Free Host Review

Choosing an operating system (OS) that runs the web server hosting ones site is as old as the business of web hosting.

All the functions of web server and hosting a site are controlled by operating system, so one should pay particular attention while choosing operating system.

Options one really have while choosing an Os are:-

One can choose between webhosting based on Windows, Linux or UNIX operating systems. List of options will narrow to only two just if one has a brief description and analysis of the different systems.

Microsoft’s Windows server operating systems (NT/2000/2003) makes IT teams to easier in this aspect with its quite friendly and familiar user interface feature. Their range is absolutely impressive and its excellent integration capabilities with other applications developed by Microsoft gives another plus to its feature.

The beginning of the Internet era was powered by the OS UNIX and is still used today due to its qualities whereas Linux OS was developed having Unix as starting point and thus both share many features. Due to higher licensing costs and specific hardware requirements for UNIX, Linux version of the UNIX system is more common on web servers today. With taking UNIX into account this is the reason why we will continue with Linux only. Linux hosting fulfills all requirements for a good web server and Web serving, file serving, mailing, and streaming. It has also proven to be a very cost-effective choice from using hardware efficiently; it also allows more web sites per server ratio, which results in decreasing the cost of hosting per account.

Windows v/s Linux.

Trustworthiness

Linux OS were seen as more reliable over Windows during the past period. So here are our two choices Windows and Linux. But with the release of Windows 2003 server Microsoft has closed the gap in this area. Both Windows and Linux servers are compatible with definite Microsoft extensions and applications.

Web Programming

One might want to add up some simple scripts to add some spice to ones site even if one is trying to host a simple website. Matter becomes bigger when one is trying to host an e-commerce site supported by some serious server-side programming.

What do our two competitors do in this aspect?

As java scripts are executed on the client side (the user’s web browser) and both Linux and Windows have no problem feeding this content to ones visitors supporting java scripts is not a topic to be argued upon. Discussing server side scripting is a whole different matter. It is common perceptive that ASP is supported by Windows and PHP is the tool to do just that under Linux for web site owners trying to put into operation forms on their site. Even Though both OS have developed solutions to support each other’s programming language for web development this support is not ideal and the limitations propose Linux for a good PHP support and Windows for ASP, especially when it comes to hosting websites that require the full use of advantages offered by PHP or ASP.

Front Page extensions are supported by Linux. If Perl is the scripting language of ones choice, one should opt for Linux as Windows offers only limited CGI/Perl support.

Databases

Few databases are required for dynamically driven web sites. Often one will come across mySQL or MSAccess for sites employing databases. Web site has no problems while hosting it on either Windows or Linux if it is relying on mySQL, but for MSAccess databases, one has only option of Windows.

PriceWebhosting on Linux is cheaper. As the licensing costs, are lower than that for Windows and Linux has the ability of web servers to support a higher web site per server ratio without compromising the quality of service.

Even though hosting on Windows cost a bit more, one will get something for ones money i.e. quick development and functionality.

Choosing an OS one over another depends chiefly upon ones actual needs and of the plans one has made for the future of ones web site. For instance will it move from static web site to one relying heavily on server side scripting? And if it is so which programming language would be used: PHP or ASP? Accordingly ones web site will be placed on a Linux or on a Windows web server.

Option between Linux and Windows is offered by almost all serious web-hosting providers. No one is the actual winner as yet of this contest. Preference of one system over another is given only by ones requirements and the needs of the visitors.

There are thousands of webhosting companies in the industry screening for business. To ensure one makes best of ones decision possible consider the points mentioned here.

1. Server Space

First think to consider is the amount of space ones site will acquire on a server. Files might require just 1 and 5 megabyte of disk space unless one is planning to run a software repository or an image gallery. Just to out perform their competitors many companies offer several hundreds of megabytes of webspace for a very rational price. Before taking that much space one should question oneself whether that much space will be required ever. Though one should allow extra space for site to grow in future but at the same time one should not opt for a great deal on an extraordinarily sized account if one will never use all of the space which is being offered. One can always find a better deal with amount of space which would be more suitable for ones site size.

2. Data Transfer Allowance

Decision for Data Transfer Allowance should be based upon the above principal. Many are under the impression that their sites would be equal to next Yahoo or Amazon and would be receiving enormous number of visitors daily but one does not require extremely high data transfer allowance unless and until as stated above one is running a software download site or a large image gallery. One should not exceed ones limit just because one is getting an awesome deal as even heavily trafficked normal HTML sites usually use s just a small amount of gigabytes every month in bandwidth allowance. Many companies are offering “unlimited” data transfer if one is planning to go for such an offer, be sure to read terms and conditions very carefully before opting for this type of account as there are generally some fine-print stipulations that make this claim not entirely true. For a small to medium sized business or personal site. A five or ten gigabyte bandwidth allowance is usually ample enough.

3. Technical Support

When choosing a web host types of technical support offered by the company and how easy they are to contact when needed is a very important point to consider. There are companies who do not even offer their contact number on their website though ideally a company has to offer 24/7 toll-free telephone support and email. Company that is very easily accessible in the time of need should be looked for. If one is in the mid of working on ones site and an important piece of information is required to conclude the job but is not able to contact the hosting company to get the information can be very frustrating.

4. CGI-Bin Access

Whether it is a contact form processor, mailing list management script or may be even a fancy credit card processing script one needs to install some type of CGI script eventually no matter what type of site one is planning on running. Hosting account will need to allow one to install and run them. One requires access to a special folder on ones server called “CGI-Bin”. Because of security measure only “pre-installed” scripts are allowed to use by few hosting accounts. As these scripts are already installed and configured by the owners of the company they are aware that these scripts will work properly and will not affect their server’s performance adversely. If one is acquainted with scripts, it’s always better to install ones own scripts that suit ones individual needs and configure them. One should make sure that the account one is using should support the languages like PHP, Perl, etc in which scripts are written

5. Up-Time Guarantee

How often and for how long servers “go down” for the webhosting company one is going to choose is a very important factor to be valued. Remember site cannot receive visitors or produce revenue if the machine on which it is hosted is not up and running no matter one has got a good deal on server space, bandwidth allowance, or tech support service is good. So select a company which can guarantee the highest up-time percentage possible. Its true that none of the company can offer 100% uptime as servers are taken down temporarily from time to time for maintenance or upgrading purposes but one always wants ones site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that do not have problems frequently and are down for long periods of time.

6. Email Accounts

Some companies offers heaps more email accounts than required just like transfer allowance and server space. Few even offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. If one is just one person or is a small company 10 or 15 is enough but this can be an important factor if one is having thousands of employees each requiring email box.

7. Reputation

Last but not the least this is one of the most important factor to be considered while one is choosing ones web host. Today there are numerous sites around the Web featuring discussion forums that permit people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Be aware of any negative feedback one may hear or read about a particular hosting company. Try Putting up questions about any company one might be interested in using to check if someone had any negative experiences with that company. While beginning a business one of my friend contacted a company to host his site and he was promised good, dependable service at a very low price. But for no obvious reason his entire site was deleted without giving any warning or explanation. He then visited few forums and found that many had negative experiences with that hosting company. So my suggestion is to not make the same mistake which my friend did so search out from beginning and make sure that the hosting company one chooses will not let one down.

Everything seems so confusing when one makes a start to acquire a site on internet.

The obtuse acronyms and definitions that flow freely through the ‘Beginner Friendly’ information sites may at times become hard to come across. The principal reason behind this is the Internet and also the simplicity of the process of getting a website online, and people hardly think of the difficulty they once had after getting past the first stumbling steps, as a result of which they are unable to understand the next wave of dot com newbie’s

So we begin by defining some of the basic terms that are seen commonly when we start looking for a web host. One will promptly realize that computer geeks are fond of using big words for simple concepts. What else can one expect from a group of people who decided to quote half a Byte as a Nibble?

Web Host: These are the people who provide a website which can be accessed .These people are a good treasure of information, it proves to be quite worthy to get ones queries answered by contacting their tech support. This fact makes it important to contact them BEFORE one sign’s up for any packages to guarantee reception of a timely response. One can try sending an email their way and see the outcome.

Disk Space: This is equivalent to the space on ones own PC’s hard drive. Web Hosts usually assign a definite amount of space to ones website, usually in Megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). It helps in finding out how much one can store on ones site.

Bandwidth: The quantity of data that can be retrieved from ones site within the bandwidth period is termed as Bandwidth .The bandwidth period is the measure of the duration of time before ones bandwidth gets reset once again, which is usually about a month. Bandwidth is also measured in MB and GB, similar to disk space. Before purchasing a hosting package it is always advisable to find out the effects of exceeding ones allocated bandwidth.

Domain Name: Everyone identified by a domain name on the Internet. One has to type the domain name into a web browser’s address bar to reach ones site. It depends whether ones hosting company offers a domain for free, or it has the facilities to provide a domain for a minimal cost.

SQL (MySQL, SQL Server etc.): Structured Query Language. Interaction with the databases is done using SQL.Chances are that when one start looking for webhosting one have no knowledge of SQL, and have no need of knowing it for at least a little while longer.

HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Basically, how the Internet works. The protocol that administers the transfer of web pages from one place to another is HTTP.

HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language. This is (usually) used directly or indirectly when one makes his own website. Don’t get afraid by the name, the ‘language’ is very easy to learn.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol used for transferring pages and files from ones home PC to a server. It is easy to use and if ones host uses this method for file access it will provide the login information. FTP can be used by typing “FTP://” into My Computer on a windows box and it helps to access ones server as if it were a regular windows folder.

POP3: This is a common email ‘post box’ system. It is use to store emails for retrieval.

SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a common protocol used to send emails.

A beginner does not need to know too much about the above two email technologies. If they’re listed, well. It implies one have email account with ones own website (i.e. the email name@yourdomain.com will reach him/her somehow)

Java, Perl, ASP, .NET, PHP are some of the languages used to enhance websites. A started should try learning HTML first before worrying to learn about these advanced languages. Generally they’re not too difficult to learn, but one will want a strong basing before tackling them.

The Internet is a wonderful source of knowledge, so whenever one wants information just fire up the favorite search engine and type in the problem. The Internet is full of sites about the Internet, so the information one want shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Building professional websites takes a lot of time and skill, so many companies hire people to do it for them. If this is the situation that one is in, talk to the designer he/she is hiring about hosting, as they may have struck a deal with a webhost to provide clients with cheaper hosting packages. Also, the professional designer will know what features one is going to need in a hosting plan.

The world of webhosting is not as complex as people assume it to be. One has to make sure that a little bit of research is necessary before diving in and then there will be less chances of one getting burned by a shifty ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ company. Check out the host’s rankings on a few Web Hosting Directories, do a search for reviews of the company, contact the support staff before signing up and enjoy the world opened by having ones own online presence.

Web Hosting Service is a form of Internet hosting service, which permits organizations and individuals to offer their own websites that are accessible through the World Wide Web. Web hosts are the firms that furnish space on the server owned by them, for the usage of both the clients and also, for providing better connectivity on the internet as in case of a data center. Additionally, web hosts could provide connectivity and data center space to the internet for servers not owned by them to be placed in the data center. This is called as “colocation”.

Web Hosting Service Scope:

Web hosting services scope may vary widely. Small-scale file hosting and webpage are the most basic scopes where the files could be uploaded through a web interface or a file transfer protocol. These are usually delivered with little processing to the Web. Most internet service providers extend this service free of cost to the subscribers. They can also obtain hosting of web pages from alternative providers of service. Typically, personal web site hosting is cheap and advertisement-sponsored are free but very often, business web site hosting has a higher expenditure.

Generally, single page hosting is adequate for personal web pages. A more comprehensive package is provided by a complex site providing application development platforms such as ASP.Net, Java, PHP and database support. Such facilities permit the customers to install or write the scripts for applications such as content management and forums.

An interface control panel may also be provided by the host for installing scripts such as e-mail and for managing the web server.

Transferring of website to a new web host will become easy by following the below mentioned steps-

First Off:

User should always act carefully while opting new web host. One should not act manic after seeing any cheap hosting plan, rather should carefully check the plan and be aware of the terms and conditions for finding out the hidden tricks or hidden fees. One should define clearly his/her and must choose the plan which is very close to his/her requirement. Also one must look for 24/7 supports with phone support, as it is a must. Always one should try to find a host that uses the same operating system as his/her existing host. Last but not least one must chose a web host that has a fast Internet connection and has fast servers and good up time etc.

Scripts:

One must confirm that the new web host supports the same script that one is using like if one is using php, CGI, Perl or ASP that he/she must choose that host that supports it. For php one must check that the new hosts supports all the php functions required and also have all the Perl Modules that one need to use or plan on using. There are many scripts that require Mysql, so one must check to see if the new host supports that as well.

Backup:

Backup should be done on a regular basis .One must make sure to take backup of each and everything on his/her site as else at any time that data can be lost. Also one must take care to save all of his/her site’s files on a disc or one can choose to signup for a data storage service and they will save it for him/her.

Testing:

One should be very sure that his/her site is functioning before switching to new host. It is always beneficial that the new site should be tested by anyone else. One can also use more than one computer if they are available and can take the help of someone else to have a look on it. It is always advisable to test everything from links to images three or four times to make sure things are working properly.

After getting everything done its time to switch to a new host however one must be very careful for the next 48 hours to check his/her site as quite often any problem can occur in the site. If all the above things are kept in mind the site can go live soon with ease.