Web Hosting Information

Is Virtual Private Server better than shared hosting?

2006-06-16T00:35:00.000+08:00

I have used some virtual private servers from a few hosts which I would not disclose here but what I wanna talk about is the performance of virtual private servers.

Typically, a virtual private server is basically a server with usually dual processors and memory splitted into probably 10 or 15 individual servers serving giving the luxury of total control over the portion of the server the client owns. Well, that's not too bad an idea and the price typically ranges from $20 per month to over $50 per month for hosting lesser clients per physical server.

I have signed a few of them but I notice a common problem. Though I had the full management access of the portion of the server I paid for but often these servers are giving me more headaches than normal share hosting.

Problems such as:
1) My web application becomes lesser responsive at times and it can die anytime without notice.
2) The server can go down sometimes
3) Using remote desktop to administer the server sometimes gets a forced close connection by the server.

I become to realise that even if each client is allocated certain portion of the memory, but it will still depends on the other clients if they are running long processes and tasks. This could drastically affect other clients' application performance. I thought it would be nice to share a little finding that I encountered. So next time you are thinking of signing a virtual private server package, please think about the above points which I mentioned.

3 Good-For-Value Web Hosts To Consider

2006-05-24T22:25:00.000+08:00

I have personally used quite a number of web host providers in the past 6 years and through daily surfing and reading, as well as checking out web host packages, I still can't really find a real good host in the market. Well I mean good that comes with a price tag. I believe most of the webmasters out there who just started out hosting their own sites want some value pack hosting packages that well fitted in their tight budgets.

I hereby make to 3 recommendations:

WebHost4Life
http://www.WebHost4Life.com/default.asp?refid=vinson

I have stumbled across this site as a lot of credits to them from the googling for web hosts. By looking at their packages, they are pretty reasonable in pricing starting from $4.95/mth ranging from 1GB to 3GB space. But there is something I like about them is they allow you to share your space among your disk space and database space. I m personally a heavy database user therefore this is something that would tempt me to get out my credit card. The next thing is the unlimited number of domains you can host. I believe every webmaster nowadays is trying hard to maximize their online profit through advertising like Adsense and banner ads. They can utilize on the free multi domain
hosting.
Global Internet Solution
http://www.gisol.com
I have used them for more than 2 years for just 2 reasons. They offer cheap and huge webspace for asp based hosting with .net v1.1 and SQL server database hosting that comes with the package starting from $5.95/mth with 6 months free if you sign up annually. Well back then I was paying $12.95/mth for 2GB of web space but now they have upgeared their package to $9.95/mth with unlimited web space and database space. What a tempting offer for any one who wants to host unlimited number of websites. Just something to note. Their ticket system and live support isn't that great as compared to other web hosts. So take note of that. If you need php, yes, they do provide.
BoundGrid
http://www.boundgrid.net
I used them for nearly a year now and find that they are good in customer service. For people like me who doesn't stay in US but uses US web host, live chat is all the more important to me as troubles crops up. I need to resolve them fast and often they offer their good advice and fast response to aid me resolving my problems. The only setback is that they charge for every database you created. So if you own many blogs, that will be a problem. Their prices range from $5.96/mth for 300MB(rather small) to over $20/mth. The good news is you can too host unlimited domains in your account.

In A Nutshell

We should look for web host who can offer us the flexibility of utilizing web space and disk space within our account and host mulitple domains. This way, you can capitalize on making more websites and increases your earning online if you are running an online business. Look at it this way, website files are small enough. It is the database space that is the critical key for the price difference you see at different web host because database hosting is more troublesome and requires more technical assistance. So look out for hosts which fit the criterias I mentioned and you won't be sorry.

I will post more on the findings next time. Have a nice day!

Webmaster Guide to Web Hosting

2006-05-18T11:56:00.000+08:00

If you are looking for host for the first time, here are some quicky tips to ensure you get the right host for the right job:

1) If you are using a server language such as cgi, perl, php then choose a linux plan. If you plan to use asp, asp.net 1.1 or 2.0, then go for windows hosting plan.

2) If you are hosting a corporate site, be sure to use a paid host as you will get uptime guarantee, statistics for your site and most importantly you get support should anything goes wrong. If you are hosting your personal site or blog, then probably you can try out free blog service like http://www.blogger.com , http://www.wordpress.org or http://www.eponym.com and you can look out for free host for these blog software but beware, by using a free host, there are conditions attached where some needs your site to put up a banner in exchange for the free service and free hosts are not as reliable as paid hosts.

3) Check to see if your application or website requires the use of databases. In the web hosting market, linux hosting usually comes with MySQL database as part of the package and generally much cheaper than Windows hosting. Watch out if you are going for Window hosting as some companies do not offer MSSQL server hosting and if it does offer, usually it's an add on item which will cost a couple of bucks per year.

4) Check out site like http://www.whreviews.com where the site provides web hosting company reviews by actual users of their services and you can get a good idea which hosts are more reliable than others and which host renders a better customer support.

5) Check out forums like http://www.webmasterworld.com for more information and recommendations by forum members to see which hosts offer better packages in terms of price per year or free months per year when you sign up. As a tip, I would go for hosts which offer multiple domain hosting as I can fully utilize the web space to host multiple sites.

I will provide more information on different types of host and what to look out for for each type of host and how to compare hosts in future. Check back regularly for more updates :)