Updates from November, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • admin 10:58 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Web Hosting Guide 

    Website hosting guide like is an educational guide educating the readers about the basics of web hosting. It covers topics, such as: web- industry Definitions, how the web hosting works, types of web hosting and additional information like web hosting considerations and much more.

    Web Industry Definitions:

    • Bandwidth: The internet connection provided for hosting website.
    • Control Panel: Interface provided for managing various hosting tasks defined.
    • Data Centres: The large buildings housing web servers.
    • Disk Space: The space used to store website related files on server.
    • Hosting or web hosting: The act of publishing website on internet.
    • Web Hosting Package: The plans providing hosting specifications.
    • Web Hosting Service providers: The companies providing hosting services.
    • Internet Service Providers: Companies other than web hosting providers providing internet connectivity.

    Web Hosting GuideHow web hosting works?

    Webmasters develop web pages for website owners, using content, images, animations (optional), different programming languages and technologies depending on the website business models and website owner’s guidelines. The approved files are presented to web hosting service providers for the purpose of web hosting. Web hosting service providers save these files on web servers and publish them on internet, as per the selected web hosting plan. Website owners can either continue to use or plan to change the web hosting packages or types of web hosting option depending upon the website usage and ongoing business requirements.

    Types of web hosting

    There are different types of web hosting options available in the market. Primarily, two main categories of web hosting are: Free Web Hosting and Paid web hosting. Paid web hosting is available in different types, including: Shared Web Hosting, Reseller Web Hosting, Colocated web hosting, and more. Selection of web hosting option can be made depending upon the website needs and the budget available in hand. However, the option for changing the web host or of upgrading the web hosting package is always available.

    Web Hosting Considerations

    Web hosting considerations help the website owners in deciding which type of web hosting is best suited as per the business requirements. This can be done by considering the findings made while estimating web hosting needs. This includes taking decisions on: amount of disk space, bandwidth, additional domains allowed, domain parking, e-mail hosting, round the clock technical support, 24X7 customer support and more. However, diligent care needs to be taken while selecting the best web hosting plan.

    This article serves as a primer of a web hosting guide and can be expanded anytime for more comprehensive coverage.

     

  • admin 10:57 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Guide To Change Your Web Host 

    Facing problems with your old web host? The following steps can help you as a guide to change your web host. These include:

    • Guide To Change Your Web Host Keep the account open with the old web host; till the time, website is up with the new host.
    • Open a new account with the new web host.
    • Inform your website visitors about the transition to take place. This will help in keeping them calm, in case, any problem appears.
    • Provide the visitors with an alternate e-mail ID, but also keep the old email ID active. This will help you as no e-mails will be lost while the transition is taking place.
    • Start taking backup of the current website and the database, if any; just before starting the transition. This will help in collecting the latest versions of the web-pages and updated database tables.
    • Follow necessary instructions to match the back-up data files with new servers’ file formats.
    • Upload the website on a temporary URL and after checking change the DNS information.
    • Continue uploading the top level pages first, followed by other pages. It is advised to focus on most visible pages first.
    • Check for the scripts and server paths to ensure that all the features and functionalities are well supported by the new server and are running successfully.
    • After the uploading is complete, double check if all the files have been uploaded. Make sure that the links and media files are checked and are functional.
    • Make the website with the new host available to the customers. Continue informing visitors about the transition, even some time after the transition is complete. This will help you as they can alert you if any web-page is malfunctioning. Update the visitors about the necessary changes expected. Ex. URL change, if any.
    • Check the website performance at the new host for at-least 2-3 days. In case, any problem is experienced, rectify taking proper actions.
    • After confirming all the necessary changes, proceed to cancel the account with the old host.

    While finalizing the new host, make sure that, the new host provides at-least some benefits in comparison to the older one. Make at-least two copies of the back-up; use one for working on later and use the second one for archival purposes. Try to schedule transition at a time when least website traffic is expected.

    Following this guide to change your web host; will provide you with a seamless hosting transition.

     

  • admin 10:56 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Estimate your Hosting Needs 

    How to determine the web hosting needs is an important question that finds its place in the discussion between a website owner and the webmaster consulted. In order to estimate your web hosting needs you need to have a clear understanding of the features of a hosting plan and their usage specifications as per the business requirements. Following points may help you to estimate your hosting needs with an ease.

    • Estimate your Hosting Needs Understanding website requirements: Websites are developed using some technologies, programming languages, scripts and in some cases databases as well. The web programmer should be to work on the best technicalities possible. Each element used occupies some disk space. Thus, he needs to make a proper balance between the latest, economical and easy maintenance technologies at affordable prices.
    • Understanding disk space: Every website is made up of files occupying different amounts of disk space. Lighter files need lesser space whereas, heavy files occupy more space. For example: text based webpage is lighter than the webpage laced with image(s). Similarly, images, e-commerce websites, forum-based websites and database driven websites occupy more disk space and hence, can be expensive.
    • Understanding bandwidth: Every website consumes bandwidth on every action performed; either a download or an upload. As the website traffic increases, the actions on the webpage increase and hence, bandwidth consumption increases. Bandwidth costs money.
    • Understanding hosting plans: Based on the finalized budget, the best hosting plan can be selected from different types of web hosting plans.

    Tips to estimate your hosting needs are presented as follows:

    • Don’t jump into learning the technicalities yourself; a basic understanding is enough. Consult the web-programmer for specifics.
    • Try to make the website as light as possible, so that it occupies as much less disk space as possible.
    • Try to make the web pages as light as possible, so that they consume as bandwidth as possible.
    • Check if the web hosting service provider supports the technologies and databases versions used.
    • Look for the webmasters who can suggest you with the best possible combination of the features discussed, and all this at affordable price structure.
    • Look for the service providers who provide the facility of upgrading on minimal or preferably; no charges at all.

    The experts and the experienced advice to estimate your hosting needs, even prior to searching and choosing a web host. Such an approach protects you from the trouble of changing a web host if it doesn’t meet the website requirements.

     

  • admin 10:56 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Features of a Hosting Plan 

    Hosting plans in the web hosting industry are the offers provided to end-users for uploading websites on server. These web hosting packages are offered in different combinations of what are called the features of a hosting plan. The notable features of a hosting plan are discussed in detail as follows:

    • Features of a Hosting Plan Disk Space: Every website needs some space in order to be hosted on a server. Like any other computer, server also has some space available to be used. Web hosting service providers allot this space to the client users to be used for hosting their websites. This space is called disk space. Disk space is used to store necessary files of website, such as text, images, and database and log files. Hence, depending upon the business requirements, an optimum disk space can be calculated and clients can then choose their best website hosting plan.
    • Bandwidth: Every webpage of a website consumes some bandwidth while loading or performing any action that particular web page. The content rich or text based web-pages consume lesser bandwidth in comparison to the web pages with images or running some pre-loaded scripts. Likewise, websites with lesser traffic consume lesser bandwidth in comparison to the websites with more traffic. Hence, depending upon the website requirements, the end-users can make an estimate of the bandwidth to be consumed and then clients can select best web hosting plan.
    • Data Transfer: Web hosting involves transferring data across network lines whenever a web page is requested. The data is transferred in these lines in small packets measured in bytes. At a given point of time, every web hosting service providers sets the amount of data transfer limits. Like other features, business owners need to check and decide on the data transfer limits as well.
    • CGI Scripts: Different websites perform different actions online, depending upon their website business models. Based upon the business models, different scripts need to be installed for performing added functionalities. The point that needs to be checked while choosing the best hosting plan is that, end users should finalize on the service provider whosoever supports the scripts installed and is best suited to the business requirements.
    • Secure Server: Secure server provide the websites with secure connection for collecting and sharing confidential information. Generally, e-commerce websites use this feature for governing transactions, but, it is also used by certain websites, which provide restricted access to confidential information to the visitors.

    The clients should gain proper understanding of all the features of a hosting plan, before searching for the best web hosting plan.

     

  • admin 10:55 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    ASP Hosting 

    ASP web hosting refers to web hosting provided by the web hosting companies who provide support for ASP (Active Server Pages). The ASP hosting service can be provided only by the ASP web hosting companies and not by the ones who do not support ASP. ASP hosting is considered to be one of the best platforms for creating dynamic websites.

    Notable features of ASP Hosting include: technical support for latest technologies, such as; Perl Python, and many more, add-ons for Miva Merchant and ColdFusion applications, web-based control panel, webmail access, e-commerce features, multiple e-mail accounts, database connectivity, weblogs, discussion forms and much more.

    Availability of these features makes ASP hosting a preferred choice of web developers.

    ASP Hosting ASP web hosting is superior in comparison to other competitors in the industry because it allows web developers to perform server side scripting with HTML for creating dynamic and highly interactive websites. ASP hosting faces its competition from PHP. Sometimes, few end-users prefer choosing PHP over ASP because PHP is an open source platform and available free of cost. This very fact makes ASP hosting a little expensive. Hence, business owners with limited budget look for web hosting options other than ASP web hosting. Even though, ASP hosting calls for a little more expenditure, it still remains a favourite pick in the web hosting industry.

    Advantages of using ASP hosting includes:

    Like other web hosting service providers, ASP web hosting companies should be selected keeping some precautions in mind. The tips for selecting ASP web hosting provider include, checking for:

    • Features of the plans offered: Match if the plan features match the specific requirements, as required. A prior experience in hosting any other ASP based website will be beneficial.
    • Reliability of the provider: Look for the ones with least server downtime. They should have their back up plans in place. ASP web hosting service providers should be able to provide timely technical support.
    • Cost against value: Do not be afraid to pay a little extra if the service provider is offering some substantial benefits. This is beneficial if the end users have any plans of expand the website in future.
    • Flexibility in plans: A good service provider should be one which allows flexibility for upgrading the plans with the minimal or no extra costs. Such an understanding should be established before finalizing the deal.
    • Version support: As ASP is an ever evolving language; new versions are introduced very often. The service provider should be able to provide support for the very version.
     

  • admin 10:53 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    E-commerce Hosting 

    E-commerce hosting is a type of web hosting required for hosting e-commerce websites.

    E-commerce web hosting providers offer administrative control panel for storing the information about the products or services to be sold and processing information related to money transaction. It also includes additional features required for hosting an e-commerce website. More about the features is mentioned in the coming paragraphs.

    Features of E-commerce web hosting plans

    Web service providers offer different types of e-commerce hosting plans. These plans also called business hosting plans, offer different features at different prices. Some notable features of e-commerce web hosting plans are:

    • E-commerce Hosting Availability of domain name: Website should have its unique domain name and an IP address for world-wide access
    • Availability of hosting space with the host: Host should be able to provide with ample amount of space for uploading necessary files on web server.
    • E-commerce website templates: Tools to build e-commerce website, as mentioned below.
    • Inclusion of tools: Creating online catalogs, used to inform customers about the product specifications.
    • Maintenance of Inventory: Tracking the stock counts, used to prohibit customers from ordering out-of-stock products.
    • Acceptance of orders: Taking orders and collecting related ordering information from the customers.
    • Incorporation of secure online payment system: Order processing tools, used to run proper checking of all the pre-requisites and providing a secure online payment system.
    • Web marketing tools: Web marketing packages and mailing lists, used for keeping the customers updated with the new additions and new promotions.

    Tips to choose perfect e-commerce web hosting providers

    Every business owner or any website owner who plans to sell their products or service online needs to have a proper understanding of the points to keep in mind while choosing an ecommerce web hosting provider. These include:

    • End-users should thoroughly understand the business requirements and the services offered by the service providers. Service providers should then be short-listed based upon the services matching to business requirements.
    • End-users should ask for previous success stories matching to the business requirements. This will later on help in providing effective customer support, whenever required.
    • End-users should double-check the features mentioned, services provided and costs incurred in the plan selected. They can ask questions to probe into the matter to gain more understanding.

    As more businesses are shifting online, it becomes necessary to gain understanding of the basics involved in developing an e-commerce website and web hosting required for e-commerce websites.

     

  • admin 10:51 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Green Hosting 

    Green hosting or Green web hosting is not a new type of web hosting service; it is just an eco-friendly alternative to the traditional web hosting. It is also called eco-friendly web hosting or environment friendly web hosting. Working on the concept of Green marketing, many organizations and web hosting service providers opt for Green web hosting services in order to make their contribution to save the nature.

    Differences between Green web hosting and traditional web hosting include, the difference of sources of power used to run the equipments. Traditionally, organizations and web service providers are dependent on coal or nuclear energy driven plants for power supplies, but, the Green web hosting companies, provide power sourced by renewable sources. This type of green energy can be sourced using wind, solar energy, biogas or thermal energy.

    Green Hosting Green web hosting companies include organizations generating their own renewable energy and the web hosting providers selecting to go green (called green hosts or green web hosting providers). Organizations which cannot generate their own renewable power turn to green web hosting providers. Many web service providers use green web hosting service just as a marketing gimmick to attract more customers. A proper understanding about the offers made comparison of the features, services promised and pricing structure may help in taking a guided decision.

    Learning about how to select a green web hosting provider or company involves a lot of research work. Here are some tips for selecting best green web hosting service provider.

    • Run a search on internet and compare the packages offered against the features and pricing.
    • Ask for recommendations from the contacts and learn more from their own experiences.

    Pay a personal visit to the service provider office and check for their routine and service efficiency. You can discuss about:

    • How do they actually make the initiatives green? Do they use renewable energy or take some other environment friendly initiatives? What are their particular green web hosting initiatives?
    • How do they manage their office’s internal resources? Do they reuse or recycle? How and where?

    Green web hosting initiatives taken up by the green web providers include: minimising energy consumptions, limiting emissions from data centres, using energy efficient hardware and appliances, funding environmental programs and charities, and more of such actions.

    Looking into the future, as the need to look after the nature and natural resources is rising at an alarming rate; more organizations and green web hosting service providers are joining in.

     

  • admin 10:51 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    WordPress Hosting 

    WordPress hosting is yet another type of web hosting which provides web hosting services to novices and beginners in the web hosting industry. WordPress, being an open source, provides tools and features for creating attractive websites and blogs. WordPress hosting provides the users with the facility to host their websites and blogs on their server on shared basis. It further helps the end-users by providing pre-installed scripts for creating the web-pages and content. However, in addition to this, some editable files are also made available for the self-hosted users (end-users having their own servers).

    Wordpress Hosting Generally speaking developing a website or a blog involves a set of tasks, such as creating web-pages, applying styles to the content written and applying themes to the web pages itself, and much more. And, once the web –pages or a blog is created, it needs to be hosted with some web hosting service provider in order to make the website / blog available over the web. All these tasks require having some basic understanding of the technicalities involved. But, having said this doesn’t means that the people with limited or no knowledge about the technicalities involved, cannot host their websites or blogs.

    Here comes the significance of WordPress hosting.

    WordPress hosting is more advantageous in comparison to other web hosting services. Certain advantages of WordPress hosting include:

    • Cheap web hosting service: WordPress hosting provides the end users with the benefits of shared hosting platform. WordPress hosting works on a perception that the end-users needs only limited space on the server and a little bandwidth; just similar to pre-requisites for shared hosting.
    • Ease of maintenance: WordPress hosting is handled using a web based admin panel, such as cPanel. Its features help in separating the design related elements from the content related elements. Hence, the user concentrates on managing the content and some pre-defined themes are made available for managing the design related elements.
    • Freedom from technical knowledge: WordPress works on advanced technology that allows the users to contribute without having a basic understanding of the codes and technicalities involved.

    Different types of WordPress hosting models have been cited. These include:

    • WordPress Business hosting, which is best suited for business needs.
    • WordPress Shared hosting, which is best suited for novices and individuals.

    Some advocate that as WordPress is an open source content management and blog hosting tool, the WordPress hosting is not as secure, but, contrary to this fact, many leading brands prefer WordPress hosting over other platforms for fulfilling web-hosting needs.

     

  • admin 10:50 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Colocation Server Hosting 

    Literally speaking, the term ‘Colocation’ means the procedure of placing the server (or equipment) in another location. Hence, it implies that Colocation server hosting is a type of web hosting service, wherein; the server is co-located in a premises other than the client’s own organization premises. Colocation Server Hosting or Co-location server hosting or Colocation web hosting service or Colocated Server hosting or co-located hosting, all of these terms, refer to just one type of web hosting service only.

    Colocation Server Hosting Technically speaking, establishing a Colocation server hosting involves the following steps:

    • An organization prepares a server by installing necessary programs, applications and tools.
    • Then, the required files and other necessary information are uploaded to the server.
    • The server is then taken to the web hosting company premises and installed in their rack.
    • The web hosting company then provides an IP number, assigns a specific bandwidth and supplies power to the server machine.
    • The server is set to be up and running.

    After this, the website(s) can be accessed from anywhere in the world. The main benefit lies in the fact that in this situation, the client owns the hardware unlike any other web hosting option. The web hosting company charges a rental fee in lieu of placing the server in their premises. In case, the internet connection is taken by the same service provider then a connection fees is also charged.

    Colocation server hosting is an attractive web hosting option, as it provides the advantages of a larger organization to a comparatively small sized organization, within its limited budget constraints. This may include providing benefits to:

    • Organizations with limited technical professionals by supplementing large IT departmental facilities through the web hosting company’s team. This includes conditions such as, professionals with limited experience working with the client organization and organizations which cannot employ additional workforce due to some or the other reason.
    • Website owners having websites with large amounts of website traffic. This includes supplementing the bandwidth requirements, without any additional expenditure.
    • Once, the server is set up and running, the client organizations then can send their IT professionals to the hosting company’s site for regular maintenance tasks and upgrading the machine, whenever required. Another approach involves signing a contract with the Colocation hosting company itself for maintaining the server; against some charges.
    • Some points to be taken care of while selecting the Colocation server hosting company may include, checking for: facility, physical infrastructure, security, bandwidth, IP address, technical support, uptime guarantee, and governing contract.
     

  • admin 10:49 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    VPS Hosting 

    VPS hosting is the short and concise term used for Virtual Private Server hosting. VPS hosting is also known with the name of Virtual dedicated server hosting or Virtual Personal Server hosting. This is one of the types of web hosting service, in which the web server and its related resources are divided into multiple virtual servers. The point to be noted here is that the division is ‘virtual’ and not ‘physical’.

    Using the term – ‘virtual’, in the context of VPS hosting means that the web server, where the websites are being hosted, is not physically divided into different components, rather the division is performed virtually. This is technically termed as, the concept of Virtualization in web hosting.

    VPS Hosting Virtualization in the field of web hosting means, that the main server’s operating system is divided into separate operating systems; all running on the same physical web server. Every single and fully independent server is called virtual private server. To keep it in more simple words, the web server using VPS hosting works on a set of multiple virtual private servers.

    VPS hosting provides the website owners with an added advantage; as each independent virtual private server performs every single function performed by a dedicated server. This results in minimizing the infrastructural costs, as the same hardware is used every time a new server is configured using the same physical server. Like any other physical server, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) can perform all the basic functionalities; which include: installing new applications (as and when required), performing file or folder related actions (creating and saving new files and/or folders), creating and editing different users and assigning necessary permissions, as required and much more.

    The service providers providing VPS hosting are called virtual service providers. These providers offer different VPS hosting packages depending upon different features of VPS hosting – usage of RAM, CPU cycles, disk space and bandwidth. Based on these features, there are two types of VPS hosting available, namely: Managed VPS hosting and unmanaged VPS hosting. Business owners should think cautiously about how to choose a VPS hosting service provider.

    Finalizing on VPS hosting is an economical solution for the small and mid-sized business owners, with limited budget, as they will not be required to purchase new hardware if a new server is required anytime. VPS hosting is a smart solution for such business owners, as it will provide the business owners with the flexibility of dedicated server hosting in the price bracket of shared hosting.

     

← Older posts

Newer posts →

c
compose new post
j
next post/next comment
k
previous post/previous comment
r
reply
e
edit
o
show/hide comments
t
go to top
l
go to login
h
show/hide help
shift + esc
cancel