WebMastersLoom

Sometime during this year the chances are you’re going to have to renew your hosting package. Can you be sure you’re still getting the best deal for your site?

Hosting companies, as businesses, spring up all the time. This is because they are so easy to set up. Nowadays you can become a reseller for free.

Starting a proper hosting company with your own server - simply put - involves buying a computer, an internet connection and some potentially expensive software. Due to this relatively easy ‘set up’ many companies go bust when they don’t make ends meet.

So look around for potential companies. One of the best ways of doing this is by searching for hosting reviews. Hopefully what you find are reviews from the company’s clients, as their opinions could be more important to you than the company’s own advertising.

Your site requirements will probably have increased since you first bought hosting, so take this into account when browsing. If you own more than one website you may want to look into packages that allow you to share the quoted resources between multiple domains and websites.

Pricing is obviously very important - many hosts offer discounted monthly rates when you sign into a contract, forcing you to remain with them for a certain number of months or even years. This does offer good value but it raises the question - will the company still exist in a few years? It is also important to find out if the monthly price/rates will change if they raise or lower their prices. You don’t want to lock yourself into anything thinking you’re paying a fixed price. Read the company’s information page to see how long they have been trading as this will give you a rough idea of whether or not they are reliable.

Moving your website to a new provider can be a daunting task. Just moving files can be awkward, especially if your website is powered by a database. An excellent way of moving your whole site including databases, email accounts and other settings is by creating a backup from inside your control panel. Ask your new host if they will unpack the backup file onto your new website. This may only fully work if your previous host and new host use the same control panel software. But you can always ask beforehand.

There are a number of hosting options, from free to dedicated servers. Let’s spend a few moments and look over the options.

Free Hosting

The first and not recommended is free hosting. Remember what they say, there is nothing free. Well it’s the truth about this also.

Your webpage on a free hosting server may have banner ads from companies that may not compliment your business or page theme.

Another common problem is the third level domain (http://yourpagename/theirdomain.com) Now that doesn’t look professional as a business. Would you share your business name with some other company on a business card? I’m sure that would be out of the question.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting for the small business is the best way to go. Shared hosting has the server divided up with other websites allowing a lower cost for hosting. In most cases you are allowed more than enough disk space (Usually Between 100-500 Meg) and data transfer per month. The rule of thumb for small business is a minimum of 100 Meg of disk space and 1 gig of transfer.

Dedicated Servers

The big boy on the block and the most expensive! Dedicated servers are used usually by medium and large size companies. The advantage to this form of hosting is complete control with the most disk space and the largest amount of transfer (Most companies selling dedicated servers allow a minimum of 500 gigs of transfer a month). Keep in mind that this requires a lot of technical ability; most companies hire a network administrator to oversee this form of hosting.

As you can see there are many options based on size and needs of your business. Hopefully you are a little more aware of choices out there now and will make the right choice on one that best suits your companies’ needs.

Copyright 2005 Terry Henry ( Henry Marketing and Development), all rights reserved

So you’re about to embark on your first web project and you’re wondering where on earth to start? Well, one of the first things you’ll need is a web hosting package. There are so many out there it can seem daunting to try and choose one. In this article we’ll teach you the basics to help you make an informed decision.

What is Web Hosting?

For people to actually view your pages on the web, you must have your files located on a “web server”. When they visit your site, what they are actually doing is viewing those files. You can rent a little bit of space on the web server, or if your site is large, rent an entire server for your site. Each server is assigned an IP address. This is a four number address that is separated by dots. i.e. 127.0.0.1 Every domain name actually points to an IP address and this is how visitors access your files on the web server.

Once your site is hosted on a webserver, it can be viewed by any computer in the world through a web browser. All they need to do is type in your domain name to view your web pages. Your site must be hosted on a web server before it will be available to external visitors.

What is a Web Host

A Web Host is a company that owns and maintains webservers with the purpose of hosting web sites. You rent space from these companies and in return they will maintain and service the server. Part of this entails keeping the server software current, applying any security patches and ensuring the site is always available, known as ‘uptime’. To achieve peak performance, these servers are normally housed in specialist ‘datacenters’ with dedicated high speed connections to ensure that website loading speeds are as high as possible. A lot of web hosting companies will rent space in a large datacenter to save costs.

Web Host companies come in all shapes and sizes, from large multinational telecommunications companies to joe bloggs down the street with a server in their office. A number of web hosting companies will include a lot of other services to make them a one-stop shop to get yourself on the web. This could include domain name registration which ensures your domain name will point to the correct IP address as soon as the name is registered. If you register your domain name with a different company you will need to specify the IP address of your hosting server before anyone is able to view your files.

Types of Web Hosting:

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting means your site will be hosted on a web server that is also hosting a number of other websites at the same time. The server disk space and server resources, i.e. RAM, data transfer is divided up between the various clients. Although your site is located on a shared server, your files are still secure and can not be viewed by anyone else who also has their site on that web server.

As well as sharing the server resources, all the websites also share the same IP. This can be important in some cases as some websites can get banned by search engines for improper behaviour such as SPAM or illegal activities. When a website is banned, the search engine will block the IP address which means all the other sites on the web server may also be affected. It is therefore important to ensure that the web hosting company careful monitors the activities of the websites they host or state what kind of sites are appropriate for that server.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) share some of the same characteristics as shared hosting but it provides you with a bit more control over your own destiny. Like shared hosting, a web server is divided up and the server’s resources are split between the clients. What makes this different is that each partition is given its own IP address and generally, there are a very limited amount of users on each server, ensuring that you get a good share of the server’s resources.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated Hosting means that the entire web server is ‘dedicated’ to one website, or one client. A client can host a number of their own websites if they choose to do so. The benefits of this are that you control the server, and can be assured that no one else is doing anything on their website that will affect your site. It also means that all the systems resources are geared to your site which will boost the speed and reliability of your site. On the downside, having your own dedicated server incurs a much bigger investment and you are responsible for ensuring that the server is always running.

This can be a great option if you run a large site that will cover these costs and you have the technical expertise to manage the server.

Summary

I hope that after reading this you’ll have a better idea about what kind of web hosting plan best suits your particular needs. Remember to look around. There are lots of very good companies out there but there are also a lot of bad one’s. It pays to do some research about the company you choose before purchasing your web hosting plan.

This article will explain the key differences between 2 web hosting services available today: shared and dedicated web hosting.

What is shared hosting?

Shared hosting is very popular and the most common type of hosting used by websites on the Internet today.

Shared hosting is very cost effective, because you are sharing hosting with maybe 100 other websites on a single, powerful server.

Shared hosting offer just about all your site needs in terms of space, bandwidth, email, etc. You can even order different IP addresses for each of your websites with shared hosting.

The benefits of shared hosting is low cost (average price is around $5 month per website), your own domain name and lots of software options like database, CGI, etc. If you run a small business and don’t expect more than 1000 visitors to your website per day, then shared hosting is for you.

The only problem with shared hosting is that bandwidth is limited, so if your site becomes very popular you might find yourself running out of bandwidth quickly.

If you ever wanted to test the waters and put your own website up on the Internet, start with shared hosting and your own domain - its the way to go.

What is dedicated hosting?

Dedicated hosting is the opposite of shared hosting. Dedicated hosting is about you being in total control of the server and what goes on the server. You decide whether to host 1 site or 10 of your sites.

Dedicated hosting allows you to tailor database, email and software applications to your desire - so it works the way you want it to. This is powerful.

Dedicated hosting is ideal for websites with high traffic and large businesses who want complete control over the server so they can fine tune for special shopping cart software, etc.

Another benefit of dedicated hosting is you can resell the space/bandwidth to people who want to setup their own website.

Unlike shared hosting, dedicated hosting will cost considerably more, something like $50 month for a simple dedicated server.

If your website is critical to your business, then I’d highly recommend dedicated hosting.

So, you know how to create HTML files (web pages) and want to start a website. You have a domain name but don’t know where to store the files (web host). You find countless web hosting companies offering a wide range of products but you can’t make heads or tails of all the features to decide which plan is right for you.

Does this sound like you?

If so, this article was written for you. Hopefully after reading it, you will have a better understanding of all the terms associated with web hosting and find a hosting company that is right for your business.

File Storage Space

Usually hosting companies sell different packages centered around storage space. Storage space is specified in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB); a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes.

How much storage space do you need? Well, that depends on what you are planning to do with your website. If you have only a few pages of text and little to no graphics or images, a 25 MB should be more than you will ever need. Most hosting packages start at 25 MB of storage space. When comparing web hosting companies for file storage space, be sure to check their terms and conditions to make sure they do not charge another setup fee for upgrading to a packge with more space.

One way to determine the size of your files in Microsoft Windows, right click the Start button and click Explore. Scroll down and select the file(s) or folder(s) you plan on using for your website. Right click on the selected file(s) or folder(s) and click Properties and you will see the size.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the measure of how much data flows through your site. It is usually expressed in GB transfered per month. If you are expecting a lot of hits (millions of page views) to your site you will need to get the most bandwidth you can afford. For new web sites it may take a while to get up to a significant bandwith. If you find you are approaching the bandwith limit, you can always upgrade to a plan with higher bandwidth. Some plans allow you to increase your monthly bandwidth for an additional monthly charge.

E-Mail

Most hosting plans include a significant number of POP e-mail accounts and unlimited e-mail forwarding.

POP accounts can be accessed with your current e-mail program and some hosts may include a webmail interface for your POP accounts. If you have several people that work for your web site/business and want them to have their own e-mail address, you will need to select a hosting plan with enough POP accounts.

E-mail forwarding is when e-mail that is addressed to your website gets redirected to another e-mail address that you specify. An example of e-mail forwarding: for one of my websites mail addressed to mike-@-mrgoodbeer.com, sales-@-mrgoodbeer.com, and webmaster-@-mrgoodbeer.com all get redirected to my Gmail address. With e-mail forwarding you can easily track where your e-mails are coming from. Be careful though…the more e-mail addresses you have, the more SPAM you will receive.

Shared vs Dedicated

When comparing hosting plans, you may notice plans for shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting simply means that your web site will be hosted with other websites on the same server or machine. Shared hosting is good for the average web site where speed is not a priority.

A dedicated server is just that, a server that is dedicated to your website. The advantages of a dedicated server are speed and control. The disadvantage is cost, you will usually have to pay a much larger monthly fee for having a dedicated hosting plan. If you know nothing about Unix, Linux, or network administration make sure to get a managed dedicated server. The hosting company will take care of all the security and software patches/updates that arise over time.

Make sure to review the hosting company’s terms and FAQ concerning their dedicated servers to determine if their service is right for you.

Support

For the companies that do not have 24 hour support, you will have to determine if their phone support hours meet your specific needs. Make sure to note the location of the company and offset the support times for your time zone. If you plan on working on your web site during all hours of the day, make sure to choose a company with 24/7 phone support; otherwise, you will have to wait for them to open before you can get help to solve your problem.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a program, also know as scripts, that can be run on a website to make the site more dynamic. CGI programs can be written in PERL, C, Unix shell, and countless other languages. It is best to select a hosting plan that allows CGI because you will undoubtedly run across an application or game that you want to modify or include on your site.

There are many resources on the web that list free CGI scirpts and countless companies offering CGI scripts for you to buy.

MySQL

MySQL is used for creating and maintaining web based databases. If you anticipating having some data on your site that your users might want to sort you will probably need to find a web host that supports MySQL. Some hosting companies specify how many databases you can have on your site and charge an additional monthly fee if you want more. You will have to determine how many databases you will need and select the appropriate web hosting plan.

FrontPage

FrontPage is a website creation and management what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool developed by Microsoft. The files generated by FrontPage may have extentions asscoiated with them. If you are using FrontPage to develop your site, you will need to make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports FrontPage extentions or your web pages may not display properly, if at all.

Server Operating System (OS)

For most basic websites you will not have worry about which OS your web hosting company is using. Most hosting plans are running on either Unix or Linux. For some unique web site features, you may need a Windows based server.

Setup Fee

Some hosting companies charge a setup fee when your account is created. This is usually a one time fee and may be waived, in some cases, when you pre-pay for your service. Check the hosting company’s terms carefully to determine the details of their setup fee.

SPAM Filter

Most hosting plans include some type of SPAM filter for your e-mail accounts. This feature can come in very handy if you are using POP email accounts.

Shopping Cart

Some hosting companies provide shopping cart features as part of their hosting plan. You do not have to worry about this featue if your web site is not selling products. Also, there are many different third party shopping cart applications and CGI scripts available on the web that you may choose to implement on your web site such as the ones found at PayPal.

When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole lot of different factors that should go into your decision making process. One of the biggest factors should be:

1. Phone support. Email support is nice, but email occasionally falls in between the virtual cracks. Getting someone on the phone when your site goes down can take a lot of mystery out of the entire process. A lot of the bigger web hosting companies offer toll free support and weekend hours to boot. Phone support is a great benefit for any web hosting client.

2. Another factor to use in deciding whether to use a particular web hosting company is their history. How long has this company been in business? Web hosting companies that have been in existence for less than a year might not be the best choice. A hosting company with a proven track record and a ton of happy clients is certainly a good sign and might work well for you.

3. How about the company’s software? This varies widely between web hosting companies. I am rather fond of Cpanel merely because I am used to it, understand where the buttons are and what the features do. It’s much easier to stick with something you know than switching to a new User Interface. Some web hosts offer Frontpage features and others don’t. Another specific area you might want to research are the statistics programs. What sort of web statistics software is included with your web hosting account? Is Awstats included? This is one area you definitely want to heavily research before signing up.

4. Fees. I’d rather pay a little more to get all the features than fight it out with a sub par web hosting company who I can’t reach if my site goes down. I’ve found decent web hosting for as cheap as $4 per month but generally pay around $15 per month if I want all the bells and whistles that I’ll need to host a larger site. A lot of people worry about hosting fees, but I’ve had the experience that I generally get what I pay for.

Finally, I’d look carefully at the web hosting company’s refund policy. Most offer a full refund if you aren’t happy with your service. If you are paying for a full year of web hosting up front, you might want to examine the company’s refund policy in detail.

One of the most common concerns people have when deciding to host a web site is figuring out how much bandwidth they’ll need. Get too little bandwidth and you might be hit with overage fees or have your web site shut off altogether. Get too much and you’re paying for bandwidth that you don’t really need. The following is a helpful guide for determining the amount of bandwidth that’s right for your web site.

Every time someone views a web page or downloads a file, bandwidth – also known as data transfer - is used. How much is used depends on the size of the page or file that is being viewed or downloaded. Essentially, the amount of bandwidth that your web site will need depends on two key factors: (1) Web site content and file size (2) Web site traffic/popularity. Let’s look at a few web site examples to get an idea of what their bandwidth requirements might be, and why.

Let’s start with web sites that have high-bandwidth requirements. If you have a web site that has large-sized content and gets a huge amount of traffic, you’re going to need a lot of bandwidth. An example of a web site that requires a lot of bandwidth would be http://www.compfused.com/ This web site is comprised of thousands of pages, and almost all of those pages are packed with images and video clips. Simply viewing the pages uses a lot of bandwidth, and of course downloading the video clips uses a TON of bandwidth. Combine this with the fact that this web site probably gets tens of thousands of visitors per day and you can see that its bandwidth requirements are quite extensive.

At the other end of the spectrum we have low-bandwidth web sites. A good example of a web site that requires a relatively low amount of bandwidth is my own site http://www.webhostingdiscounts.net/ Take a good look around this site and you’ll notice that its layout is very simple – this simple design is intentional to ensure fast page loads. My web site has about 20 pages total, and most of those pages are pure text, and therefore have a very small file size. Even though I get a good amount of traffic to this web site, its bandwidth requirements are very low because all the files that are viewed are very small and require very little bandwidth to serve up. My web site can get thousands of visitors per day and not break a sweat.

Now that we’ve looked at examples of high and low-bandwidth web sites, it’s probably a good time for me to mention that many web sites on the Internet fall into neither of these categories. Rather, your average web site is more of a medium-bandwidth web site, meaning that it is a cross between the high and low-bandwidth web sites that we discussed above. Pinpointing the optimal bandwidth for medium-bandwidth web sites can be difficult, but with proper planning you should be able to get pretty close.

The average web site contains a mix of text and images throughout its pages, and may or may not offer files for download. The average web site also gets average traffic, meaning anywhere from 50-500 visitors per day. Assuming these factors, a hosting plan with anywhere from 3-5 gigabytes (GB) of data transfer per month should suffice. For sites that get more than 500 visitors per day, or those that offer numerous large files for download, it may be wise to secure a hosting plan with 50 gigabytes of data transfer per month – or more. It is important to note that most web hosts quote your allotted bandwidth in “per month” terms, when in fact that number is actually broken down to a “per day” limit. For example: one web site of mine has 125GB of allotted bandwidth/data transfer per month. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? It is. However, in reality that equates to about 4.2GB of bandwidth per day. One day, several months ago, I made a large (12 megabyte) video available for download on this web site. It received over 400 downloads within the first two hours! That amounted to 4800 megabytes (MB) of data transfer, or 4.8 gigabytes. You guessed it, I exceeded my daily bandwidth allowance and my site was disabled for 24 hours. Lesson learned? Either order more bandwidth or adjust my web site content to fall within my bandwidth limitations. Not wanting to pony up the dough and purchase more bandwidth, I removed the video.

While we’re on the topic of daily bandwidth limits, I’d also like to point out that if you’re hosting with a free host – such as Yahoo! Geocities – prepare for bandwidth limitations of just 3-5 megabytes per day. This means that you won’t be hosting any video clips or large downloads for long. I once had a web site hosted with Geocities that consisted of just one page – one single page. The page was filled with tons of sports car images both big and small. Once my site started to get 100 visitors per day, even that amount of traffic caused me to exceed my daily bandwidth limit. As a result, my site was shut down almost every day, for a period of several months, due to continually exceeding my daily bandwidth limit.

The point I am trying to make with this article is that with proper preparation and web site design, you can ensure that you always have enough bandwidth to go around. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1) When building a new web site, try to make the pages as small (file size) as possible. There are many free tools out there that will tell you the size of your pages and can also compress them to make them more compact.

2) When using images on your web site, try not to go crazy – keep the number of images to a minimum. If you must use tons of images, try a .jpeg or .gif compression tool to make the images as small as possible.

3) Make a concerted effort not to offer too many files for download. If for some reason you feel that you need to offer hundreds of downloadable files, try to select ones that are small (1-2 megs) in size.

By following the tips above, you’ll be able to more accurately predict your bandwidth needs based on your web site content and estimated traffic. Obviously these tips are only general guidelines – the true test is launching your web site and carefully observing and monitoring your bandwidth usage patterns for several months. Inevitably you may need to alter your web site layout/content from time to time to stay within your monthly bandwidth limits. Better yet, if your site becomes so popular that you really do need more bandwidth, simply order more bandwidth from your existing web host or switch to a host that provides more generous monthly data transfer. As your web site grows in size and popularity, sufficient bandwidth will always be a concern, but, such is the price of success!

Monitoring Server Uptime to Avoid Revenue Reduction

Monitoring your website’s uptime is imperative to the success of your online endeavors. Why? While it’s important to know if your website is running and your host is providing a good service (so you can receive money back or a credit if there is a guarantee), it’s even better to be proactive about getting it back online faster so you don’t lose search engine positions, miss out on possible revenue or blow your advertising budget. There is no other way to ensure a high percentage of server uptime than to monitor website availability.

Monitor Up to Three Websites Free at InternetSupervision.com
http://www.InternetSupervision.com

Most web based businesses do not operate their own servers, they outsource that function to professional web hosts, and for good reason – if your website (or your web server) goes down, i.e. becomes inactive, your business and your revenue can suffer greatly. Whether it’s the inability to gather information from surfers through forms or the ability to generate revenue through clicks on affiliate banners or contextual advertising, it is essential that your website be available for surfers to visit.

Monitoring Website Uptime for Search Engines

The main reason to monitor your website is that when search engine spiders visit your web pages, if those pages are down, you may lose the search engine positions that you have worked so hard to develop. If your website stays down for too long, you may be dropped from the search engine databases altogether. Whether your website receives ten or ten thousand visitors a day, you will not last long on the Internet if surfers and prospects can not access your web pages through search engines.

Monitoring Downtime for Advertising Budgets

Another important reason to monitor the uptime of your web pages is to make sure that your advertising is doing what it should – bring visitors to your website. While most pay per click search engines do not charge you if your site is down, many still do. If your site is down for any length of time, you run the risk of draining your account very quickly. In addition, if you purchase any sort of cost per lead or cost per impression advertising (i.e. banners) you again run the risk of losing valuable visits from surfers.

Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host? Have you switched web hosting companies too many times? Have you thought of hosting your own website(s)? Do you have the ambition to control and manage your own web server?

If you answered ‘yes’ to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch.

When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components.

You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it.

Pros:

• Own sense of responsibility
• Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings)
• No monthly hosting fees/accounts
• Incompetence no longer exist
• Non-shared environment (dedicated server)
• Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc.
• More bandwidth
• No more waiting on someone else time
• Complete control

Cons:

• Exhausting at times
• Faced with server/hardware problems
• ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense)
• If server goes down then the website is offline
• No technical support team
• Software, hardware, and network expenses

There could be many more pros & cons but I’ve pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites.

Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the “web hosting”, having someone do it for you isn’t always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error - “Event ID: 1056” it’s a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution.

Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers’ website. In this case “microsoft.com” would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don’t want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.

You should had found this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)

What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description.

Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google’s operator tags is www.soople.com. Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn’t recommend it, I still would go to the developers’ site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server!

When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly).

What to buy?

• First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.

• Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP.

• A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster.

• Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year – be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need.

Example:

Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB

In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).

• Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.

• Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a “hardware firewall”). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine.

• Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz – 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.

• Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location…like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines.

• Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.

• You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don’t have a hardware firewall already in place.

Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made.

Where to put it?

• Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.

• The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. It’s the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option.

• It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.

• Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window “especially open”). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet.

• The server should sit at least 4” inches from the ground

• Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices.

• Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a built-in firewall).

• Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.

Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.

If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead.

The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn’t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven’t found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network.

Hosting your own server usually is not a money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. – 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.

If you have spent much time earning a living on the Internet, few things will surprise you. However, I am always amazed with how many companies and individuals make astounding claims without backing them up.

Web hosts and ISPs make such claims all the time: 99% uptime. Some web hosts post on their site live results of their uptime from a third-party web site monitoring company. However, those hosts are very few.

Here are four reasons why every web host and ISP (Internet service provider) should post uptime and connectivity statistics from an independent, third-party web site monitoring firm, with an external monitoring network.

Monitoring reports are excellent marketing tools

This is the most obvious reason a web host or ISP should post monitoring reports on their site. Don’t tell me you have 99% uptime. Even the worst hosting companies and ISPs can make that claim, but it does not make it true. Prove it to me. Posting a report right on your home page, or posting a link to the report up front on the home page tells me you not only can make claims, but you can deliver!

Make sure to post your uptime statistics for the last day, week, month and year, so the customers know you are in it for the tong haul.

Web site monitoring reduces technical support work-load

A recent review by Dotcom-Monitor reveals that accessibility calls to a web host’s technical support can be reduced by 30% just by posting the current status of the web site as reported by an independent monitoring service.

Often a user will call technical support if he encounters a slow Internet connection or download times, dial-up problems, web site accessibility or various computer issues. Users assume the problem is with their web host or their ISP, and call technical support to fix the problem, even if the problem is on their computer.

Real time independent connectivity reports eliminate the need for such calls in many cases, by showing what the status of the site is. A sample report at http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/reporting-card.asp gives an idea of how this works.

Web site monitoring is good customer relations

If it costs up to ten times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one, independent web site monitoring can help you keep those precious customers.

Nothing is more frustrating for the end-user than to have her site down and nothing is more embarrassing for an ISP to receive a call from customer about a downtime, especially if it is related to a connectivity issue the hosting company or ISP is not even aware of.

An external monitoring network can alert an ISP or web host immediately to problems that often cannot be detected by internal monitoring, allowing the company to address the issue immediately…and hopefully before a customer even notices that a problem exists.

Monitoring cuts the burden of dispute resolution

Corporate hosting clients and Internet access customers often expect certain levels of service and enter into an SLA (service level agreement). Often, SLA contracts impose fines on ISPs and web hosts who do not meet the targets. Determining how those levels are measured can be difficult, but an independent, third-party monitoring service can easily resolve disputes before they begin.

Dotcom-Monitor is among those services that provides an added SLA reporting function, which can be seen at http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/service-level-agreement.asp . Both the host or ISP and the client can view the reports, and reporting intervals can be set based on the terms of the SLA contract.

While every web site can benefit from some form of monitoring, no class of business needs more the credibility of an independent monitoring service as much as those who provide access to the Internet for their clients: ISPs and web hosting companies.