Posts Tagged ‘Understanding’

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Understanding The Domain Registration Process

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

When it comes to domain registration it is an essential step taken to have your domain name registered and be functional online. Furthermore, when you register your domain through registrars then no one else can use the name.

You should actually choose your domain name before you start with your Web design. Following this you should check the availability of the domain name and then have the domain registration process complete well in advance. This will allow you to start off with Web hosting as soon as your website is ready. Therefore, you will not actually waste time waiting for domain registration and checking domain name availability after your website is ready.

Domain Registration Process

With the tough competition online you will be amazed to see the number of registrars who vie for your business. You will be asked a few questions which include your contact details along with technical information related to your domain name. This information is stored in the main directory known as the registry.

This is the registry that allows you to get e-mail from consumers and clients along with letting them search for your website. You will have to sign a registration contract which will highlight the terms and conditions pertaining to the registration of the particular domain name you have purchased for your website.

Advantage Of Domain Registration

Registering a domain name basically entails that you can create a website from the computer that you’ve registered and allow people to access it from all over the world. This means that you have to have your contact details in the directory which is hierarchically organized and includes the entire domain names online along with the corresponding computers.

These computers are registered to individuals or companies who use the Internet. Each computer that accesses the Internet has its own Internet protocol address. Rather than using the numbers, the domain name actually helps Internet users in finding your the website more conveniently with a textual name.

Options For Domain Registration

There are two options when it comes to registering your domain name. One option is to utilize the domain registration and Web hosting services offered by your DIY site builder service provider. The next option is to utilize the services provided by ISPs where you can get free Internet access and storage space along with a basic number of e-mail addresses.

Domain Registration – Limited Leasing Of Domain Names

You must remember that when you purchase a domain name by registering with the service provider you’re not provided lifetime ownership of the domain name. In fact you will be using it for the timeframe that you have paid for it.

You can however keep renewing your rights of usage on an annual or three-year basis as per the terms and conditions of your package. However, if you let the package expire and do not renew your domain registration and domain name selection in time then in the event that a competitor finds the name catchy and useful they may be able to purchase it.

Therefore, it is essential to buy the domain names from a reliable service provider. They will be able to intimate you well in advance to renew the domain registration so it does not expire. This will prevent competitors or cyber squatters from purchasing the name that you want to be associated with your online business.

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Finding Low Cost Web Hosting Solutions by Understanding What Companies Offer

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Are you looking for low cost web hosting solutions? If you are interested in ideas that can help you solve your web hosting problems than this article will definitely help you find a means to your problems.

There are several low cost web hosting solutions. The key in finding the solution is in understanding what your website needs and what do present servers offer and provide. This article will guide you on how to identify possible solutions.

Here’s a quick solution to identify the right low cost web host for you. Consider these 5 things when assessing a potential server:

Do they offer quick connection?

When choosing the right low cost web host it is important to consider how fast their connection capabilities are. If you are a small business owner, you want to have quick internet interaction. Save time and money. A slow connection can make you loose customers. Try asking around for feedbacks from other service consumers of that server you intend to do business with.

Find out how many other clients will be using the server with you.

Having several websites working along yours can create traffic and develop congestion. This congestion can clog the whole system costing you more in the long run. It is best to check and verify these numbers with your potential server partner. There’s no use of purchasing affordable web hosting if the lanes are congested due to many users. Too much traffic caused by too many cars in limited highways used is what internet traffic looks like.

What is the bandwidth of your server?

Bandwidth is actually what makes a server’s service rate expensive. Bandwidth usage would depend on what type of website you need. If your website is purely made up of static HTMLs with little traffic, then get a package with low bandwidth will do for you. If you expect your website to have lots of traffic than find a server with more bandwidth. Here’s an easy analogy. Bandwidths are like highways. Bandwidth pertains to the number of highways lanes available for cars which cause traffic. One car on one highway doesn’t make any traffic and creates fast and quick access. The more bandwidth service you have, the faster your connections will be. By calculating how much bandwidth you need, you can choose the right low cost web host for your website.

Compare costs with other web hosting servers

Search the web for other low cost server sites. Compare the rates and other hidden charges. Find one that fits your budget. For a monthly cost of $8, you can find a server that has good technical support to take care of your needs. Discount web hosting usually offer lower prices some as low as $3. However it is best to check what you are getting for such a low price. Make sure the web host is reliable and has a credible record. Budget web hosting on the other hand are more reliable. With this kind of web hosting, you can prioritize features you just need for your website. You can do away with other services that cost you dollars that you don’t use.

What other services do they offer?

Check out the amount of space storage they offer. Is there room for your website to grow? Some servers offer very little room space for growth. Check it out before paying. You might be paying a whole year’s worth of service for a space that is insufficient for your growth in the long run. Some low cost servers also offer more technical support coverage as well as a reliable email account services. Try to get as much as you can for every buck that you pay for.

Bill likes blogging about how to find low cost web hosting at HostingRef. You can also read about other hosting related issues such as Unlimited Hosting: Practice Common Sense with Cheap Hosting and has host ratings and reviews.

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Understanding Vegans

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Cooking for the vegan is more or less like cooking for any other ethnic or religious group which restricts certain things from their diet. A little creativity will win you some big points with your vegan customers, and furthermore will help conquer a niche market. Vegans often mourn the lack of restaurants that cater to their needs. Providing some imaginative menu entries for vegan customers will make a happy patron who spreads good word of mouth to their vegan friends!

Understanding Vegans…

Vegans are vegans for any combinations of these reasons:

_Health_ The vegan diet includes whole grains, beans, soy products, olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and fresh spices. Resultantly, they argue, their diet is very high in protein, vitamins, beneficial monounsaturated fats, and antioxidants and other micronutrients, while being moderate in sodium, calories, and saturated fats. In addition, they automatically exclude those scary food contamination problems that strike their meat-eating counterparts, such as e. coli and mad cow disease.

It should be noted that there are essential vitamins missing from the vegan diet, most notably B12, iron, and calcium, which they must supplement by other means. Vitamin-fortified foods or vitamin supplements are usually used.

_Ethics_ Probably the biggest concern is for animal cruelty. Vegans typically wish to exclude any and all forms of “”animal exploitation”" – not just meat and leather, but even the products that you can obtain from an animal without killing it; because even milking a cow or shearing a sheep for wool is still exploiting an animal for a human’s benefit. This is a belief, when held, which varies in degrees of commitment from philosophy to religion.

_Environmental Responsibility_ The typical environmental impact talks about methane gas from domesticated animals being as bad for the ozone layer as emissions from car exhaust, and about how it takes this many acres of land to sustain one cow where the same acres could more efficiently be used to raise crops, and so on.

_Religion_ While religions which specifically require veganism are rare, several sects of Buddhism still require strict adherence to non-violence, including killing an animal. Parts of different philosophies, which usually focus on reducing the impact one’s life has on the Earth, also suggest or enforce vegan beliefs.

_Aesthetics_ It can certainly be argued, if you’ve been inside a slaughterhouse, that the factory-like process of butchering animals is unpleasant in smell and appearance. Vegans also boast that their food just plain tastes and looks better. They say that the elimination of salt, grease, animal fat, and so on keeps their palette clean enough to taste the real essence of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Vegan Cuisine…

One wonders where vegans would be without soybeans. Soy forms a big staple in the vegan diet, in the form of soy milk, soy meat substitutes, and tofu. It is interesting that vegans work so hard to create so many things out of soy beans that look, smell, and taste just like the meat and animal products they are trying to eliminate. Anyway, soy substitutes will be a big part of any large vegan banquet, particularly because soy is so easily fortified with other vitamins and nutrients.

International cuisine holds many wonders for the vegan dietary spectrum. In particular, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Southern Indian, Thai, Mesoamerican, East Asian, and East African cuisine have a rich tradition of recipes and dishes which happen to be vegan-friendly. This is due in part to some parts of the world having birthed their culture in a regional area that doesn’t have a handy livestock animal nearby, or just being poor grazing grounds to start with.

But also, many cultures of the world have a wealth of native crops which lend some interesting flavors to the cuisine. At least here, you can be a little envious of vegans – some of them are gourmets in their own right, and can regale you with tales of Indian curry, rice pilaf, almond deserts, salsa, baba ganoush, seven-grain bread, and various other cultural specialties. Particularly in contrast to the typical North American and European Union homogenized diets, which sometimes seem to consist entirely of hamburgers and fries or chips, the vegans certainly get a wider variety of flavors.

A chef can see this as an artistic challenge to be creative within a strict set of rules, and studying some vegan recipes and the menus at vegan restaurants should give you a host of inspiring ideas.

Meat substitute will usually be some form of tofu. Tofu comes in textures ranging from soft, which is about like yogurt or jello in consistency, to very firm, which is more like a hard cheese. Tofu is marvelous because it can take on the taste of virtually anything.

Make tofu bacon by slicing thin strips of hard tofu and frying in a skillet with vegetable oil, adding a couple drops of liquid smoke flavoring. Or grind hard tofu into a good hamburger and chili substitute. The medium-texture tofu can be used for a cheese substitute. And soy, itself, can be made into anything from milk to yogurt to ice cream, some of it tastes as good if not better than its animal exploiting counterpart.

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Understanding Domain Names

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

UNDERSTANDING DOMAIN NAMES

As we know , there is nobody who controls the Internet. Then you might wonder as to who registers domain name the name to the users. An addressing system was designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The addressing scheme assigns names and numbers to identify the computes on the Internet. These names are called domain names and numbers are called IP addresses.

Every computer system on the Internet has both a domain name and an IP address. This address contains four sets of numbers separated by periods or dots. Each set of numbers can have the values ranging from 1 to 255. The numbers between the dots is called an octet. An IP address is organized from left to right where the leftmost represents the largest network organization and the rightmost octet describes the actual network connection. These combined parts are always unique for the given host. This Domain name scheme has been proved good but the numbers become difficult to manage and to quite an extent impossible to remember. A method for recognition of computers by names was therefore devised. A smaller network making up the Internet, and having many computers or even smaller networks within it, is called a domain. This domain may represent either a type of organization or a geographical location. Smaller networks and computers forming part of the domain may be further split up into sub domains. You should be cautious in the process of domain name registration, as the domain names are the key element used for searching and recognizing sites on the web presence effortlessly

Various options for Network providers are:

com - A company of commercial organization

net - Network resources or Internet service provider

mil - Available to United States Government agencies including the US military

org - Organization, like Non profit Government Organizations (NGOs). Religious

bodies etc.

gov - Government organizations

edu - Educational institutions, colleges, schools etc

Other domains include .biz, .cat, .info, .mobi, .name,.pro, .travel, .tv, .ws, .to

Some other options for countries are

au - Australia

uk - United Kingdom

usa - Unites States of America

fr - France

ca - Canada

Some of the domain name registrars offering domain name registeration services include Go Daddy, Network Solutions, ENOM, Tucows, Register.com, Melbourne IT, etc

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Understanding Php Based Web Hosting

Thursday, April 1st, 2010


The term PHP is a computer based programming language that is meant for generating dynamic web pages. The full form of PHP is “Hypertext Preprocessor”. It is as an open source language which is widely used by programmers and web developers. PHP is considered to be as the most famous server – side scripting language and mostly all the hosting providers offer PHP hosting services within the hosting package itself. With PHP, web developers can perform CGI tasks which include generating of dynamic contents or even be able to send and receive cookies. You as the user should ensure that your hosting company is in a position to support your PHP scripts.

It may so happen that you may face compatibility issues, whereby some scripts which are present in the market may run well only with the latest PHP version. In order to get rid of the above mentioned issue, hosting providers offer two PHP versions. You can then end up changing some scripts for older PHP version. You also need to be aware about the different modules. Ensure that your web hosting provider offers you the modules which are required. If the modules are not being provided by the web host, then at least make sure that you can install them at a latter stage.

It is important to have a proper understanding about the facilities that are provided by your hosting company. Before you purchase a web hosting plan, carefully examine the benefits and disadvantages that are involved in the concerned web hosting package. Find out what you plan on doing for your website in the near future and accordingly buy your web hosting package. Since, you have decided to mainly use PHP hosting service, ensure that your PHP hosting server will be able to support your database. You must be aware that you may not be able to use windows developed applications, on your website because PHP is based in Unix and it is a different operating system, altogether. Even visual Basic will have to be run on a windows platform, since visual basic is not supported on a PHP server.

When you decide upon using a PHP web hosting package make sure that your hosting company will be able to use further applications based on your future needs. Advance planning will not only save your time and money but you will be able to take care of your future web hosting needs. For Example: You may require switching your website’s platform or doing the necessary up gradation with regard to your web pages, in the near future. When the actual time comes, your hosting company must be able to accommodate your web page as per the advancement that is to be required.

These days there are so many PHP hosting companies who advertise their services on the internet. Almost many of them come out with competitive rates and services. Hence it becomes difficult to choose the right PHP web host for your website or blog. Before you make a final decision on purchasing the right PHP web hosting package, ensure that the hosting package that you intend to purchase have enough bandwidth for your current traffic and for the future traffic too. Your current PHP hosting package should offer enough disk space for your concerned website. Also, ensure that your hosting package has sufficient databases as per your website requirement.

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Understanding and Mastering Keyword Rich Domain Names and PPC Marketing

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Keyword enriched domain names offer you several benefits and advantages. Just by looking at your domain name, someone can tell you about the main theme of your web site. In fact, keywords can help you create a brand name for your business. Furthermore, the keyword enriched domain names can help you advertise and promote your web portal by using the most modern method of search engine optimization (SEO). However, the merit and applicability of SEO efforts depend directly on the quality of the domain names in relation to their keywords. Hence, the importance of keywords in SEO is very critical and urgent if you want to make your web portal commerce-enabled.

Domains with good keywords can help you adapt very useful and lucrative PPC marketing techniques. PPC marketing is a growing business technique that helps you build a very strong online presence. An innovative technique helps you advertise you business by using good keywords. In practice, PPC marketing involves airing advertisements for your web portals by using practical keywords. If someone clicks on your advertisement box placed on different web sites, he or she will navigate to your site and have a look at the contents published in the web site. A productive click occurs when someone actually visits your web site.

To make your PPC marketing efforts practical and cheaper, you must ensure that costs of clicks are low. To achieve this, you may wish to raise the base click through rates (CTR) and enhance the quality of web pages. However, to ensure better success, you must have a keyword enriched domain name at your disposal. A good domain name will give credibility to your web site. This will eventually help you raise the CTR.

You can write a PPC ad by adhering to established principles of PPC marketing. In fact, there are three main parts to your PPC advertisements.

a) The Headline
b) The Ad Text
c) The URL to Click

However, the last part of the PPC needs is very critical to the success of PPC. Before starting your PPC campaign, make sure that you stick on the following rules.

The importance of domain name extensions: Domain extensions are very important for PPCX campaign. While people still use extensions like .biz and .net, using a .com extension still makes lot of sense. This extension is very professional and it gives a sense of professionalism to your web site and PPC campaign. Finding a good .com domain name could be very difficult these days. However, a careful search may help you find an acceptable name that can eventually help you flag off your PPC campaign.

The power of capitalization: Make sure that you capitalize the keywords in your PPC ads. This simple step can help you generate many PPC click through to your web site. It is also possible to raise the quality score of your web site in the Google search engine.

Employing keyword enriched domain names are very crucial to make your PPC campaign a successful one. It will also help you generate enough traffic to the web site. Domains that contain practical and feasible keywords can assist you in making your online venture into an individual business brand.

John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web site called www.expireddomaingain.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

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Understanding Web Hosting Provider Services

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Millions of people are discovering the benefits of online marketing every day. A personal Web site or an Internet-based business requires a hosting provider where all the site information is stored. Visitors access that stored information when they visit your site. Learning a bit about how the Internet works will help you understand the service that a hosting company provides.

The Internet is aptly described with the ‘www’ – world-wide-web – a huge worldwide network. Every computer that connects to the Internet becomes a part of that ‘web’ and is given a unique identifying or IP address (Internet Protocol). Your IP address is like a phone number and other computers can communicate with yours because of it. However, we don’t type in a series of numbers but a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) when we want to visit a website. The Domain Name System automatically translates the URL into the corresponding IP address.

For your Website to be available online, you must place it on a Web server that is permanently connected to the Internet. The server provides services and security. Hosting companies provide, for a fee, space on their server, software that helps drive your website and the benefits of their expertise.

Hosting companies offer different service packages or plans designed to provide you with the services you need without making you pay for services you don’t need. Every hosting company packages different combinations of features and charges different prices for those packages.

When choosing a Web hosting provider, it is important that you avoid making an impulsive decision to go for the first low ball offer that comes your way. They may have the basics to get you started but there are hosting services that you may not need in the beginning but may appreciate having as your site grows. Many will provide you with everything required to get your site up and running with numerous tools that can benefit your marketing campaign.

The three most common services are shared hosting, virtual and dedicated hosting.

Shared Hosting: Just as the name implies, you will share a server – with hundreds of other hosting clients – and agree to use a certain percent of the server CPU that won’t exceed. Sudden peaks in traffic and data transfer may cause your website to exceed the limit, giving the provider the right to temporarily seize your website. Virtual Private Hosting: While physically still sharing a server with other websites, a VPS offers an environment like your own server. One server can be divided into individual units that run on their own operative system and can be individually rebooted. However, you will still be sharing the physical server’s CPU-usage, disk space and bandwidth with other VPS users. Dedicated Hosting: You will have a server dedicated to your website and your website only. All storage space, bandwidth and CPU capacity is for your use.

Look for a service that provides clear terms of service, guides, tips and articles to help, whether you’re a novice or an expert webmaster. These will help you understand how to use the services and features. A quality hosting service will provide excellent customer service. Consider contacting the services of your choice to see how fast you get a response. Online marketing only works if your site is active and working properly. When there’s trouble, you want to know that you’ll get an immediate response.

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Understanding the True Value of a Web Hosting Provider

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The true value of a web hosting provider lies within the fulfillment of your actual web host requirements. You must first understand your basic web hosting needs with regard to your website. Based on your requirement, you can judge the importance of a web hosting provider who should be useful to your specific needs rather than being generally compatible to all web masters. In short, the true value of a web hosting provider can be seen when the web hosting provider is able to fulfill all specific needs of the concerned owner of the website. Now, picture the following situations before you actually acquire a web hosting provider for your website.

1) Getting tempted towards a cheap web hosting plan:

These days, you are bombarded with all sorts of advertisement which promise to offer web hosting solutions at cheap price. However, if you fall for the price trap, you may end up experiencing your website to be running slow. Since you have opted for a cheap web hosting service, you may be also denied service due limited bandwidth.

2) Consequences of not clearly defining your actual requirements:

Every webmaster should have a clear idea of what he or she would like to install with regard to scripts. If the webmaster does not have a clear idea of the required facility before selecting a web hosting plan, he can fall into trouble. Example: Suppose a webmaster has selected a web hosting service without understanding the resources that the concerned web hosting provider offers. Now, he wants to change his static HTML pages to dynamic. But he is held up because he realizes that his web hosting provider does not provide the facility of changing the present script. In short, the host servers are not compatible with the scripts. In such a situation, a web master will loose months of work.

3) Managing several websites through one account:

The idea of putting all eggs in one basket is not acceptable. In other words, you must never try to manage several websites through just one account. If your web host is down due to some reason, you will notice that all your websites will simultaneously go down and in the bargain you will loose hours on work time. The best option is to split your account across 2 or more physical servers. So, get in touch with your web hosting provider and ask him whether he can provide you with two or several accounts, so that if one fails, you can yet continue to maintain your daily work schedule, through the second account.

3) Taking testimonials for granted :

Many web hosting providers put forward testimonials in front of you, in order to convince you about how good they are as a web hosting provider. If you take testimonials at face value, you are likely to be tricked by web hosts. Hence, the only best way of gauging the true value of a service provider is by getting in touch with other webmasters and then talking to their customers.

Try to collect some customer names of their website and ask the web host to allow you to contact any of his customers. If for any reason, the web host provider does not allow you to contact his customers; you must then be aware and be alert about using his web hosting services.

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Understanding the Different Types of Web Hosting

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Web hosting providers offer many different types of hosting like free web hosting, Shared, Reseller, Virtual Dedicated Server, Dedicated, Managed, Colocation, Clustered, Grid. By glancing through the list, you should get a better understanding on all the different hosting packages available online and which one is the right service for you.

Free web hosting service : is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.

Shared Hosting : (My personal favorite) is a type of hosting where many web sites are hosted on same physical server. It is the cheapest and easiest way to get a web site up and running. Shared web hosting is perfect for web blogs, personal web pages, small forums, small business and e-commerce sites. Shared web hosting is ideal for establishing simple websites.

Reseller hosting : is a certain kind of web hosting where you buy server space, market it yourself, and sell it on to your own customers. Most of the resellers are web designers, consultants or marketers, who want to offer their customers a complete package with hosting included.

Virtual Dedicated Server : offer many of the capabilities and features of dedicated servers, including admin (root) access and dedicated IP addresses, but at a much lower price. However, as a virtual dedicated server is, indeed, virtually dedicated, the customer in fact shares the server space with a small number of other customers. Virtual dedicated servers meet the needs of web sites that have outgrown garden-variety shared hosting, but which don’t yet justify the expense of their own dedicated server. Virtual dedicated servers come with an easy-to-use control panel that offers a highly powerful tool box that allows you easy access to powerful features.

Dedicated server : means you are renting an entire physical server for use all by yourself. Getting a dedicated server means you don’t have to share system resources with other websites. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities , providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to collocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.

Managed hosting : is usually more expensive since the web host will be responsible for managing and maintaining the dedicated server. Managed hosting service can be considered as an upgraded version of web hosting. The managed hosting provider takes the responsibility of hosting the clients website in a well managed way.Managed hosting firms can also help businesses change their network and systems, upgrading, adding options and extending solutions.

Colocation hosting : is like having a server on your own. With colocation you can save time and money because of using shared data infrastructure. Colocation hosting is the next best thing if you are willing to provide the server and manage it by yourself. If you don’t have much experience or can’t spend a lot of time managing the server or want to buy a server computer, dedicated hosting or a VPS is the best option.

Clustered Hosting : is a group of servers clustered in the same network to perform hosting services. The purpose of Clustered Hosting technology is to eradicate the troubles inherent in typical shared hosting infrastructures.

Grid hosting : is a new approach to a shared hosting environment. Instead of a few websites sharing one server, in the more classic shared environment, grid hosting is a bunch of websites all sharing a bunch of servers.

Well I hope this article gave you a better understanding on what web hosting service is right for you. We understand that it is not easy to just go and find the best host service out there. There are literally thousands of hosting companies on the market today. We have taken the time and put the effort into finding the best <a target=”_new” rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(’/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.affordableweb-hosting.com/”>affordable web hosting</a> services. We are careful to recommend only the most reputable web hosting companies. Visit <a target=”_new” rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(’/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.affordableweb-hosting.com/”>http://www.affordableweb-hosting.com/</a>

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Understanding Web Hosting

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

You have your new business and you are planning to set up your website and tell the whole world about your business and that you have a lot of products and services that you want to share. You also have in mind the design of your site and a catchy domain name. So what will be the next step? The answer is, to find a web hosting provider that will host your website. Puzzled? Let us start with the basics.

What is Web Hosting?

In simple terms, web hosting is renting a space on a web server. A website is not simply a domain name, it is a collection of files linked together by HTML code to display text and graphics on a computer. In order for anybody to see this collection of files you’ve created, it has to be housed on a computer somewhere that has access to the internet. Not just any computer will do, of course. A web server is 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. It is very much like a waiter in a restaurant taking your order and bringing the food that you ask for from the kitchen, hence the name “server.”

Along with making sure your files can be seen by internet users around the world, a web server provides other important services as well. First and foremost is the ability to create email addresses based on your domain name and to send and receive email with them. The web server also has various types of software installed on it that allow your website to run programs, create and manage databases, display video, and many other functions you might find useful. 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 you avail of the web hosting services, the fee that you are going to pay goes to the maintenance of the server’s hardware and software. You also pay the cost of keeping the website online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a secure data center with a fast and powerful internet connection with repetitive uninterruptible power supply. And to pay for the expertise of the people who do all the work.

What kinds of web hosting services are offered?

Shared Hosting – Most websites are not huge affairs with hundreds of pages and thousands of files and graphics, and they are targeted toward a particular audience, so they will not get as many visitors as the large general sites like Yahoo! that are targeted at everybody who uses the internet. As such, the average website therefore is not going to require the full resources of an entire web server to run it. Web servers are designed to be able to handle dozens, even hundreds of websites at once because they are powerful machines.

Shared hosting is simply the concept of hosting more than one website on a particular server. Over 95% of all websites on the internet are being run in a shared hosting environment. Since the resources of the server can be split among the clients hosted on it, so can the costs of operating the server, so shared hosting is universally cheaper than any other type. Shared hosting packages are generally designed so that each client is allotted a certain amount of each resource, with different payment levels representing different amounts of resources such as disk space, bandwidth, email addresses, and so on. Shared hosting is also known as virtual hosting.

Dedicated Hosting – If you do have a big, powerful website that gets lots of visitors and has a tendency to hog resources, then you might want to have a web server all to yourself. Some companies also prefer the extra security of not having to share the server with anyone else who could do something accidentally or on purpose to crash it. Renting the use of an entire server is known as dedicated hosting. The web hosting company still owns the machine and takes responsibility for maintaining the hardware and the web hosting software, but you have greater control over the configuration and use of the server. There is also such a thing as semi-dedicated hosting, in which a web server is only split between a very small number of clients, such as 2 to 4, with strong partitions between each to prevent them from interfering with one another. Since the hosting company is still responsible for the upkeep of the server, this type of hosting is also known as managed hosting. For obvious reasons, dedicated hosting always costs significantly more than shared hosting.

Server Co-Location – If you really want complete control over every aspect of your web server, you might very well choose to buy one and maintain it yourself if you have sufficient knowledge. However, chances are that you still don’t have the resources to keep your server completely safe from power outages, roof leaks, thieves, unwary employees and other hazards and keep it on the internet on a fast, high-bandwidth connection at all times. You need a data center to provide those services for you. Co-location is the rental of physical security, continuous electrical power and a fast, reliable internet connection for a server that you own. The data center is not responsible for any of the hardware or software maintenance of a co-located server, you are. This can be a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting if you have the necessary expertise and time to run a web server yourself.

Are there any platforms to choose from?

Web hosting providers offer both Linux and Windows platforms to choose from. Web hosting providers typically use free editions of Unix based Linux operating systems such as Debian, Red Hat, or Free BSD, this alone reduces the end cost of a web hosting plan to the consumer due to there being no licensing fees incurred like there is with the Windows operating system.

The free editions of Linux are released under what is known as the GNU license, this license has no costs involved, and also allows access to the source code of the operating system to allow for modification and optimization which is very important, this allows the host to optimize the operating system to their hardware requirements, and also allows quick fixes for any security issues that may come up.

Typically Unix web servers are the most stable, with the flexibility required to allow upgrades and expansion. Almost always Unix servers that are setup for serving websites are configured in text mode which uses fewer resources, they do not run a graphical user interface which allows the server to devote as much of its own resources to the websites it is hosting. Unix based operating systems support the following. PHP, MySQL, PostgresSQL, Perl, CGI-BIN, Ruby on Rails and many more.

Windows is of course is the most widely known operating system, and as you know, you pay to use the Windows operating system on your desktop, and this is no different when it comes to using the Windows Server operating system. The Windows Server operating system does support some technologies that Unix currently does not. Only Windows hosting plans support scripting languages such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Cold Fusion, Active Perl, C++, C#, and Visual Basic.

Only Windows Server operating system will run Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Access Databases, Microsoft SQL Databases, IIS. If you are planning to use any of the above languages or database types on your website, you will need to purchase a Windows hosting plan.

You could spend a long time trying to learn everything there is to know about web hosting, but if you’ve read this far then you should be armed with the basic knowledge you need to understand what different web hosts are offering you. Your next task is to figure out what you need and go out and find a host that wants to give it to you at a great price! To know more about web hosting, you can visit our site BNS Hosting and we will be glad to entertain all your questions.

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