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November 28, 2009

Getting New Web Hosting Service for your Web Site

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:40 pm

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Web Host asked:


Due to Various inefficiencies of Old Web Hosting provider like poor technical support, down web server, inability of old provider to met with your requirements, expensive web hosting service, an Online Business owner decided to go for a new Web Hosting provider. Because of all above-mentioned and many more not in the list you would opt for new web hosting service. So the next step is to transfer your web site from current web host to new web host which can be done by following the under mentioned steps. Transferring of Schedule For transferring the old web hosting, planning should be done in advance, atleast one month before so as to ensure smooth transfer, as transferring in less than one month can led to inaccessibility of your web site.

Registering new web hosting service.

Once the above step is complete, user must go for a new web hosting service and must sign it accordingly within 24 hours so as to enable new account earliest.

Taking Files Backup.

As soon as you created a new web hosting account, you should take back up of all your web files for the new provider. Generally you already have all files of your web site on your local computer still it is beneficial to backup all your files from old web server. Further including HTML files, backup of any script file, database file and even of server logs file should be taken. Thereafter create a directory structure similar to directory structure on web server and then load the file in their respective directory.

Uploading of files

You will receive a notification email from your new web-hosting provider after the notification of your new web hosting account. Information needed to set up a website including FTP server information all will be provided within that email. With the help of that FTP information user can now FTP his new web-hosting server and can upload all his files. First the user should create a directory structure and then can upload all his files in their respective directories. User can also install any script file or databases if used in his website and also should setup his email accounts with the help of administration panel.

After finishing of uploading of all the files and installation of script files or databases temporary URL can be used to test the new site. This temporary URL can be obtained from through notification email from new web hosting provider.

Testing of new website

The new website can be tested online by using temporarily URL directory. As different web hosting server require different server environment to work, that’s why user needs to verify all the scripts like CGI, Perl if they are working as per the requirement or not. Further all the hyperlinks should be tested in the normal web pages so as to confirm that no broken links are there. Your website hosted on the old web hosting provider is continued to be operational, even when you are testing through the temporary URL directory. Transferring of domain name After finishing of testing new website on the temporary URL and verification of its perfect execution, next step is to contact the new domain name registrar so as to change the old domain name server to point the new DNS of the web hosting provider. There after the user will get DNS information through email after he finishes the successful registration with new web hosting provider and also would get the information from website of his new web hosting provider. The purpose of Domain name servers is to control how to resolve the domain name. Commonly the domain names are in following format:

NS1.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

NS2.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

Some domain name registrar requires the IP addresses of the DNS. In this case you have to provide the IP addresses of your new DNS. For example:

NS1: 216.193.194.212

NS2: 216.193.207.106

DNS record to change and propagate through all the WHOIS servers takes typically 24 to 72 hours. Whois tools such as whois.com can be use on Internet to monitor the status of DNS transfer. New DNS will be displayed once the transfer is complete. Even minor modifications are possible like the user can upload his own file or picture to the new web-hosting server. When the user checks his homepage through the normal domain name he can notice the new home page, which makes sure that transfer of DNS is successful. Final Testing Now, your website on the new web hosting provider is officially transferred and online. You should repeat all the tests to ensure it is fully functional.Thereafter you can go ahead to terminate your old web hosting account after the final confirmation is received.



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November 24, 2009

Few Tips for Selecting an Appropriate Web Hosting Provider

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:25 pm
Hosting Web asked:


One of the most important decisions one should make while deciding to put on his/her business on the web is which web hosting provider to use. The web hosting company that hosts one’s personal page may not offer the best plan for one’s business needs. The following are the several things one should take care while selecting a web host for one’s professional web pages.

Windows or *nix Web Hosting

When a web hosting provider is talking about an operating system, he/she means the operating system that his/her server uses. There is no need for Windows hosting if one is using a Windows operating system on his/her machine. Windows hosting is not required if one is building his/her pages in Front Page. The main reason for opting Windows web server hosting is that it enables to take advantage of .asp and .net programming capabilities, which can be extremely powerful. If one is not sure, then he/she should check with the person who will be designing his/her pages and ask for their recommendation.

Choice of Web Hosting Services

One must look for a web hosting provider that offers all the services that one needs in order to build the web site of his/her choice. The following are the services that make a good deal even better are:

Reduced price or free domain registration

When one is building a company web site, having his/her own domain name is very important to present a professional image. there are several web hosting providers that registers one’s domain name for free, and take care of all the details of renewing and updating information so that one need not to worry about it.

Secure server transactions on their server

If one is planning to accept payments or exchange personal information over the Internet, access to a secure server is most essential. One must look for a web hosting package that includes SSL in its basic price.

PHP and mySQL support

If one chooses a UNIX server, PHP and database support can provide powerful tools for running applications and forums, content management systems and more. Most business and e-commerce plans include them.

Design Services at reduced prices

There are several web hosting providers offering professional web design services to their customers at a discount rate. Thus one should avail these discounts. The main advantage of a professional looking web site is that it inspires confidence in one’s customers.

Web-mail services and POP Email Boxes

One must also look for a business web hosting plan that offers the maximum POP email boxes so as to enable one to assign email addresses to all his/her employees and departments. The advantage of a web-mail interface is that it allows users to access their mail from any computer.

Thus one can find a web hosting provider that offers all the features that one wants and that too at an affordable price. The only thing required is one should do his/her home work properly i.e. he/she should compare all the hosts before selecting the most important one.



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Points to Consider While Selecting a Web Host Server

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:52 am
Bluehost Hosting asked:


Managing a web server is in reality not a child’s play as it is a full time job, where one must constantly monitor its performance and security and it sounds, it is really exhausting task, especially if one is already having other responsibilities. There are several advantages like one no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. In addition, one can have as many websites and databases he/she requires but condition is, as long as his/her hardware can handle it. One no longer has to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host. Over all one can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites. Thus after looking at these advantages it really sounds interesting. Isn’t? But wait just read more.

One should ask him/her self, how technically advanced he/she is? Quite often one needs not to be fully learned, but it’s necessary that he/she is possessing resources. One must know how to resolve issues and how to handle problems and that too quite quickly and efficiently. Thus it means it needs to be in real meaning Internet savvy. In this case just surfing wont help as one who surfs aimlessly wont be of any use, rather one who can always find what he/she is looking for is the right person. This is a main requirement, as with any server environment, one is going to run into problems and finding the answers are most consummate online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Now if one is sure that he/she can hire someone to fix one’s problems then too it’s not at all considered a best option to get done from anyone else. In next paragraph is the test to see if one is ready to find solutions. Requirement is of a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error – “Event ID: 1056” it’s a DHCP Server Error. Now how one would search for this?

In order to find the solution the first that one would take is to go to Google which can be seen as a good and a common effort also it is a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers’ website. Thus in this case “microsoft.com” would have been the first option because Google would more than likely provide with the solution from Microsoft and other sources, but if one is not interested in getting inaccurate information from other sources, then surely he/she should choose going to Microsoft directly. It is a common practice to get information from Microsoft that not only helps resolving one’s problem, but also helps saving time. Now again one should search the error and should go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.

After going this one will find this link-http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx? Scid=KB; en-us; 282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)

Now after seeing the above what search phrase should one use? The answer is Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the correct and most exact error; it helps in providing the exact solution for one’s problem without broadening the search. Sometimes it may happen that the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It all depends on one’s error, his/her search feedback, his/her ability, and last but not least technique. For the above discussed example error description is not included.

Now after Microsoft, the second option one should take is Google or Yahoo, which are considered as two largest search engines. Thereafter one should search other smaller and niche search engines and then the next one should search within forums and discussion groups. If one is well known of Internet and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups, which he/she uses quite frequently, then he/she should visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo. One can also visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but its not very recommendable as going first to developers’ site would be considered as a best option. So now after knowing little about search engines and internet one can think of purchasing a server.



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November 23, 2009

Web Hosts – No Match!

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 11:30 am
Web Hosting asked:


One usually thinks that he/she will receive same services with the certain range of price, which type of host it doesn’t matter. This is not a fact. Basically, one will not find differences in the web hosting but if one will carefully analyze there will be a vast difference between each one of them. Some of which are not adequate to user’s business. There are several hosts charging $10 a month for a particular package which one can get at the rate of $5a month with other hosting provider.

Mentioned below are 3 of the steps following which one can end up on an ideal hosting selection.

1. Deciding one’s Price range:

Price is the top most concern. One can spend anything to meet his/her requirements ranging from a few dollars a month to a few hundred. There is no one but the user who knows about his/her requirement and about his/her budget. One should consider it. Here one should find providers offering shared and dedicated hosting solutions. It is quite crucial to know the actual disparity among the two. Normally, it is shared web hosting is more inexpensive as compare to dedicated hosting. In the case of shared hosting their will be several web sites on the same server making it quite affordable for each individual.

Due to this reason only a large amount of individuals and businesses began with shared hosting and its reliability and consistency is increasing day by day due to which several businesses have raised on the basis of price and reliability. One can get web hosting prices generally in the range of $5 to $30 a month. If one will talks about Dedicated hosting then the user will have all the right to exploit entire resources. User will command the web server according to the available resources. When it comes to this type of hosting it will differ in both the price and services. It can be from $99 a month to a huge amount of $300-$400 a month. Certainly, here one will enjoy a reliable service and command over content and customization area.

2. Deciding one’s Needs:

What is the requirement of the user? However, one cannot deny the fact that web hosting has become quite affordable and competitive over the last few years but one should first search out the answers of few of the basic questions. Is user’s requirement is the 100% uptime i.e. 24/7/365 or just the modest uptime i.e. 99.9% which one can find at a cheap price as per the standardization of industry in comparison to a SLA (Service Level Agreement). What is user are Criteria regarding support? Does the requirement is 24/7/365 email support or in addition to it phone support? Loss of potential data is a topic which is quite crucial but generally overlooked by the user. Does user should ensure that his/her web host offers back up / restore services or rather an option to ad it or which one can buy on additional cost. Several user’s take it easy as it is automatic but one should mind it that without proper inquiry and involvement in the package it is not going to be accomplish. Requirement of quantity of email accounts and databases can be the other criteria. If the user possesses employees then the probability is that they would like individual email accounts for the use in interoffice and external communication. While user is opting for a strategy to run an e-commerce shopping cart or rather a community forum of any sort then requirement of one or more databases is must.

Normally, email accounts are standard but several hosts demands additional amount for databases and/or limit as per their business structure. Next, important aspect is the amount of disk space and data transfer required by the user? Now a day’s disk space and data transfer are available quite cheap. It is the Performance, features, reliability, and customer service for which the user is paying. For instance, if in the future user feels requirement of graphics resulting in large data base then it is not bad to have much disk space in advance because user may not feel its importance in beginning but it can be fruitful with respect to future strategy.

3. Accomplishing one’s Homework:

After considering above steps one should go for the research mode. The step deals with the outlook of providers. User should start his/her research from host’s own web site. The web site of several companies has a section called “about us” through which one can inquire about their background/history and a synopsis regarding their products, services, infrastructure etc. one should also go through their terms and policies regarding privacy and service. No doubt, one should be aware of the depth of the lake in which he/she is diving into. This is because several problems may arise later on if the user do not have the in depth knowledge of his/her concern host. By going through these policies one may have insight knowledge on restrictions between providers and which direction one should proceed by avoiding any trouble as per changing scenario. There are several companies delivering a customer testimonial and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page in addition to it. User can consider Testimonials as a source of providing useful information about kinds of web sites being hosted and the way the company is delivering services to its present customers. If FAQ page delivered by the company is accurate then one can solve majority of problems in a very simple manner, whether the problem is related to sales or technical doesn’t matter. Certainly, one of the crucial ways to conclude research on the concern host is to charge them with questions/need which may not be apparently answered.

Thus at the end we can say that there are literally hundreds of specific needs that any one company or individual requires while searching for web hosting services. The problems and solutions are so much that even a book can be written on it. Thus the above given is a fundamental foundation of steps that will help user in beginning with good success.



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Webhosting Tips for Choosing Affordable and Cheap Web Hosting

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:25 am
Host Gator asked:


The Basics:

If one wants to put his/her web site online, Web hosting offers the opportunity. For making a site go online, no matter it is having large or small content one has to go onto a web server. Thus a web server is simply a larger and much more powerful computer than user’s own computer. On these servers one’s Internet content simply sits for people to access and view the information available. These web servers are stored within data centers; all what is required is simply renting some space on the server.

Why to use a web hosting service?

The first reason to choose is its affordability. The work of the web hosting companies includes looking after and updating all software required to maintain one’s site, adding security patches making sure that one’s content is safe from hackers/viruses and unwanted Spam. The first step after registration of web site’s name is hosting it with the web server. In case there comes any difficulty with the web site, full technical support is supported by the hosting company. In chases one chooses to host by own, it will cost too much on hardware, bandwidth and ongoing software updates.

What is shared web hosting?

While searching for a web host Company one will find that many are offering shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is simply a server that has a number of different web sites sitting on it simultaneously. In case of shared web hosting one will be allocated a certain amount of disk space on the server and this allows user to have a number of web sites hosted on one server. It is a very secure service even though one is sharing the server with many different companies, as no other company will have access to other’s files. There are many people having wrong opinion that using a shared service will make the web site act slowly. In case of shared web hosting the information will be displayed and downloaded equally as fast as if it where on the server on it’s own. The concept used by Web host companies is that they offer shared hosting simply to use up all the space on the server, there is no benefit to user or them having empty hard disk space.

Why good hosting is required?

If one has developed a web site for business opportunity or to sell merchandise online what all is needed is reliability as downtime costs much money. Therefore less downtime means the better chance of making money by the user. One is required to compile a whole list of questions to ask the web host company when it comes to hosting his/her site. It is necessary to have a guaranteed response time if any problem occurs with the site or if it goes offline. One needs to have 24-hour access to his/her files with 24-hour support if the site is in business of selling products online, as most of the sales could be made in the evening or nighttime. Thus it is very important to have support all time for any issues that could arise. Not only that to check the effectiveness of site it is also important to look for Statistics i.e. how many unique hits (people visiting one’s site) one is getting so that one can see the trend of people just visiting to those who are buying. Thus one should check in advance the stats offered by different companies as some web host companies offer very substantial stats while others can be less informative, so one should always ask for a demonstration before finalizing any host.

Mouth publicity is a great way to hear as to who are a good host and a bad host. One should ask his/her colleague or who is already taking the experience of that host. There are several good as well as bad hosts in the market, therefore one should ask the questions and make sure that he/she is confident with the replies before signing up.

Will hosting in own country or another, effects the web site?

It is quite interesting to know if the company is providing 24 hour support to allow for time differences, then one should have the same level service as if the web host company was based just down the road. Thus it makes no difference if the host is of same country or of another. There are many people thinking hosting their website outside of their registered country will lead to losing their domain identity, which is totally wrong example if one is based in Ireland and is having a computer website it would be something like www.computerparts.ie The. I.e. is the identity of Ireland but if one wants his site hosted in the US then he/she would still keep the. I.e., and there is no need to change to. Com. Thus the great thing about web hosting is that the world is oyster and one can shop online globally until one is satisfied with the service.



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November 6, 2009

Availability of Web Space in Hosting

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 7:14 pm
Hosting Web asked:


What does web hosting mean? Web hosting means the service provided by the webmaster to ensure users website and email at his/her domain name that remains up and that runs 24/7. One can imagine of a web hosting as renting space on a special computer that is staying constant all the time up to keep one’s valuable domain name up and keeps running. Web server is nothing but a computer that hosts files for user’s website. In real terms web server is just a computer that hosts the contents of user’s website that can also be in form of files. These files can be in numerous numbers of different formats, but this is a totally a new topic in itself.

The user used to purchase web hosting just as he/she used to buy internet service from an ISP. Customer prefers to pay monthly, rather many web host companies offer discounts for the annual payment mode. In this era of computerization where there are many companies offering web hosting services it is difficult to choose one of them and the next more difficult job is to price them. User can easily visualize offers online for GBs and GBs of transfer and file storage at very little price. But this is not known that what the service or uptime will beginner like? The user who is very much serious about building, designing and developing a website will be very much careful about the web hosting and then only he can achieve success. It is the backbone of one’s website. By spending little extra money user should get 24/7 email support and phone number so that he/she can easily call during normal business hours in case of any problem. If any user is a newcomer and starting his website then 5 GBs of transfer and 1 GBs of disk space will be more than enough for the first year.

Some web hosting companies often provide good discount to the users, who use to pay in advance for one or two year, users should search and choose that type of offer. After the period of one or two year the user is ready to start heavily promoting his/her website and also he/she can upgrade his/her hosting account in case of site experiencing extra traffic. At that time the user will need at least 20 GB of monthly transfer which can also cost less at that time. Disk space is getting cheaper and cheaper day by day. This is not at all shocking to know that after some time web hosting plans can be offered in terms of MBs rather than GBs and it can also be said that in few years, even GBs of disk space will be outdated.

If any user is searching for web hosting, he/she have to overcome by thousands of results and sieve through them, would probably prove to be useless. There are many good offers offering more than the need, so it is up to the user to choose the host that has exactly or close to exactly what one requires. The user should be very sure about what is important for him and what features he/she will need on his/her website. Will he/she want a forum, content management system (cms), shopping cart, or all of the above? If he/she is creating an online forum, he/she should asked this with several top web hosts that how easy it would be for them to install a script like phpbb or envision power board. In case if any user is interested in creating a shopping cart or eccommerce website, he/she can ask his/her web host how easy it would be for them to install oscommerce. And, if a content management system is what interests the user, then he/she can ask his/her web host how easy it would be for them to install it. Thus be careful in selection!



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November 5, 2009

Selection of the Most Suitable Web Host

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:59 pm
Blue Host asked:


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

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

1. Uptime of the web server?

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

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

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

5. What is the upload limit and file limit?

6. Support provided to the Customer.

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

1– Uptime of the web server.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. Customer Support

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

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



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November 4, 2009

Something About Free Web Hosting

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 10:25 pm
Web Hosting asked:


World never ever run on the idea of one-sided benefit, mutual benefit is accomplished one way or the other. This very concept ere is applicable on free Web hosting also. But before that one must what the hosting term is; it is a process of accumulating files onto a web server so that through a web browser visitors can evaluate it.

Webmasters who have recently built the sites always face a dilemma in choosing an appropriate host for his/her site, they get magnetized towards free host providers which are available throughout the cyber world, however, as discussed previously, the service provided by a free web host is not actually free as it declares, it has it’s own drawbacks such as lack of sovereign domain name for the user.

In the case of a new webmaster, selection of ideal host can be a daunting task and even when it comes to free web host; the choice should be selective one, because the majority of free web hosts aim to exploit their users. Moreover, as user counters some of the drawbacks such as assisting a small server place and inability of utilizing the FTP clients, lack of domain name, and ample amount of ads via the Web Company and scarcity of benefits, needs to be faced while searching for a free hosting. The web hosts attempts to wrap up their costs by publishing their or any other companies ads on their user’s website.

One should account about few things, before deciding about a host, it includes requirements of the user, features offered by the host, space allowed by the host, any statistics, what form of domain name offered by the host, can user use his/her own domain name or rather provide name servers, do the host provide feature of email address, type and location of advertisements on user’s site? Firm answers of all these questions are must before coming to any of the conclusion.

If one talk about the requirements, then now a day’s websites are available in two forms static or dynamic, majority of hosts prefer static hosting and if a user’s website is dynamic then he/she should search for a host providing the potential to host the website with the use of scripting languages. Dynamic services are provided by only few companies but with several restrictions, such as no data availability, etc. Same happens with availability of space which is in the range of 5MB to 50 MB, changing with respect to other factors; companies extract more benefits as they provide more space to the user. There are many free hosts who don’t provide the use of own domain names as it is not beneficial for them. That is the reason why most of the time the user’s web address becomes www.myname.freehosting.com.

Further to long URLs accounts, a further contentious issue is their reliability. It is generally believed that free host providers means hosts with old servers and giving free space wrapping up the amount through free advertisement. This is the reason why majority of free web hosts don’t provide the guarantee of servers running through out the day excluding general breakdowns? Another problem lies in scarcity of bandwidth providing, it may create problem when user’s site starts gathering a large amount of traffic and bandwidth extends its genuine limit.

Hence after judging all the factors one can say that free web hosting is not that bad as it looks, here one can surf without many charges. One may need to counter some of the restrictions but it is a boon to newcomers who want to do something new on the web.



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November 3, 2009

Concept of Shared Web Hosting

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:04 am
Web Hosting asked:


After designing of website next important thing is to get it hosted on the internet. The task is not at easy as there are so many companies offering various types of web hosting packages like shared web hosting, dedicated web hosting, managed web hosting etc. Now the problem is which one to use?

In general it is considered a good idea to go for shared web hosting if the user is in a small business and wants to save cost. However before finalizing the deal it is good to know what is shared web hosting service and what are the merits and demerits of shared web hosting.

Defining shared hosting:

If extremely high performance and high bandwidth are not the points in question, then shared web hosting service can be a most convenient and economic way of hosting web sites.. As name implies, in case of shared web hosting service, the web server that hosts the web pages is shared by several other websites. Talking about number of websites on a shared hosting server, they can be in thousands. Now due to the fact that just one server is fulfilling the requirements of many other websites, the plus point is they can offer cheap prices for their server.

As there are so many websites hosted on a single web server, still there is no pint of worry for the user as the web hosting providers will not compromise on any kind of security and performance issues in case of shared hosting servers. Not only that, shared hosting web servers are operated, monitored and look after around the clock by IT professionals, so as to minimize server downtimes.

Shared hosting servers run on UNIX or other multi-user operating system and each website hosted on the web server is provided a separate account in the operating system. These websites hosted on shared servers are provided unique shared IP addresses and are provided with a fix amount of web resources.

The following are some of the merits and demerits of shared web hosting:

Merits:

1. Cost effective: Due to the fact that many websites are hosted on a single web server, web hosting providers provide economic shared web hosting services. Generally, the cost is as low as $5-10 per month for shared web hosting services. Now-a-days due to cut throat competition in web hosting industry, one can find several web hosting companies offering huge web space and bandwidth with as high as 1000 MB disk space and 40 GB bandwidth.

2. Feasible: Due to the fact that shared hosting web servers are operated, monitored and look after around the clock by IT professionals, who are experts in their respective field, one can concentrate more effectively on his/her web business and the problem of downtime and maintenance will not bother him/her any more.

3. Utility options: In case of shared web hosting, though web resources are shared, utility options are provided by the hosting company so that user can manage his/her website using control panel or similar tools. User is having an option to upload files, modify /remove web pages, add database, check web statistic etc. Not only that, user is also provided facility to create domain name specific e-mails accounts.

4. Efficient: Now-a-days shared web hosting service usually comes with web space and bandwidth that are more than sufficient for small business websites. Efficiency lies in the fact, that in addition to above, one can add more resources and can even overrun the web space or bandwidth usage.

Demerits:

1. Problem with response time: As the web server is shared, websites in the shared web hosting have to face problem of slower server response time as compared to dedicate server hosting.

2. Problem of Reliability: In case of shared web hosting, problem of reliability remains as usually web hosting providers may take care of the security and performance of the shared server but it is also possible that some of websites hosted on the shared server run a nasty program or script or over-utilize the resources, resulting in bringing down the web server. Thus due to fault of one all websites have to suffer downtimes and inaccessibility in case of shared web hosting.

3. Problems related to sharing: As discussed above also, due to fault of one all users have to face the problem for example if there is any one “bad” website in shared web server, due to it all websites on the server can be banned altogether by ISP or search engine due to shared IP address. However it is worth to note that one can always pay extra to get a dedicated IP address to avoid the above problem.

4. Problems related to Security: As many websites shared one server, problem of security always remains in case of shared web hosting as it is quite easy to hack one’s sensitive datas by another on the same server.

Thus in conclusion it can be said that before deciding to deal with shared web hosting, one should consider all the merits and demerits of shared web hosting as highlighted above. One should not forget the success of his/her business depends upon his/her website which in turn depends upon good host provider.



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October 29, 2009

Web Hosting, Defined

Filed under: Web Hosting — Tags: , , — admin @ 7:33 pm
Web Hosting asked:


Web hosting may be defined as renting space on a web server in its simplest form. One should keep in mind that a website is a collection of files linked together by HTML code to display text and graphics on a computer. However website is not complete here until and unless it is displayed on the net. To make it visible for the world it has to be housed on a computer somewhere that has access to the Internet. This is not possible by just a computer rather special device is required termed as web server. A web server may be defined as 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.

Web server in addition to making site visible performs several other functions as well like it provides the ability to create email addresses based on one’s domain name and even helps in sending and receiving emails with them. There are several types of software installed on the web server that allows one’s website to run programs, create and manage databases, display video, etc. One must note that 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 one goes buying a web hosting, the monthly fees to be paid includes cost for 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 cost of professional proving these services. It is surprising to know that it is possible to turn one’s home or office computer into a web server if one really desires, but it is just not economical. Therefore it is better to outsource it. There are several kinds of web hosting available which are discussed below:

Kinds of web hosting:

Shared Hosting – Through a shared server one can save a high amount. If one talks about the drawbacks then Spamming and blacklisting from different search engines are the key problems. Such problems arise due to the reason that several sites are assign to one particular IP address. One should demand for a separate IP address for his/her website (on additional monthly charges) to secure the user from such problems.

Dedicated Hosting –Dedicated servers are best for big, highly trafficked websites, which will require large amounts of server resources to run. One of the downsides to shared hosting is that the server’s resources are divided across all the sites it’s hosting and answering page requests for. If you are in a dedicated environment you can better monitor your server resources. The downside is that dedicated servers will run you generally $50 per month or more. Shared hosting can be purchased for as little as 5$ a month. Most small or medium sized businesses will have neither the website size or bandwidth requirements to make dedicated servers cost effective.

Server Co-Location – If one wants to have full control over every aspect of his/her web server, he/she might very well choose to buy one and maintain it himself/herself if he/she is having sufficient knowledge. Still there are possibilities that one is not having enough resources to keep his/her server completely safe from power outages, roof leaks, thieves, unwary employees and other problems and in addition it is not possible for him/her to keep it on the internet on a fast, high-bandwidth connection through out. Thus he/she needs a data center to provide those services for him/her.

Co-location is the center providing facilities like physical security on rental, continuous electrical power and a fast, reliable Internet connection for a server that one owns. However, the data center is not responsible for any of the hardware or software maintenance of a co-located server, rather user his/her self. Thus it is a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting if one is having the necessary expertise and time to run a web server by own.

There are several web hosts offering UNIX hosting and Windows hosting.

UNIX Hosting

There are several web servers in the world running mostly on UNIX. UNIX is an operating system originally developed for servers and networking. Till now many different versions of UNIX 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 so as to enable programmers to customize and make improvements when and where necessary. The two most popular forms of UNIX are Linux and BSD that comes in several varieties, like Red Hat Linux, Debian, SuSE, and FreeBSD. The best part of UNIX is most of above mentioned versions can be obtained free of cost, making UNIX hosting cheaper for a web host in comparison to other operating systems. Other plus points of UNIX are that UNIX hosting platforms are generally considered to be stable, secure, powerful and fast. That is the reason why most web programming applications can be performed by software that is available for a UNIX platform.

Windows Hosting

Another very popular operating system developed by Microsoft is Windows operating system, Windows Server 2003. Like every thing useful it is having price and can be obtained by purchasing a license, which in turn increases the cost of operation for the web host and usually results in higher hosting prices. This is considered a negative point as compared to UNIX. Plus points of Windows include it is mainly user friendly however it is generally considered to be less powerful and secure than UNIX for operating in a network environment. There are several scripting languages like ASP, ASP.NET, and Cold Fusion, which will only run on a Windows server, as will the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access database programs. Thus the above are some of the most popular scripts for certain web programming applications, and if one is thinking of using them while building his/her site, he/she will first definitely need to find a Windows host.

Before searching for a web host, it is essential to know some important terms used in hosting. They are discussed as under:

Storage or Disk space –As one’s website is a collection of files being offered on the Internet for viewing, it is necessary for storing them somewhere for retrieval and take up space. For each and every web server there is a limited amount of hard disk memory, which is divided up and offered to hosting customers. Different package levels are there, so as to enable to pay more for more space and vice versa divide specifically that space up. If one’s website expands its space then the user needs to buy extra space from the web host.

Bandwidth or Data Transfer –One of the crucial parts to verify is bandwidth. There are several sites, which loose their host due to excessive downloads causing budget going beyond their expectations. Occasionally, host even charges in hundreds of dollars for the additional bandwidth. One should confirm about this before dealing with any of the host. Usually, ideal-hosting providers deliver initial bandwidth of 25 to 50 GB to the users.

Uptime –It is a universal truth that if one talks about perfect web servers then they are the one, which would be up, and running and offering web pages to the world round the clock, whole year. But, it is also true that web servers are mere computers, and like any other computer, they may fail or needs repairing or updating. Often web hosts gives 99% uptime guarantee, and if they fail they refund a certain portion of user’s money depending on the amount of excess downtime they experienced.

Traffic Statistics – By traffic statistics we mean those programs that track visitors to one’s website. These programs are capable of telling how many times a user visited one site, how many visitors were unique and how many came back more than once, which pages were most popular, from where the visitors came to one’s site, what search terms they used in the search engines etc. In addition they offer several types of information which are useful for marketing one’s website to a target audience. There are several web hosts offering some sort of traffic statistics software with their hosting packages.

CGI Scripts – There are several web hosts offering a variety of free CGI scripts with their packages. CGI Scripts are the things like hit counters, guest books, form mail programs, message boards, and other programs that enable one website to perform commonly desired functions. Most CGI scripts are written in common programming languages like Perl, PHP or ASP.

Thus one should take care and keep all the above points in mind while selecting a web host.



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