Shared Hosting Description

If you have developed a web site and you would like other people to visit it, you must copy your site to a publicly reachable server.

Where to host your web site?

Although you can use your own PC as a web server, it is a more conventional practice to let a hosting provider host your website. The major reason for that is the greater stability and the uninterrupted accessibility of your web site, because hosting service providers have top-notch hardware and apportion a much larger monthly bandwidth usage allowance, which guarantees the faster access to your site from all around the globe.

Shared hosting solutions

Choose a shared hosting service, which enables you to register domains and to set up e-mailbox accounts. Many web shared hosting vendors, like us at The Whole Internet, offer a charge-free domain name registration as a gift if you open a web hosting account.

Hosting your website yourself

Hosting your site on your own server is always an option, but only if you have time and the required know-how. There are certain matters that you have to consider, among them the hardware and software costs. To set up a "real", proper website, you will have to buy some powerful server hardware, because you cannot anticipate an inexpensive PC to carry out the job. You will also need an uninterrupted breakneck-speed connection without downtimes, which typically is offered at a rather high price. If you are availing of licensed software for your web site, you will need to spend money on the license too. You may also have to cope with bugs and Trojans. You will have to keep your server constantly running in an environment where "everything could happen". If you do not have the required technical expertise, you will have to resort to a system administrator to deal with these issues for you, which will make the price of hosting your web site yourself even higher than that of a dedicated hosting web server delivered by a web hosting company.

A dedicated hosting server offered by a hosting company

Leasing a hosting server from a hosting distributor is a suitable decision if you want to establish a resource-intensive web site or a business page that has very precise security requirements. The most essential advantages of using a dedicated web server hosting solution are the breakneck-speed Internet access, the uninterruptible power supply and the very powerful hardware. Certain hosting corporations, again like us at The Whole Internet, furnish VPS hosting and semi-dedicated hosting solutions, which are based on very powerful web servers that can be shared by several users. You can also expect them to provide effective server load balancing solutions and the needed backup servers.

Security and stability

Hosting vendors are specialized in supplying web hosting solutions and since this is what they do to earn a living, you can expect them to offer uninterrupted network connectivity, the newest software updates and the best anti-virus software, as well as sysadmins available 24x7 to support you in the event of an emergency.

Pick your web hosting solutions provider

What you have to take into account when picking your web hosting solutions provider is the stability of the offered services. Make sure that the web hosting services provider of your choosing provides a 24-hour customer service. Do not place yourself in a scenario where you cannot resolve serious issues instantly because you have to wait till the next working day. In addition, if you select a shared hosting plan, which features a 24x7x365 client support service, this signifies that there always will be system administrators available to resolve any urgent problems as soon as they show up, which is a very beneficial thing.

Day-to-day data backups

Make sure that your hosting accounts provider offers routine data backups with the offered web hosting services, or else you may lose some precious data in case of a hardware crash or because you have deleted something by accident. The availability of everyday backups is usually mentioned in the hosting provider's ToS.

Bandwidth and server hard drive space

When choosing your web hosting accounts provider, give particular attention to the traffic amount limitations. Make sure that you won't have to pay a fortune for unpredicted high web traffic volumes if your web site becomes more regularly visited. There are many web hosting firms that offer unlimited bandwidth nowadays, so the best course of action is to make sure that you have taken the right decision prior to registering.

Content limitations

Pay particular attention to the web hosting vendor's content restrictions. If you want to post images or to broadcast video or audio, make certain that you can accomplish that. Furthermore, most hosting firms place limitations when it comes to utilizing their services for file storage purposes, so if you upload too much content that is not related or directly linked to your website, your account could get closed. Hence, examining the hosting vendor's Terms & Conditions, no matter how time-demanding and dull this might be, is extremely important.

Electronic mail capabilities

The majority of web hosting distributors nowadays also offer email services with all their web hosting offerings. It is not a bad idea to verify if the web hosting services provider of your choice offers such features as well, so as to be sure that you'll receive all the functionalities that you need in return for your money.