One should be fully aware of his/her hosting requirements before choosing a web host. One’s only concern should be to get a decent amount of disk space for his/her web site with a host that is as cheap as $5 per month if he/she is a beginner wanting to host a personal web site. Nevertheless, if he/she is an online entrepreneur, a developer, or an online business looking for e-commerce capabilities or advanced scripting technologies, then he/she can decide upon his/her requirements in the following order.

(1) Whether Shared Hosting or Dedicated Hosting is required:

two major requirements on which this depends are – 1) the traffic one’s web site is estimated to receive and 2) the degree of administrative privileges he/she needs. If one is expecting to receive huge amounts of traffic, then he/she will need to have a Dedicated Server, which definitely has a much greater bandwidth offering. He/She should select dedicated server hosting if his/her web site requires customized options, secure information or complex applications i.e. dynamic content, e-commerce, database and multimedia applications.

(2) Whether one needs Linux Hosting or Windows Hosting: One should use a Windows hosting provider if he/she is going to use server technologies such as ASP, JSP etc or intend to run Microsoft applications like Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database on his/her server. There are securities and reliability concerns related to ASP, though it can be run on the Linux platform by using some commercial applications. However, ColdFusion can run on both Linux and Windows platforms if one wants to use it.

(3) What are one’s Space and Bandwidth requirements: nowadays, many web hosts are offering 1 GB to 3 GB generous amounts of disk space. However, One’s disk space requirements may be 5 to 10 times greater than this, if his/her web site mainly acts as a download resource. The second consideration is one’s bandwidth requirements may be estimated by the amount of traffic his/her web site is expected to receive.

(4) FTP Accounts and Anonymous FTP Requirements: if one has coworkers working on his/her web site project at different locations he/she may need more than one FTP account. The Anonymous FTP permits the public to access certain directories on his/her web server to whom they have been granted permission. For Anonymous FTP to function, one will need a dedicated IP address.

(5) The number of Parked Domains and Subdomains one needs:

The amount of traffic to one’s web site can be increased significantly, as Parked domains are very advantageous. Likewise, by pointing to specific directories of one’s web site, subdomains can help with search engine rankings. Parked domains and subdomains seldom come free with certain web hosting packages. However, One will have to pay an additional price per month if he/she needs more

(6) Whether one needs e-commerce Features: One should choose a web host that provides e-commerce functionality such as shopping carts and the ability to accept credit cards if he/she needs e-commerce features. Also, check if their server is SSL secured.

The under mentioned considerations must be kept in mind when looking for a quality web host in addition to one’s own hosting requirements.

(1) More than 99.5% uptime: If one’s web site is for business purposes, it’s very essential that one’s site stays online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Therefore, one should choose a web host that has an uptime greater than 99.5% and if there is an uptime guarantee, it’s even better.

(2) Server Backups: To make one’s data secure, his/her web host must have a power backup system and should backup the data to an external device in order to prevent the data loss due to failure. One should test out how regularly the web host backups data, i.e. either daily or weekly.

(3) Moneyback Guarantee: It makes one risk-free, if the Web host gives a moneyback guarantee.

(4) Fast Servers: One should choose a web host with at least a T3 connection to the major Internet backbone as the level of connectivity of his/her web host to the Internet is very important. If one’s web site takes more than 30 seconds to load, chances are that he/she will loose a lot of visitors and consequently sales as according to the analysis the average web visitor waits for about 30 seconds before a web page loads.

(5) Unrestricted CGI, SSH, FTP access & Anonymous FTP: CGI and FTP access is provided by most web hosts while SSH access is provided by a few so If one have a professional web site, he/she will need to run CGI scripts, have SSH (Secure Shell) access and FTP access. He/she will also require checking if anonymous FTP access is being provided.

(6) Disk Space and Bandwidth: Mostly 1 GB to 3 GB of disk space is being offered by web hosts, so if one’s web site is not mainly a download resource, then this factor is not that important for him/her. Always choose a web host that meets one’s, disk space and bandwidth requirements. However, bandwidth should be as much as possible as one’s traffic can increase in the future thus requiring more data transfer. One should check whether he/she has the option of buying more disk space and bandwidth when required.

(7) Full e-mail services: Web host that provides web-based e-mail, mailing lists, auto responders, both POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts, forwarding accounts and antivirus and spam filtering software should be chosen.

(8) Software/Scripts: Web host that has an extensive script library for one, to add guestbook’s, forms, surveys, newsletters etc to his/her web site should be chosen.

(9) E-commerce capabilities and SSL: web host that provides one with e-commerce capabilities with shopping cart software and merchant accounts must be chosen.

(10) Web-Based Administration: nowadays almost all web hosts provide a control panel to access and manage web site features.

(11) 24/7/365 Customer Support: as many support channels as possible should be provided by the web host including an FAQ section, a knowledgebase, video and flash tutorials, toll-free support, e-mails support, live chat support and a community forum.

Shared hosting refers to a web hosting environment where many websites reside on one web-server. You as a customer shared a server with other customers. Usually it’s about 100 to 400 accounts in one server.

So, what you need to consider before you buy shared web hosting plan?

Windows or Linux Web Hosting
Linux webhosting means that all of your files needed by your site stored in Linux OS server, and Windows webhosting stored in Windows OS server. In the old days, websites just contain html files and picture. It doesn’t matter weather Linux or Windows if want to build website contains only html files and pictures. Just setting up right, putting all the html files, pictures and your site is ready.

Now website is more complex, contains CSS, databases and scripting language. CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is the way to stylist your web page appearance. Database like MySQL and MSSQL is used to store data like articles, customer info, site statistics, etc. How to access them and show it on your browser is using Script language.

Scripting language
A set of codes that runs on the web server to access server resources like database and other files and then interpreted into HTML language so you can see it through web browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera or Safari and some of them sometimes hidden for statistical or for other purposes. There are PHP, ASP, ASP.Net, etc.

PHP is more common because of the open source and run both on Linux and Windows. PHP even runs better on Windows platform. ASP and ASP.net only run on Windows web hosting platform. If you plan to learn the script language, so choose which fits you more. None of them superior than other.

Database
Most free CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress, Joomla, drupal, written in PHP and need database to store the contents. You should choose web hosting plan that support database like MySQL. We recommend choosing web hosting plan with more than one database allowed (ex. five or ten). Who knows you need some try-out with different databases?

If you just want to set up a blog, just find one of the free CMS mention earlier; most likely you’ll stay with Linux and MySQL.

Disk space and Traffic
Disk space or storage or web space is the amount of data or files you can store on the hard disk of the web server. Some web hosting offer 10 GB and some 100+ GB to store your files. Choosing web host plan that allowed 1 GB storage is more than enough if you just start having a blog.

Traffic/transfer is the allowed amount of data transfer (upload and download) per month. If your website have 1000 visitors per month and in average they see 10 pages of your site and let’s say a page about 60KB in size, than the traffic would be 1000x10x60KB that’s 600MB traffic per month. Ten times this number would be adequate for you to start a blog with no worried about bandwidth.

Unlimited storage and Unlimited traffic?
The term unlimited usually consider unlimited when met the web host company term. Read their Term of Service; probably their unlimited term consider limited to you. Commonly files that do not related directly to web pages are not consider this term.

It does not mean that the hosting company which selling unlimited plan will not provide good service. Some even gave high quality service to their customers. Let’s simplified matters. If your website traffic really high in time, better move to higher quality web hosting plan like vps or dedicated plan which give you better speed response when visitors open your website.

Web server performance
Linux web server is very well-known that capable of running hundreds of tasks at the same time with stability. But it doesn’t mean Windows web server is bad. The right term would be like this; Linux can max out server capacity but windows can not. So webhosting company maybe do this: 400 shared hosting account if using Linux and 350 shared hosting account if using Windows platform.

Price and support
Windows web hosting usually more expensive than Linux base, because Windows is not free and the company must pay the license (so you got to pay the license in small part). Linux is free and open source so the web host company ussually charge you cheaper than Windows platform. This condition somewhat not true on some web host. Some charge you the same price whether you choose Linux or Windows.

A lot of reputation web host will charge you expensive whether you choose Linux or WIndows. This because the company policy on setting price considering their service-satisfaction guarantee. Like changing the server if trouble occurred, periodic backup which consumes time and personnel, etc. You should remember cheap is not always bad and expensive is not always good either. There are many web host out there which sells their service expensive but not giving a good support and many also which sells rather cheap but good support.

You should realize that web host is service business and satisfaction is on customer side not their side. No web host company runs with perfectly 100% no trouble and not all customers need no help. So things like support ticket, phone, live chat or forum became very helpful to solve your hosting needs.

Technology
Somewhat the server which holding hundreds of shared accounts works harder everyday. That’s why finding webhosting that stored all of your files in quad-core-processor server is ‘more-assured’ than stored in dual-core-processor server. Again, if the price take into account, probably newer technology provided by web host will cost you more.

Control Panel
Control panel is use to manage your files, domain, and other task related to your website. There are cPanel, Plesk, H-Sprehe, proprietary which belongs only to that web host company, etc. The most famous is cPanel. Some of the proprietary control panel give you more, but some we can consider bad. Alot of web host giving try-out their panel, so why not then.

Email Account
You do not need a lot of email accounts, unless you are running web site for a big company that has hundreds of employee that also need emails. For personal use web site, web mail would be more important than numbers of email account, because you can access your mail only by internet browser anywhere.

Accredited company
Some of the web host companies join the BBB (Better Business Bureau) or TRUSTe. Most of the web host companies that joined organization like these usually put the logo for accreditation in front of their front webpage.

The benefit choosing web host company that already join BBB (for example), you can report your complaints (if you have any) on your web host also to BBB. They also have ratings on their member related to customer satisfaction. Take not that doesn’t mean the companies which are not members of BBB have bad services. In fact even a web host already joined BBB, and lots of their customers did not satisfied with their service, we found out that these customers did not report the complaints to BBB.

Conclusion
Choose the right hosting before you buy. At www.Hosting2Choose.Com, we already made the top list in web host industry which we found out they are considerably have good price and good support in hosting business. But in the end the choice is yours not us.

Managing a web server is in reality not a child’s play as it is a full time job, where one must constantly monitor its performance and security and it sounds, it is really exhausting task, especially if one is already having other responsibilities. There are several advantages like one no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. In addition, one can have as many websites and databases he/she requires but condition is, as long as his/her hardware can handle it. One no longer has to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host. Over all one can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites. Thus after looking at these advantages it really sounds interesting. Isn’t? But wait just read more.

One should ask him/her self, how technically advanced he/she is? Quite often one needs not to be fully learned, but it’s necessary that he/she is possessing resources. One must know how to resolve issues and how to handle problems and that too quite quickly and efficiently. Thus it means it needs to be in real meaning Internet savvy. In this case just surfing wont help as one who surfs aimlessly wont be of any use, rather one who can always find what he/she is looking for is the right person. This is a main requirement, as with any server environment, one is going to run into problems and finding the answers are most consummate online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Now if one is sure that he/she can hire someone to fix one’s problems then too it’s not at all considered a best option to get done from anyone else. In next paragraph is the test to see if one is ready to find solutions. Requirement is of a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error – “Event ID: 1056” it’s a DHCP Server Error. Now how one would search for this?

In order to find the solution the first that one would take is to go to Google which can be seen as a good and a common effort also it is a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers’ website. Thus in this case “microsoft.com” would have been the first option because Google would more than likely provide with the solution from Microsoft and other sources, but if one is not interested in getting inaccurate information from other sources, then surely he/she should choose going to Microsoft directly. It is a common practice to get information from Microsoft that not only helps resolving one’s problem, but also helps saving time. Now again one should search the error and should go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.

After going this one will find this link-http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx? Scid=KB; en-us; 282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)

Now after seeing the above what search phrase should one use? The answer is Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the correct and most exact error; it helps in providing the exact solution for one’s problem without broadening the search. Sometimes it may happen that the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It all depends on one’s error, his/her search feedback, his/her ability, and last but not least technique. For the above discussed example error description is not included.

Now after Microsoft, the second option one should take is Google or Yahoo, which are considered as two largest search engines. Thereafter one should search other smaller and niche search engines and then the next one should search within forums and discussion groups. If one is well known of Internet and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups, which he/she uses quite frequently, then he/she should visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo. One can also visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but its not very recommendable as going first to developers’ site would be considered as a best option. So now after knowing little about search engines and internet one can think of purchasing a server.

The following are some of the questions one should always consider while selecting a web hosting provider-

1. Is the company offering telephone support or 24/7 email support?

It is very important to have 24/7 Email support and one should always get reply within 1-2 hours. Not only is that telephone support also a must.

2. What is the history of the company? Since how long is the company been in existence?

One must very carefully read the company’s profile from their web page. It is important to check for the existence of the company in business. One should also check for the number of users of the company .The way to obtain all this information is by having a look on the host’s website as large number of host providers posts their customer testimonials on their site to reinforce the message.

3. What is the type of software that the company is offering?

The most important tool for a user is control panel which includes statistic, web mail, adding email account, file manager, Database management etc.

Free Scripts Provided – There are several webhosting provides offering free scripts to users. User can install these scripts through control panel. Some examples of Free Scripts are- Oscommerce, Phpnuke, Phpbb, Moodle, Phpwebsite, Xoops, etc.

4. Fees.

One should also check the provider’s service plan carefully before signing up. This service plan is usually made available by all the providers and by comparing them one can find the suitable provider suiting his/her needs. It is necessary to read the provider’s “terms and conditions” and refund conditions as well.

5. Marketing Service

There are several web hosting providers providing search engine submission to their customers. Not only that they use to provide paid per click service to their customer.

The following are the lists of 11 most essential questions before choosing a web host-

Q1. On which platform is the web hosting built i.e. on windows or UNIX or Linux etc.

Q2. What about the reliability of the service of the web host?

Q3. What is the kind of performance one is expecting?

Q4. How is the quality of email and phone support?

Q5. How expensive is it?

Q6. How much is the bandwidth available?

Q7. What is a type of control panel available?

Q8. What about a POP3 account?

Q9. What about protection i.e. anti spam and viruses features?

Q10. What about running one’s own online store?

Q11. What kind of Online Marketing Support is made available?

The following are the tips one must keep in mind while choosing a new web host: -

1) One must make sure that the new web host plan offers the storage capabilities to handle all of the current website storage requirements. If the size of the website is 50MB, then one must check for the plan that offers at least that much space or more. In case one is not able to make estimates about the space required then he/she must ask his/her current host. Also this information can be found on control panel.

2) One must also check how does his/her current web host determine the amount of storage used for? It is necessary to check what one’s current and new host includes in the plan’s storage amount also one should check are one’s emails and log files counted towards his/her total storage, or the web files only?

3) Its necessary to know what operating system does one’s current hosting plan use? Windows or Unix? Mostly it makes no difference but in some cases it can make the difference between a working website and a broken website. In case one’s site is currently on a Windows server and the website uses ASP scripting, then its difficult to make things work well on a Unix server, as ASP is a Windows based programming language. So one should check immediately whether his/her hosting plan is on a Unix or Windows server.

4) Also its important to check if one’s your site currently use FrontPage? Before switching to new host one should check if the new host supports FrontPage and the prevailing version.

5) Another important issue to take care is the amount of bandwidth offered by the new host. One should check if the new hosting plan offers the same amount of bandwidth that the current host offers. This should be checked in advance to avoid unexpected high bills afterwards.

6) Make sure if the new web hosting plan gives the same amount of email accounts, auto responders and mail forwards that the current host provides.

7) Its necessary to check if one’s site uses a shopping cart that the current hosting plan provides? It is essential to have a suitable shopping cart replacement in case one desires to move the cart to the new host. So one must check that as well.

If one is using any scripts on his/her website, its important to check if one’s new hosting plan supports all of one’s scripts. One must make sure in advance if there is any need to make any modifications to scripts to get them working on the new server.

9) Don’t forget to set up the existing email accounts on the new server before transferring domain name to the new server.

10) In case user is just a beginner and even don’t know how to upload files, its necessary to check with the provider if he can do that with no extra charges. There are some hosts who offer such facility free of cost yet some don’t offer this facility because of liability issues.

It’s necessary to double check if the site looks and functions properly on the new server after completing the uploading process. Preview facility is provided in the form of preview link to see how the site looks and some hosts provide this facility before the domain name is transferred over. In case this preview facility is not available with the host, still there is a method to preview the site. One can modify his/her host’s file to preview the site. The host file tells the computer where to go to look for sites that are listed in that file and this works with any version of Windows. Here the file location can change but the file name remains the same. Below is the way to modify the host’s file:

The file HOSTS should be in the c: windowssystem32driversetc One can find a file named HOSTS.SAM (as in SAMPLE). That is OK; one can modify the HOSTS.SAM file as well and do a SAVE AS HOSTS.

In both the cases one should double click on the HOSTS file to open it. Thereafter one will be prompted by Windows to select an Application (Program) to use to VIEW the file.

Now scroll the list and select Notepad and then one should click on the OK button. The NOTEPAD program will now open, displaying the file HOSTS.

So, in order to tell computer that www.yourwebsite.com is at the address (replaced with the real IP) 12.345.678.90 one should add the following entry to the bottom of the hosts file:

12.345.678.90 www.yourdomain.com (As in the example).

Now one should click on FILE, slide down and click on SAVE AS. Then in the Save As one should type field, select ALL FILES. After completing that click on save. One warning will come which should be ignored i.e. the file already exists but that’s ok, then just one has to click YES.

Now one should close Notepad, by clicking on FILE, slide down to EXIT, and click.

Now when one will open the web browser, or try to ping the site, the system will go to the IP address one typed in the HOSTS file.

One should not forget to undo this when testing is finished else the computer will always want to go to that IP address whenever one want to go to that site.

After being satisfied with the site looks and functions, one can go to his/her registrar (where the domain name is registered) and modify the nameservers associated with one’s domain name to his/her new web host’s nameservers. In case one does not know his/her new host’s name servers, should confirm with them. However most hosts have that information listed somewhere on their website or in the email one first get after signing up for an account.

After the completion of domain nameserver modification it will take around 24-48 hours and the site will be displayed on the new server.

One must check his/her domain name and should see if the nameservers added are listed. If yes, the website transfer is complete to new web host. And after the confirmation is received one can cancel the old web hosting account.

What can be the relation between internet and different web-hosting services? Talking in scientific language one can say that, demand for different web-hosting services is directly proportional to expansion of internet. Persons related to business or organization increases by the day on the internet. There are several people who do not bear to spend much money on their web site, however, if the site is meant for important purpose, then ignorance of quality can be harmful.

Taking an example, dealing with a cheap web host can lead to slow assess of site. It happens with several surfers on broadband connections who get irritated with such sort of problem. If a site does not offer fast access and downloads, it is a waste for the visitors. It not only leads to financial loss but also delivers an undesirable publicity of worthless site.

One cannot deny the fact that, a well-established web host can demand extra money but the services would be worth it. There are also few high quality hosts in the market which even proposes free add-ones and promotions to the users. Features like free web site builder or support for MySQL databases which user enjoy ensures him/her that he/she is not at the loosing side in terms of cost. A cheap host cannot provides a user these facilities and if yes then not without extra money.

It is also a universal truth that cheapest web hosts may not have a good repute every time, either. It is not a mere play, to start a web hosting business. It requires proper network, well-established infrastructure for guaranteed satisfaction to client. There is less probability of frequent down times in server and quitting the business at any time!!

Hence, host’s status, quality and price all three are important for a successful search. However, few web hosts offer the client both outstanding services as well as nominal prices due to stiff competition in the market. Thus, user should know that he/she is precious and ultimate in the market.

There are a number of business webhosting services over the internet. It is important to choose a business webhosting service that caters to your needs. Do you require a business webhosting that is a dedicated server, a managed server or a shared server? A business website could be very simple or complicated depending on the entity. The business could sell one product and may only require a simple e-commerce site or a very complex pay per click engine complete with statistics and payment features.

There are a number (around thousands) of business webhosting services you can find online. These business hosting sites offer a number of features some even unfamiliar to you such as Miva Scripting, co-location services, virtual private servers, redundant backbone connection and many others. You must define your aim. And ask why you need a business webhosting company? This way you will only look for the services that you truly need for your business webhosting. And you will not end up paying for the services that you do not actually need.

A business webhosting site can fetch as low as $40 – $50 a month to thousands of dollars. The price range will usually depend on the dedicated servers and bandwidth capacity. Choosing a business webhosting service is a major consideration. This is because a down site or down time usually mean your business is down too.

You must consider a number of factors before committing to a business webhosting service. One factor is a business webhosting service must offer a money back, no questions guarantee. Another is an uptime guarantee. You should also consider the types of backups they offer. A business webhosting service should have redundant backbone connections to the internet or connected to the internet by more than one major backbone providers. A business webhosting service must offer 24-7 technical, phone and email support. You should also check the background of the business webhosting service, how long they have been in business and do they have business references of sites that they host. Also, a webhosting vendor should also make it easy for you to upgrade/down services. And finally, know if the webhosting service requires monthly or annual payments.

Choosing the right business webhosting service is essential for your business to grow. Your webhosting service could spell the difference between success and failure in your business. That is why great care should be exercised in choosing it.