Finding that Host that Offers the MostWhether you already have a website or are thinking of setting up shop online, sooner or later you'll have to deal with the issue of web hosting. Although it may seem like a "no brainer," there are actually many factors you'll need to consider before making this important decision. Your first inclination may be to look only at the cost, thinking "cheaper is better." However, that old saying "you get what you pay for,"is especially true in this situation. Here are some of the more important points you'll want to look at when considering your next host.
UNIX/ NT/ The two most popular hosting platforms to choose from are UNIX and NT. UNIX is by far the favorite, as it was the only choice way back in the early days of the Internet. It is easy to configure, great for setting your own file permissions and the platform for most of the free scripts available for download. It is flexible, reliable and supports scripting languages like Perl and PHP3.
NT is Microsoft's baby. One problem that I have found with NT servers is a lack of readily available scripts that work on this platform. Also, (unlike UNIX) many NT users need assistance from their Web Host Administrators to set file permissions. NT supports MS applications such as ASP, Access, FP and scripting languages such as Perl, Cold Fusion and ASP.
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Virtual Servers vs. Virtual Hosting
Many of the low-cost hosting services use what is called Virtual Hosting (or sometimes Sub-hosting). Virtual Hosting is made possible by the introduction of HTTP/1.1 of the NCSA server, allowing multiple domains to be hosted under the same IP Address or virtual server. For example www.domain1.com and www.domain2.com would both point to the IP address 187.230.120.85. Many of the $10 to $50 per month hosting options fall under this category.
Unfortunately, there are serious limitations to this type of hosting:
The visitor's web browser must be HTTP/1.1 compliant (Netscape Navigator 2.0 or higher and MSIE 3.0 or higher) in order to see your site. If the browser is not compliant, they will not see your site but instead point to the "root" domain, which is often the ISP's site.
Along the same lines, search engine spiders which are not HTTP/1.1 compliant will be unable to index your site.
The bandwidth is shared among all domains hosted on that virtual server, therefore you often see traffic limitations or surcharges placed on these type of accounts.
Often you have no or limited CGI-BIN access with a Virtual Hosting account, and no access to the server configuration files (which allow you to add MIME types and other neat tricks)
Support for SSL Digital Certificates will be either difficult or non-existent.
Probably no telnet access to the site (very handy for script debugging and chmod commands)
Limitations in e-mail capability as all domains point to the same IP Address. For instance if you send an e-mail to joe@domain1.com and joe@domain2.com, they will be seen as the same address interpreted as joe@187.230.120.85.
I should note here that most, but not all, web browsers are now HTTP/1.1 compliant - but there are still plenty of people with older machines running previous versions that it could be an issue.
For people wanting to have their domain hosted and are very budget-conscious, Virtual Hosting may be their best option. However, for those who are looking for a more powerful hosting environment the Virtual Server is the way to go:
- High traffic levels or unlimited traffic
- Full CGI-BIN access
- Ability to run Server-Side Includes
- Generally more storage space; 25-200 MB or more
- Telnet access
- Large or unlimited number of POP mailboxes
- Unlimited e-mail forwarding
- Access to the server config files (no more 404 File Not Found errors!)
Of course, these features come with a price: around $100-$200 per month, higher if you need more space or have intensive server processing requirements. The somewhat higher price is more than offset by the tremendous versatility and capability of the Virtual Server hosting environment.
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| Did You Know? |
Web hosting BasicsSo you're about to embark on your first web project and you're wondering where on earth to start? Well, one of the first things you'll need is a web hosting package. There are so many out there it can seem daunting to try and choose one. In this article we'll teach you the basics to help you make an informed decision.
What is Web Hosting?
For people to actually view your pages on the web, you must have your files located on a "web server". When they visit your site, what they are actually doing is viewing those files. You can rent a little bit of space on the web server, or if your site is large, rent an entire server for your site. Each server is assigned an IP address. This is a four number address that is separated by dots. i.e. 127.0.0.1 Every domain name actually points to an IP address and this is how visitors access your files on the web server.
Once your site is hosted on a webserver, it can be viewed by any computer in the world through a web browser. All they need to do is type in your domain name to view your web pages. Your site must be hosted on a web server before it will be available to external visitors.
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