. Your next task is to figure out what you need and go out and find a host that wants to give it to you at a great price!
There are two types of VPS you can get: Windows VPS and Linux VPS. And for some reasons that is very clear windows VPS are more popular because, it's works with various applications and programs and thus it serves for the diverse use of the organization and we all know how people think of linux,well not for the beginners if i must say. Its user friendly thanks to GUI interface. Windows VPS hosting is a common choice now for all small and medium scale enterprises and organizations. Major reasons behind the peoples likeness towards windows VPS is due to cheap in price, rich in features, easy to use as compared to dedicated hosting as well as shared hosting services. Windows VPS is also called as Cheap Windows VPS.
Cheap VPS hosting allows every individual as well the organization to take the best advantage of it by providing innumerable services and features. With the help of the Virtuozzo (on the basis of Virtualization) a virtual machine is created. Again with Virtuozzo many virtual servers are created on a physical layer and each of them behaves independently and each one has their unique identity. Now a virtual server will act as a dedicated server. Data is uploaded as a virtual machine known as VM.
Cheap VPS Hosting or VPS Hosting Cheap both yields same results if you go for searching online as both refers to cheap hosting and it has many advantages like:
1. You need not worry about your server maintenance; it will be managed by your hosting provider with no extra charges.
2. Multiple accounts can be hosted on the same server; this refers to multiple websites on the same virtual machine.
3. No bad affect on your server by another neighbor server even though you are on the same physical layer.
4. Regular updating of your server is done by your hosting provider.
5. You will always have more resources' option for you as you are using a VPS. And these may be reduced and multiplied according to your needs.
6. Reseller VPS hosting provides you the opportunity to open up your own hosting services for your clients need.
7. Cheap windows VPS service allows you a complete server customization.
8. Your server is completely safe and secure and no details are shared with any third party.
9. You will get root access as well as complete control of your server and you can reboot anytime whenever you require one.
10. And perhaps the best and the most attracting point about VPS is that they are cheap in price.
Therefore, cheap windows VPS or VPS hosting cheap has many features and advantages for your business. Choose the best package that suits your needs and demands. With that you can enhance your business to new heights. Almost every company is providing cheap windows VPS and also cheap VPS hosting but variation lies in the service provided by them on long term.
So if you learn about hosting and about various other plans, you are going to get benefited a lot. Because you will be familiar about the potential of a certain hosting companies.
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