What is hosting? Hosting is a way of hosting a website on the Internet. Once you have placed your site on the server, anyone can access it by typing the domain name in the browser line. Access to the site is possible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
In order to place your website on the web, you need to:
- first of all, have your own website. You need to have a copy of the site on your local computer (in html files), or ready-made materials + a script that would allow you to create a website directly on the server.
- domain name. You need to find and purchase a website domain name. It is desirable that the name speaks about the subject of the site, and it is easy to remember. The domain name can be in any domain zone of your choice, for example: .com .net .org .ru, etc. When choosing a domain zone, be guided by the data on domain topics. .com domains, for example, are intended for commercial sites, .org – government agencies and public organizations. Regional domains indicate that the site belongs to a region. This is an optional rule, but it’s worth remembering.
- order one of the hosting tariffs from the Hostland company providing hosting services. The choice of a tariff plan is a separate topic for conversation, some aspects that need to be taken into account are described here
What is a server?
This is a computer hosted by an Internet provider and connected to the World Wide Web, on which a copy of the website is stored. As a rule, one server accommodates quite a lot of websites, due to a large disk array and very high performance. The amount of disk space of the server is also important, as well as its computing power and the bandwidth of the hosting provider’s Internet channels.
Using any web browser (programs for viewing websites on the Internet) you can access your website by typing the website address in the browser bar.
Web hosting can be compared to renting real estate. Many companies are ready to offer hosting for a reasonable fee, but not many can provide hosting of proper quality. Speaking about the cost of hosting, it should be noted that for most websites, the cost of a fee per month may not exceed 300 rubles. Within this cost, you can find a free hosting company that provides from 300 megabytes of disk space on the server and all kinds of functions, such as: installing and running scripts, database support, an administrative panel (i.e. your control panel) of the website, where settings are made not only for the site, but also for e-mail – by the way, Hostland will provide you with almost any technologies necessary for your site
If you are planning to open a representative office on the network, you need not only to decide what level the website will be, but also to decide correctly on the choice of a hosting provider. Statistically, more than 70% of website owners switched from one hosting to another at least once. The transfer to another provider was caused by dissatisfaction with the quality of the hosting services provided. Very often, in order to attract customers, hosting providers offer many attractive bonuses
Indeed, any provider says that he is the best, and he has the lowest prices, etc., etc. And then it turns out that the support service does not respond, or responds, but with a delay, the servers sometimes “hang” due to heavy load. Such carelessness in choosing a provider can bring big losses. Imagine what it means to have no access to the company’s website, where important information is updated every half hour for employees located in remote branches of the company. Imagine that potential clients of the company cannot find out the contact phone number or email address because they cannot get to the website. Perhaps in half an hour they will not make a second attempt to enter the site. Perhaps in half an hour they will find another competing firm. The damage from hanging servers can be huge.
Next, which tariff plan to choose?
Tariff plans, as a rule, differ in the size of disk space, the possible number of sites on the account, and the limit on the load on the server. Of course, after you have selected several of the most reputable hosting companies, you need to compare their tariff plans. When comparing, it is necessary to remember what requirements the tariff plan should meet. Need to take into account:
the size of the disk space provided
the ability to have multiple email addresses
installation and launch of applications (cgi, php, MySQL)
access to the site via FTP
an administrative panel with which to monitor and manage the site (very important: a high-quality administrative panel, where all functions are conveniently “laid out on shelves” will save you a lot of time)
perhaps the most important thing is the technical support of hosting, available at any time of the day or night, by email and by phone
Let ‘s take it in order
It’s easier with postal addresses – almost all providers provide an unlimited number of addresses within a single domain. The limit can only be on the number of individual POP3 and SMTP accounts. This means that, despite the different addresses, you have a limited number of separate connections using the mail client.
If your first website will consist of several pages and a logo, then a tariff plan where the size of disk space will be from 100 to 300 megabytes is quite suitable. This is more than enough. Almost no hosting provider provides less than 100 megabytes of disk space anymore.
Installing and running scripts is necessary if the site will be built on dynamic pages, or it is necessary to implement a search function inside the site. If the site is completely built on statistical html pages, then running scripts is of secondary importance.
FTP access to the site is required. You can’t do anything without it. FTP access is provided by any provider, at this stage everything is simple and clear.
The administrative panel, at first glance, is not of high importance. But when it comes to practical site maintenance, a high-quality admin panel is simply irreplaceable. With the help of the admin panel, you can not only set site settings, but also get statistical information about the site, for example: how much disk space is used / free, what is the indicator of outgoing traffic for this month (as a rule, all providers set a limit on outgoing traffic) – by the way, Hostland does not limit its customers in traffic. Using the admin panel, it is easy to operate with site and email settings: create new email addresses, configure mail forwarding, manage folders and files (set file access rights, passwords to directories).
Technical support is perhaps one of the most important components of high-quality hosting – it is the support service that will explain why the site is not working, help install a particular hosting program, help identify why the site was hacked, restore a broken site from backup, etc., etc. Of course, it is not unimportant that a qualified support service works around the clock – this will help significantly speed up the resolution of many technical problems.
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