Chapter - 1 : The Basic Checklist

Choosing a web-host is serious business, it is the foundation of your online presence ! There are hosting companies & there are more hosting companies, how can you choose the most suitable host for your requirement ? This article should guide you in that direction.

Step 1 : Know thy self ! - Understand you own needs.

Ok, so you need a web-host.. but for what ? Answer the following few questions & you should be in a better position to understand what you should look for in your hosting company :

• Why do you need a host... are you looking for a host for your online business or simply a place to put up a personal homepage ?
• Will a free service serve your purpose or do you need a dedicated server ?
• How much traffic or how many visitors do you expect ?
• How much storage space will you need for the files you will have on your website ?
• What other options will you need ?

If you cannot answer the questions yourself, contact your friendly neighborhood spider-man [the web-designer ;-) ] Jot down your requirements and you will be prepared for your host-hunt. There are quite a few forums online, with experts offering free advice to help you evaluate your needs.


Step 2 : Take a look at whats available.

Take a look around at what is available, there are quite a few websites such as ours , which can give you a feel of whats available in the market. In terms of plans , options , features , prices etc. Browse around a comprehensive site like ours & you will have a feel of the market. An unbiased rating & evaluation of the various web-hosting companies can give you an idea of what to expect & how much to pay.

Step 3 : List them out !

Once you have completed steps 1 & 2 , you will have a better picture of what you need and what is avilable in the market. Now is the time to shortlist the prospective hosting companies. Consider reviews from websites such as ours , check out for referrals from any friends or colleagues to make a short list of possible Web Hosting companies.

Step 4 : Research into your list.

Visit the websites of the hosting companies that you have listed out & look around closely. what do you feel about the interface they are presenting to the world. Are you comfortable there ? It is easy to find your way around and access the information you are looking for ? Or is the interface messy and poorly designed ? . The design of the hosting company's site can be a first indicator of how good & serious the company is.

Go through the different offers and read the fine print on the site. What they have to say about the all-important issues of reliability and refunds. A good web-host should guarantee a 99% - 99.5% uptime, the actual time the host is functional.

The web host should have a refund policy - either a pro-rated refund or a discount - if the uptime falls below their stated figure. Find out what you must do to get that refund; specifically, what sort of documentation or proof must you provide, or will they freely admit to the downtimes and give you the appropriate credit ?

Find out what kind of trial periods, if any, they offer, and exactly what refunds they will give you in the event you are not satisfied. That is, do they refund all payments you have given them? Or only monthly fees, but not setup fees, etc. While all the small print might not be the most interesting thing to read, it does makes you aware of the steps to take if the web-host does not deliver as promised.

Delete from your list the companies that do not make the grade & retain just the top 10 in your list.

Step 5 : Check the Specifications.

Now that you have shortlisted the ten probables, check out what packages are available and what it costs for the specs you are looking for. Look at not only what you need today, but what you will need tomorrow, as your business / website grows. How 'scalable' is the service provided by the company ? For example, you may not need e-commerce today, but you might need it tomorrow.. so what are the upgrade options ?

When it comes to dedicated servers, check out what is the connectivity bandwidth , the transfer limits and other facilities that the host provides. More on what specs to check for when looking at dedicated servers is listed further down in this article.

For normal webhosting , look at specs like How much disk space do you need ?, the number of POP3 mail accounts and aliases they offer and what kind of access they will allow you, and how. Most servers have some form of Domain or Admin Control Panel for you to use to administer your account. Check theirs out and see if you understand it and feel comfortable with it. Other more technical features you need to be aware of include FTP, CGI-BIN access, SSI, .htaccess, telnet, crontabs, and PHP.

Step 6 : What do others have to say..

Search the net using search engines like google with the name of the web-hosts from your list, you can see references to your web-hosting company on different sites. See what people are saying... are there any negative comments ? are the people singing praises ;-) Go through any discussions , comments posted on news-groups, forums etc.

While all companies will list their satisfied customers, you'll not find the unhappy customers & negative comments posted there.. it is upto you to see if all is as rosy as it looks. See what web-hosting review sites like ours have to say about the company.

Delete from your list any hosting companies with negative feedback.

Step 7 : The customer Support factor.

Once you buy into the services of a web-hosting company, there will be occasions when you will have to contact the hosting company , for general queries, specific technical support, to register a complaint etc. So how 'available' is the company ? What modes of contact do they provide ?

The three basic modes of contact would ve via 'Live-Help' on their website, where you can chat in realtime with a customer support rep. Or via email, or via phone [many top-class companies provide a toll-free number] . Read their customer support pages to find out what kind of turn-around-time they promise on any emails. Do they promise 24x7 support ?

Many web-hosts also have some quick trouble shooting pages & DIY help pages on their site, check out how extensive and comprehendible it is.

Step 8 : The email test !

Send an email to the support email address of all the web-hosting companies on your list. You can even send an email on a Sunday or after hours to see if they really do have 24x7 support. Request for specific technical information about their service & also some pointed questions specific to the type of service you are looking for.

Evaluate the speed of their responses, judge the quality, competence and care taken in their responses to you. Test them even further by demanding that they assign a specific contact person to administer your account, so that his person will be familiar with your site and any problems it may have. This will do wonders for the Web Hosts' accountability and sense of responsibility. Eliminate all those hosts who have not responded to your email or have responded inadequately.

Step 9 : Price-wise.

Evaluate the prices and see which host in your list offers the most for the least. The most expensive host need not be the best, neither does the cheapest host have to be the worst. Choose a host that offers you most of what you need at the most reasonable price, and with options to upgrade later for reasonable rates. If the web host has scalable packages, you can always upgrade to those other features later.

Most web hosting companies offer monthly, quarterly and yearly payment options, so be sure to ask about their minimum commitment period as well as their refund and cancellation policies. You should also receive a discount for longer time periods paid for. Exercising due diligence in these matters pays off many times over in the long run.

Now that you have all the information required.. it is decision time !

Step 10 : The final cut.

Having completed all the steps outlined above, you should be in a good position to make your decision. All the hosting companies who are remaining on your list are probably the best in the market. Choose the one which fits your requirement & your budget the best and the deal is done !

All that is left to do then is place your order and do the needful to get your site online...

Chapter - 2 : Dedicated Hosting Specifics - Questions you should ask.


While a shared hosting is like living in an apartment, leasing a Dedicated Server is like having a house of your own. Your site will be served faster as it will generally only have your site on the server versus 100 or 150 other sites on a server with virtual hosting.

Though dedicated servers may cost you much more than what you would pay for virtual hosting, if your traffic and business warrant it, this is surely the way to go.

As discussed in our previous chapter, there are a few basic steps that you should follow while selecting a web-hosting company. In this chapter we look at the specifications that you should look at while selecting a company from which you can lease a dedicated web-server. These are also the questions you should ask , when you send them a test email. Dont depend totally on the specifications as mentioned on the host's website, they might have changed , they might have been upgraded etc. So send them an email and get the latest specs before you make your decision.

Note down each of these points , understand what is your own requirement & then ask your prospective web-host what can they offer in terms of your requirements. If you are not sure about what exactly you require, ask your web-designer or post a question on the web-forums / discussion boards. Now lets get on with it...

Operating System (OS) for the server

There are two platforms that are popular: Unix (linux) and Windows NT (2000, 2003). The choice really depends on what you prefer and what applications you plan to use on your site.

The plus points for Unix is that it is reliable, has been around for over twenty years, supports a wide range of software, development toolkits and utilities. With respect to the Internet, it is used on almost every hardware platform. There are several flavors of Unix available, the most popular and robust which web hosts use being Linux.

Windows NT (2000, 2003), are from a single vendor company , Microsoft. They support all Microsoft technologoies and are useful if you are running ASP or dotNet based web-apps.

Web Server Software

The most popular web server on Unix is Apache and the most popular web server for NT is Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS).

Programming and Database

There are two popular programming languages for Unix: Perl and PHP. PHP is a new wave wonder and has become extremely popular because it offers a way of connecting to your database very easily. The most popular combination nowadays is PHP + MySQL database. MySQL is a free database.

Windows NT [2000, 2003] on the other hand comes with ASP (by Microsoft). ASP can be used with MS Access and MS SQL server.


Hardware

What is the equipment available ? Get the specifications about the speed of the machine, single or multiple CPUs, how much RAM, how big your hard-drive is, and whether the hard-drive is SCSI, or IDE. Clarify who pays for hardware maintenance ?

Backup and redundancy

Find out about their Data Backup and Redundancy facilities. How often is the data backed-up ? What method do they use ? How fast can they restore the system in case of any failure which requires the restoration from the backed-up copy.

Bandwidth

What is the bandwidth available with each plan ? How much extra needs to be paid for additional usage other than the specified limits.

Port

Ask whether your server is on a dedicated port, or on a shared port. A related question is whether the network you are connected into is based on a switch or a hub. Switched networks are higher performance, and offer more security.

Connection

Ask what kind of connection(s) the hosting company has. Make sure you ask if those figures relate to their network, or the network of their provider.

Network Utilization

Be sure to ask how much of your network is utilized. Even though the company might have multiple lines with good bandwidth, if they host adult sites or high utilization sites, the available bandwidth might already be nearing 90 - 95% mean utilization, which means the site is already congested.

Ask the host to send across the Network utilization figures , calculate in %ages and the rule of the thumb would be to avoid any hosts where the utilization is 80% or above.

Other questions
* Can you get custom system/server configurations ?
* What is the support offered to set up my site(s) on your dedicated server? What kind of support is offered ?
* How can you administer your site(s) on your dedicated server ?
* How long is the contract term? How long is your obligation ? What is the refund policy ?
* Do they offer additional support at hourly billable rates ? What kind of support & at what rates ?
* If you want to resell shared hosting sites on your dedicated server ? What are the policies regarding the same ?


With the information you now have, you are much better prepared to take the plunge into leasing a dedicated web-server. Wish you all the best & happy hosting !