Choices & Categories For A Web Hosting Package

Posted by Garry W. Brownrigg | Posted in Web Development | Posted on 02-12-2010

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A website’s usability and success depends largely on whether or not it has the right type of web hosting all the way from the site’s inception. It is therefore also important to know all the options and choices in this regard. Listed below are the main hosting choices that need to be made, along with brief descriptions of their relative merits.

The most basic choice, as far as the consumer is concerned, is whether the hosting is shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud. There are entire books and library sections devoted to each of these types, so there’s not much point in trying to explain it a paragraph here. Let’s just say that each one offers increasing levels of access and resources.

As a start, shared hosting has next to no administrative rights, and has limitations on access to resources. The kind of tools and scripts available will vary as per the package and host company. VPS offers much more administrative rights, along with more control and flexibility. But neither can match the speed, power and freedom of a dedicated server.

Hosting on a cloud goes above and beyond all this, with the enormous capabilities of a data center available on demand. Customers usually select one of these four choices based on how big the company is and the available hosting budget, not to mention the website’s current traffic and expected growth in future. Small startups and mid-level companies usually begin with shared hosting, and work their way up the ladder to a dedicated server or a shift to the cloud.

While the administration of a shared hosting server has to be managed by the hosting company, the other three offer customers a choice. The server can be either managed or unmanaged. Under managed hosting, the hosting company manages the OS, web server, etc. And all the customer has to do is use the available resources and tools to run the site. With an unmanaged server, the customer takes responsibility for the administration, including the operating system.

Another very basic choice that needs to be made is the operating system. The server can be either Windows or a Linux/Unix variation. There are obvious advantages and shortcomings to each, when used as a web hosting platform. But broadly speaking, the Linux/Unix servers are more popular these days, not least due to the fact that it is an open source OS.

Another possible reason is because Windows servers have compatibility issues with PHP scripts. This means customers may not be able to run blogs based on PHP scripts like wordpress, which are pretty much essential these days. But on the plus side, Windows servers are able to run ASP scripts. So customers who already use a lot of Microsoft products/services will find continuity in web development.

As a practical matter, there are also choices regarding different web hosting companies offering various hosting packages. The choices include bandwidth which can be metered or unmetered, disk space considerations on a shared server, and specs for a dedicated server. Factors to be taken into consideration while making these choices include the cost and the reputation of the company, as determined by web hosting reviews available on the internet.

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