A Beginner's Guide to Web Hosting

Finding a Home for Your Website

Contents

• What exactly is hosting?
• Who Provides Hosting?
• Choosing a Host
• Evaluating a Host

 What Exactly is Hosting?

To be available to your users, your site must be uploaded to a server, basically a computer which is connected to the internet 24 hours a day. Providers of space on such servers are referred to as 'hosts' and placing your site on such a server is called 'hosting'.

Since most sites are too small to need a full server to themselves they will need a 'Shared Hosting Account', which means a leased portion of space on a server.

There are many different types of server but the two most popular are Windows and Linux. Windows hosting, as you might expect, is required to host sites which are created using proprietary Microsoft technologies, such as .net or the ASP scripting language. Unless you know you are going to be using such technologies you are probably better choosing Linux hosting, which tends to be less expensive.

One thing to bear in mind is that the location of your host is not critical and there is no need to confine your search to those in your locality or even in your country. The nature of the Internet means that a web owner in Australia can host a site on a server in the USA with the intention of providing information to users in Japan.

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Who Provides Hosting?

1. Your ISP

Most of those companies who provide dial-up, cable or broadband access to the Internet also provide hosting, either free, as part of your account, paid or both. However their main business is providing internet access and they may not always be either the best or the most economical choice as hosts.

Verdict: Evaluate what they offer but be sure to compare it with others before jumping in.

2. Specialist Hosting Companies

These may provide hosting only, or may also provide other related services such as web design, but in either case they are web specialists.

In general specialist companies will have good expertise in dealing with small site owners and will offer a ready made range of plans at different prices to suit various types of site.

Because there are so many hosting companies out there you will find that most entry-level hosting plans are very competitively priced. Be sure that you check out the higher spec plans also in case you need them in the future and beware of opting for the cheapest available plan, it may turn out to be a very expensive one if you are endlessly hanging on the phone calling a barely existent support service.

Verdict: Usually the best choice for the independent small site.

3. Resellers

Resellers buy a relatively large amount of space from a hosting company, partition it up and sell it on to end users. Quite often you will find that resellers, due to the deals they get on space, can offer a cheaper rate for server space than the actual host company do.

Resellers can be a good or a bad choice depending both on their choice of host in the first place and on the level of support they offer to you as an end user.

Sometimes a reseller, who is likely to have fewer sites to manage than a large hosting company, can offer more personal support and assistance, particularly to beginners, than a larger company could. Others are just in it for the quick buck and provide little or no support.

Many design companies are also resellers and can get very good deals for their customers.

Verdict: Another good choice for small sites, but needs careful evaluation.

4. Dedicated Server Hosting

If your site is very large or likely to have very heavy traffic you may wish to consider a dedicated server. In this case you buy or rent the entire server and pay for technical management and support.

Some regular hosting companies offer this service; others specialize in provision of this type of service only. This is a relatively expensive option and will need careful research.

Verdict: The best choice for very large or busy sites which are likely to grow in the future.

5. Do it Yourself Hosting

Many people are attracted by the idea of owning and managing their own server, sometimes with the idea that this will save money. Unless you have considerable expertise in server management this is usually not a great idea. Acquiring a server is only the beginning, you will need a trunk line connection to the internet if you are going to serve any more that a very few users and will probably find that maintaining the server is almost a full time job.

Verdict: Unless you really know what you are doing abandon this plan now!

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Choosing a Host

Choosing a host is an important decision. You will, hopefully, have a long relationship with whatever host you choose.

To make the decision you need to first decide what you need and then visit the sites of several hosting providers and evaluate what they have to offer in the light of your requirements . If you choose wisely you should get good value for money, reliability and prompt, knowledgeable support.

Deciding What You Need

1. Unix/Linux or Windows?

Whether you need to be hosted on a Unix/Linux or Windows server depends largely on what you plan to do with your site. For most people starting out a Unix/Linux server is a good choice but if you plan to use SQL databases or ASP on your site then you will need Windows hosting.

2. Free or Paid?

For a first (or practice) site or for a personal site, free hosting can be a good solution. You will almost certainly have to put up with some ads on your site, cannot expect too much in the way of support and there will usually be restrictions on using scripts, on bandwidth and on disk space. You may also find that the servers tend to be slow at times which will affect users of your site.

For business sites free hosting is really a no-no. If a business cannot afford the small amount of money it costs for paid hosting, often less than €150 per year, it is difficult to expect potential customers to take them seriously.


3. How much Disc Space and Bandwidth?

How much disc space you need will depend both on how large you expect your site to become and on the nature of the site itself. For example a Flash site, or one making extensive use of video, audio or large graphics would need more space than one that is mainly text based.

For most new sites the needs are relatively modest. Statistically the average website is less than 50MB and being swayed to a more expensive hosting plan because of a large disc space allocation may not be a great idea if you are just paying for space you will never use.

Make sure that there is a means of upgrading your plan should your needs change in the future.


5. Individual Requirements

All sites have slightly different requirements and thus there is no 'one size fits all' solution. Make a list of those feature that are most important to you and use this when comparing hosts.

For example do you need the latest version of Perl, PHP Support, a large number of POP accounts, access to a secure server or to MySQL? Perhaps things like a toll free support number matter more.

It is important to get your requirements clear so that when you compare hosts you are comparing like with like.

Evaluating a Host

Before you make your final decision you should have a shortlist of potential hosts. In each case, a short practical evaluation is a good idea before you make the final choice.

• Send an email to their support address -  how long it is before your query is answered?
• Call their support line. How long does it take for them to answer? How long before you get to speak to a real person?
• Ask them for the name of some sites that they host. Visit these sites and possibly contact some of the site owners to ask them how happy they are with the service.

If you have followed the pointers in this article you should find a suitable host with whom you can work happily to make your site a long-term success.

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