Category: Web Hosting
5 Myths About Web Hosting
The topic of web hosting often brings up misconceptions and confusing misinformation that can complicate the process of not only selecting the most appropriate web hosting company, but utilizing these services to the utmost of their benefit. When you are trying to decide upon not only the company with whom you wish to do business, but the type of hosting services that will work the best for your situation, it is important that you evaluate the realities of web hosting, and debunk many of the myths that exist regarding web hosting services. Understanding these myths, where they came from, and the truth that can dispel them, can help you to decide what kind of web hosting is right for your site.
Myth #1: Managed hosting is overall more expensive than dedicated hosting.
For this myth it is important to consider not just the upfront cost of the hosting services themselves, but the financial implications of a website for the long run. Managed hosting is a type of hosting service that allows the owner of a website to have a private server, but also the technical support needed to run and maintain such a site. Those that choose not to utilize the services of a managed hosting plan will need to find alternate sources of such technical support. Paying for a team of skilled webmasters that will oversee the monitoring, administration, and upkeep of a website can be exceptionally expensive. This means that if you do not already have these skills, or have someone on staff that can complete these tasks efficiently, choosing managed hosting can greatly benefit you. Though you will spend more on the hosting services themselves, not having to pay another person to take care of these tasks, or dealing with the complications that can arise from poorly executing webmaster responsibilities, can quickly offset these costs.
What Makes a Web Host Reliable?
There are hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from, but not all web hosts are created equal. Failing to choose a reliable web hosting company cause a lot of hassle down the road, whether it’s terrible customer service or even the loss of potential site visitors when the host’s server is down. In this article, we consider what you should be looking for in a web host to separate the good from the bad.
1. Bandwidth Allowance
When it comes to bandwidth, you want a host that will either offer you an unlimited package or the next best thing–an allowance of at least 500 GB of bandwidth transfer a month. Even low cost web hosting services should be able to provide 500 GB of bandwidth transfer, and you should not accept anything less if you expect moderate traffic on your site.
2. Cost
A shared hosting package in which you would share a host’s server with other users should run no more than 20 dollars a month. Cost is an important variable, especially if you are designing and up-keeping a website on a tight budget. But try to compare the products of different companies before making a final decision, rather than walking blindly into the cheapest package you can find.
Where to Start When You Decide You Want a Website
HTML, CSS, Java… huh? With all these computer languages and methods out there, it’s easy to think setting up a website is something you could never do yourself. But before you go out and spend a truckload of money having someone create a website for you, read this article from start to finish.
Putting up a web site does not have to be complicated or expensive. It is something you can do in an afternoon without any training or experience. Here’s how…
1. Register Your Domain Name
Before you can begin creating your site, you need to register a domain name. The domain name is the address of your site on the World Wide Web (example: www.google.com).
The domain name will convey to the viewer your identity on the Internet and so it’s important to choose your domain name wisely so that users will know the purpose behind the site and find it quickly using a search engine such as Google. If an Internet user types you topic on a search engine, you want your website to appear first or second in the search results. If not, they may never discover your website at all.
How do you encourage people to find your site? By using keywords in your domain name. Keywords are any words commonly associated with the topic of your site. For example, if your website is selling old Kung Fu movies, some keywords might be “karate movies,” or “martial arts films.”
When deciding on a domain name, it helps to brainstorm any keywords you can think of that related to your website. Once you’ve done this, go to http://www.google.com/adwords and click on the “Find Keywords” box to discover any other keywords you might have missed. This may require setting up a Google account, but this process is free and worth the effort.
Linux vs. Windows Hosting — What’s the Difference?
Just because your PC runs on windows does not mean you need to buy a hosting package that uses Windows servers. There are other options out there—the primary one being Linux-based hosting. In this article, we’ll take you through the differences between Linux and Windows hosting so you can decide which system works best for you.
Access to the Server: The methods you will most likely use to access your account are FTP and control panel, and both Linux and Windows hosting support these methods. Between the two servers, there are some FTP commands that are slightly different and are designed for that particular system in mind. These differences are few and far between, but be aware that typing an FTP command into the wrong system will cause an error message will appear. In sum, whether access is through control panel or FTP, both systems are comparable.
Security: Linux and Windows both have developers that are working to improve security, so the differences between them in terms of security will be slight. If security is a huge issue for you, worry less about whether your server is Linux or Windows and more about what hosting company you are using. Search for a hosting company that has a skilled staff and is reputable for consistent security and go with whatever server they recommend for your needs.
Students Contribute to Joomla through Google Summer of Code
Popular open source content management system Joomla announced yesterday that it will participate in the Google Summer of Code program, in which eight students will work on individual projects that may be used by Joomla.
Google Summer of Code is a worldwide program that pays post-secondary student developers stipends of $5000 to write code for various open source software projects.
Joomla hosting is offered by countless web hosting providers, in addition to one-click Joomla installs through app stores. If the code the students create at the Google Summer of Code is accepted, the Joomla CMS may see some new features soon.
According to Joomla, the projects students will work on for the Google Summer of Code include creating Facebook, Google services, and MediaWiki APIs, as well as multi-language options for installation.
There are 1,212 students participating in the program this year, from 69 different countries. The students who will be working on Joomla projects are from Brazil, France, Romania, Sri Lanka, and the U.S.
“We’re excited to see what kind of code these students come up with, but we’re equally as excited to have these students join the Joomla community,” said Elin Waring of the Joomla Production Working Group who is co-administering the Google Summer of Code projects. “The end goal with Joomla developers is all about creating code that millions of people use, but it is the interaction and sharing of ideas in our community that makes Joomla tick.”
The coding period begins on May 21 and will run through Aug. 24. Students will present their projects to the Joomla community in mid-August and find out if their code is accepted on Aug. 24.
3 Worst Server Crashes In Recent History
If there’s one thing Internet junkies hate more than the dreaded 404 Not Found error message, it’s the even more dreaded server error message. When a business’s server crashes, their entire system becomes inoperable; sales can’t be made, services can’t be accessed, and products stop working. Below are our picks for the three worst server crashes in recent history and the impact they made on us, the unfortunate consumers.
#1: PokerStars.com
PokerStars.com is a wildly popular online poker site where users play for real money. On February 21, 2012, PokerStars’ server crashed, causing more than 70,000 poker enthusiasts worldwide to be cut off instantly from their live poker games. The server crash made it impossible to retrieve vital information such as hand histories and bet amounts.
PokerStars immediately contacted affected players through an email titled “Server Issues” which stated, “….currently experiencing some problems with players logging in, creating accounts, and accessing the cashier, among others.” The email also stated that PokerStars was reviewing the issue and would have the problem resolved quickly. The server issue resulted in refunds to every player who had been participating in poker games when the server crashed.
Server issues are not uncommon on online gaming sites, and can become a very big issue when real money is in play. We suggest you review online terms and conditions before joining for any real money games online!
The Benefits of Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting provides powerful and secure web hosting solutions for companies and consumers with more sophisticated website needs. Unlike shared hosting, where you “share” a server with other users, dedicated hosting provides you with your own server that can be customized to your preferences. Let’s take a look at the benefits of dedicated hosting to help you figure out if a dedicated hosting solution is best for you.
Better Uptime
In the age of instant gratification, customers will move on to a competitor if your site is not operating as it should. Having a 99% guarantee of uptime is crucial for any business, and the best uptime guarantees will usually come from a dedicating hosting solution. Those businesses that require real-time updates and little downtime should consider a dedicated package.
More Options
Dedicated server hosting plans allow you to fully customize your own server. This gives you the benefit of selecting and paying for only the features that you will require. For example, a dedicated host will often provide a choice of operating software, giving you the chance to determining which system can best run your web applications. If you are an experienced use and need this level of customization, dedicated hosting may be a better option than shared hosting.
Dedicated, VPS, Cloud… What?
When trying to find the right web hosting product, it is easy to get lost in the terminology and miss the forest for the trees. That’s why we’re looking at the basic types of web hosting products, and comparing their strengths and weaknesses to determine which web hosting solution is best for your website.
Shared Hosting
A sharing hosting company provides servers (essentially the hard drive of a computer) where a website’s details are stored. In a shared hosting package, your site is housed on a single server with other customers’ websites, and each website shares the processing power and Internet connection of that server (hence the name shared hosting). Unlike the other forms of hosting, this arrangement usually gives a user limited access to the operating system. And at the same time, this is by far the cheapest package because of you are sharing server space with other users.
One of the main weaknesses of shared hosting is that the sites only divvy out space on a hard drive, and do not make an effort to split up network bandwidth equally. This can lead to problems based on the bandwidth use of others on the server. If there is a heavy user on the same server, this can lead to performance issues for the others on the server.
Big picture: This package is ideal for new users who are looking for a cheap way to get their website up and running, or any user who doesn’t need a whole server’s worth of space to create their ideal webpage. In addition, this package is probably best for users who are unfamiliar with the process of web design and don’t want the extra tools of a dedicated hosting package, which take a lot of effort just to learn how to use.
How Much Bandwidth Does My Website Need?
Before we get to that question, let’s tackle a more basic one: What is bandwidth? Simply put, bandwidth refers to the rate at which data flows across a network over a certain period of time. Think of it this way: bandwidth is like a pipe, and the water that flows through the pipe is the data. The bigger the pipe (bandwidth) is, the faster the water (data) can flow. Web hosting companies are charged each month (or year) for a specified amount of bandwidth, and then they pass on that cost to you, the consumer, in the form of a web hosting plan.
Ok, now that we know what bandwidth is, how do we figure out how much bandwidth we need? If you want to get technical, here’s a simple(ish) formula you can use to calculate your bandwidth needs:
Bandwidth Needed = (Average Page Views) x (Average Page Size) x (Average Daily Visitors) x (30) x (Redundant Factor)
- Average Page Views = Average number of pages viewed per visitor.
- Average Page Size = Average size of your web page.
- Average Daily Visitors = Total number of monthly visitors divided by 30.
- Redundant Factor = A safety factor ranged from 1.3 – 1.8.
If you have a website that allows downloads, here’s the formula for you:
Bandwidth needed = [(Average Page Views) x (Average Page Size) x (Average Daily Visitors) + (Average Downloads Per Day) x (Average File Size)] x (30) x (Redundant Factor)
- Average Page Views = Average number of pages viewed per visitor.
- Average Page Size = Average size of your web page.
- Average Daily Visitors = Total number of monthly visitors divided by 30.
- Redundant Factor = A safety factor ranged from 1.3 – 1.8.
- Average File Size = Total file size divided by the number of files.
- Average Downloads Per Day = Total number of downloads per month divided by 30.
Here’s a helpful hint: You can find most of this information from your analytics program. If you’re like me, though, and would prefer to stay away from formulas and calculations, don’t worry! There are other ways to determine how much bandwidth you need.
The biggest factor that will determine how much bandwidth your site needs is what you plan to do with the site. If you’re planning on serving lots of multimedia on your site (like videos, music, Flash animations, etc.) then you’ll need a lot more bandwidth than if your site only consists of text and a picture or two. If you’re going to let people download files from your site (like mp3s, PDFs, etc.), than you’ll need lots of bandwidth, even if you only get a small amount of traffic. For example, if you offer a 1MB PDF file for download, 1GB of bandwidth will only allow you to serve up about 1,000 downloads. And video files are even bigger. If you have a 200MB video file available for download, 1GB of bandwidth would only let you offer 5 downloads. That’s not going to work if you get thousands of visitors a day!
Most small to medium-sized websites do just fine with the amount of bandwidth included in a basic hosting package. If you notice that your site seems to be consistently slow, then it’s a good indicator that you need more bandwidth. If this happens often, then you might want to switch over to a dedicated hosting plan, which will allow you much more bandwidth than a shared hosting plan.
Green Hosting from Brain Host
The web hosting industry has a tremendous impact on the environment, and here at Brain Host we take that very seriously.
According to some experts, if the web hosting industry continues to increase its energy consumption at the current rate, then by 2020 the web hosting industry will be responsible for more pollution than the airline industry. In 2006 alone, web hosting data centers used the equivalent of the amount of energy used by roughly 5.8 million US households. And as the need for more energy continues to increase, more power plants are required to meet the demand. This means that over the next few years, approximately 90% of web hosting companies could experience increased service interruptions because of power grid overloads.
Brain Host has taken a number of steps to reduce our impact on the environment and conserve energy wherever we can. It all starts in our data centers. Data centers are where the servers, computers, data storage devices, and other equipment used by web hosts are housed, and they consume huge amounts of energy (about 10 times more than that used by a typical commercial building). At Brain Host, our data center is engineered using a special cold aisle/hot aisle configuration, which needs less cooling and thus helps to eliminate hot spots. This, coupled with our use of low voltage servers, helps us to lower our energy usage, prevent power overloads, and reduce service interruption.
We also use only the best in power-efficient hardware. According to the EPA, a typical web server requires 80 watts at peak power – our servers use only 40 watts. Whereas an average rack of servers uses roughly 20 kW of power, ours only use an average of 12.6 kW. Our servers are also largely free from lead, halogen, and mercury. This helps to reduce water contamination, air pollution, and the production of chemical and solid wastes.
Besides all of that, we also do a number of things around our office to stay green. We recycle all paper, ink, and toner cartridges, as well as glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, and even old computers and cell phones. Whenever possible, we purchase green products and services. Brain Host employees utilize energy-efficient power strips that allow users to turn off all power to the connected devices at the end of the day.
To show others what we offer environmentally-responsible green hosting, we’ve created a special badge that you can add to your website.
To get your own eco-friendly badge, like the one above, just Contact Customer Support.
You can also check out our green page and “Impact of Data Centers” infographic.
