Web Hosting

 

Web Hosting Overview

The vast majority of web sites today, from personal pages to small business e-commerce, rely on the shared web site hosting option. There are many FREE shared web hosting services available that may or may not meet your needs. Typically, shared web hosts offer package plans that are an assortment of storage space, traffic allowances, server side software capabilities and management tools. This makes it imperative that you define your web hosting requirements BEFORE you begin the selection process.

Hosting Guide
"... Your first decision will have to be whether you need a paid or a free web host ..."

Web Hosting for Under Ten Bucks
by Jay Patrikios, 04 Jan 2002
"... I've found some of the best bets for cheap hosting — most of my finds were under US$10 per month ..."

Spotlight on Web Hosting
"... If you're not going to host your site on your own servers, you've got to find someone to host it for you. Web hosting companies come in all shapes and sizes, and charge a wide range of prices for different kinds of services. While the only way to really know if a hosting company will deliver on its promises is to try it for a few months, it's still a good idea to learn as much as you can before signing the contract ..."

Overview of Web Hosting Selection Criteria

Web Hosting FAQ

Choosing the right hosting service for your site

Select Your Web Hosting Service

1.   Define YOUR Web Hosting Criteria

Your host requirements analysis should include the following:

• Disk space and monthly traffic requirements

  These were determined in Step 2.

• Software accomodationFor example:
  
  
  • Authoring Software. Depending on your web authoring software decision in Step 2 you may require a special host. E.g., web sites produced with Flash (macromedia) software require a host which will accomodate Flash web sites and web sites produced with FrontPage (microsoft) software require a host which can provide server side FrontPage extensions.
    
    
  • Server Side Scripting. Web sites which will be enhanced with (embedded with) server side scripting (eg. SSI, CGI, PHP, ServerSide JavaScript, ASP) will require a host which provides the capability free of charge.
    
    
  • Streaming Media. Web sites which feature streaming audio or video will require a host which can accomodate this.
    
  
  
• Database accomodation?
  
  If you have decided upon a database driven website, the host you select must be able to create for you an instance of this type of database (e.g. an empty MySQL database created in your own area for you to populate) and it must be able process whatever SQL scripting language that you have decided to use in your web pages HTML to access the database (e.g. PHP).
  
  
• Traffic statistics tool
  
  Most hosts will accumulate statistics free of charge detailing the number of hits your getting and specifics about the visitors and where they are coming from and these statistics are avilable for you to examine at any time.
  
  
• Control Panel
  
  Most hosts will include a site management Control Panel facility at no extra charge. This will allow you to easily manage your email accounts, check your resource usage (web space and monthly traffic), check your statistics, etc.
  
  
• Host OS (platform)?
  
  Read Picking the Right Server is Key PC Magazine, May 2000
  
  
  

2   Criteria Driven Search

Select three (3) or four (4) hosts that satisfy your defined requirements. These sites will let you search for a list of hosts which meet these criteria. Notice that these searchable host databases all claim to perform the same service but don't always give the same results. We suggest that you try three or four at random and then compare the results. The ones at the top we like the best.

• Web Hosting Ratings
  
  
• Web Host Magazine
  
  
• Web Hosters
  
  
• CNET Hosts Listing
  
  
• TopHosts
  
  
• HostIndex
  
  
• Web Host Directory
  
  
• Host Spot
  
  
• ISP Check
  
  

3 Narrow it Down

Evaluate each web hosting preliminary selection to make a final decision.

• Web Hosting Ratings
  "... Once you have narrowed your web host choices to several firms, you'll need to take a more in-depth look at them before choosing which one you should go with ..."
     
  
• 20 Questions to Ask a Web Hosting Company
  

Web Host Industry News

The Web Host Industry Review
Comprehensive News About the Web Hosting Industry Today

Considerations When Changing
Web Hosting Services

Migrating Smoothly From one Web Host to another
13 Sep 2001
"... Migration from one web host to another is not difficult; it can be fast and safe when one knows what the experts know..."

How to Change Your Web Hosting Service (ISP)

Find My Host
Web master resource rates and reviews web hosting companies

Moving Day - How to move your site to another server

Ecommerce Specific Web Hosting Concerns

Small/Medium Business

Medium/Large Businesses

Get the Most of a Web Host TechWeb, August 1999
". . . We issued an RFP to see which Web-host providers could present the necessary infrastructure and expertise to assume Web-server management and guarantee the continuous availability of business-critical information on the Web. . ."

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