*how to choose a good hosting plan for my website*

[jennypretty]

*how to choose a good hosting plan for my website*
Hello, I 've been running a small website with about 50000 hits a month. I am using PHP and mySQL. I want to switch to a hosting plan that supports ASP scripting. I tried to use ASP script from free script to run, it takes too slow... maybe slower than php...

I paid about $2/month for my current plan (shared hosting)....

When I search for a hosting plan, I see 3 types that I am getting confused. Shared Virtual hosting, Dedicated server, and Semi-Dedicated server. What should I pick? and how much? in order to run a commercial website, do I need to have my own server?

Your help is appreciated.
Jenny.

 

[damber]

Jenny,

First a brief intro to each type:

Shared Virtual Hosting:
This is the least expensive option, and appropriately is the lowest performer. Effectively this is 1 physical server with usually one Web Server serving many websites through a virtualised service - usually presented to you via a control panel - this will allow you to add domains, configure your site, set-up mail etc etc. You will not have access to the server itself (as in remote access to the OS).
Benefits:
- Low Cost
- Low Maintenance
- Simple-to-use
Drawbacks:
- Contention with other websites on that server
- Poor code by another site can easily effect your website
- Severely limited control over the OS - you cannot usually install anything, or change the webserver configuration
- Security could be an issue - though if a good hosting provider, this should be locked down so that this is not an issue (and if you're not knowledgable, it is probably more secure than your own system)


Dedicated Server:
This is the opposite - you have an entire physical server all to yourself, and have almost complete control over it - you can add your own software, configure the webserver, stop / start services etc etc. It is the most expensive but usually the best performer, and can usually be built in the way that you want - e.g. you can max out your RAM if your application is memory intensive.
Benefits:
- Highest Performance system
- No Contention with other websites
- Highly Configurable
- Remote Access to the server
- Upgradable - e.g. new software & hardware
- Usually more personalised (and knowledgable) support from the hosting provider
Drawbacks:
- Highly Configurable - you can easily mess it up !
- Remote Access to server - you can easily mess it up - and make it insecure, make sure you know what you're doing if you take this option.
- Expensive

Semi-Dedicated Server:
This is the middle ground - lower cost than dedicated, but also more contention. This is (usually) a single physical Server hosting multiple virtualised OS instances which you will have access to as per the dedicated hosting.
Benefits:
- Not as expensive as Dedicated
- Many of the benefits of the Dedicated hosting
Drawbacks:
- Physical resources are shared - contention usually isn't an issue unless the virtual server has problems, but it is a possibility
- Hard to upgrade the hardware - due to the impact on other users.

OK, so with that in mind you need to consider exactly what you want - the main things to consider are: Functionality, Performance and Reliability. (There are more).

Functionality - support for scripting standards: ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, CGI etc - hosting features like control panels, DNS management, Email, webmail, SSL support Database Support (MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Access, etc)

Performance - bandwidth per month is a simple indicator, but not the best, you need to consider the size of the server (RAM/Processor/Network Cards etc), whether it is shared or dedicated, and the network capacity of the hosting provider - i.e. how big is the pipe between the hosting provider and the internet backbone.

Reliability - this includes SLA's (Service Level Agreements) uptime guarantees, maintenance management, support services and response times for incidents.

I prefer to pay more for a mid-market solution (your current host will be low-end) - high end is usually enterprise hosting at a specialised datacentre - e.g. CapGemini - these costs are from £5k-10k per annum for a Wintel server and can reach well in excess of £30k for a Unix Multi-Processor Server, so probably out of reach just yet... ;-)

So, if I was you, I would be willing to pay more for a more RELIABLE service that has the relevant FUNCTIONALITY and a reasonable PERFORMANCE capability. RELIABILITY is key when you are hosting a commercial site - if people cannot reach it because it aint workin' - then you've lost a customer.

With this in mind, you may want to start with a shared hosting provider that provides all of this at a reasonable rate and gives you the room to grow.

Here is an excellent Hosting Provider, that (for the money) provides a massive functional service with 24x7 online support and (IMHO) the best for the price I could find after a lot of searching:

- Link: IX WebHosting

They've been voted the Best Webhosting provider several years running in this poll
If you look through that same poll you will see other options as well - most of which are worth a look.

I would also strongly recommend GoDaddy Hosting - the only thing that stopped me from using them is their limited MSSQL Database Sizing (Max 5MB if I remember correctly) - and they offer quite a configurable set of dedicated servers as well as virtual dedicated and shared hosting.

You might also find fasthosts interesting - but it can get a bit expensive once you add all the options

Finally, you DO NOT need a dedicated server for a commercial site, but it helps. You DO need SSL though - this is essential for any commercial site. You should definitely look into MS SQL Server for the database but MySQL can also work for simpler/smaller sites. PHP/ASP are quite similar in terms of appropriateness - ASP.NET can make a big difference in some scenarios, but in many it is on a par with ASP (in terms of selection criteria for a small Commercial site) - however if you don't know either, go with ASP.NET,

Hope that helps.

A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!

 

[jennypretty]

The plan has all db is $9.95, that is expensive for my website. The plan for $3.95 does not have MS access db.
I like the plan for $3.95 but it does not have asp scripting.
Any suggestion?

Databases (New!)
Each database can include multiple tables 10 MySQL 25 MySQL
MS Access (Windows)
SQL Server 20001
(Windows)

 

[damber]

Jenny,

You pay for what you get - I've used relatively cheap services in the past and they just cannot offer the same combination of functionality and reliability and performance.

$9.95/m is not expensive for a web hosting service - yes there are plenty that are cheaper, but they do not offer the same functionality AND the same reliability AND the same performance. IXWEbhosting, Godaddy, FastHosts and other better-quality hosts offer similar prices. There are plenty of cheaper hosts - you just have to decide which of the three aspects (functionality, reliability, performance) you are willing to compromise on.

Also if you think $9.95/m is expensive, do not even consider looking at Virtual Dedicated or Dedicated hosting.. the costs will probably bring a tear to your eye !! ;-)

I suggest that you list out exactly what you are looking for in terms of:

1. Server Scripting Language (ASP/PHP/JSP etc)
2. Database Support (MSSQL, MySQL, Access, Oracle, Postgre etc)
3. Disk Space (50MB, 500MB, 5000MB, unlimited)
4. How many domain names (and subdomains) you will need to support
5. SSL Support - shared and/or own certificate
6. Email Support
7. FTP Support
8. Available Scripts/Components (e.g. osCommerce, phpBB, WebShell, DotNetNuke, etc, etc)
9. DNS management/control
10. Bandwidth (10GB,30GB, 50GB, 100GB, 1000GB, etc)

Once you have an exact requirements list you can prioritise these and compare against the available plans out there.

Once again.. only look for Shared Hosting - Virtual Dedicated and Dedicated are MUCH more expensive.

Also, I would not use MS Access if you have access to MySQL, MSSQL or other more functional databases as it is not really designed for many simultaneous users and the performance / functionality is pretty poor.

A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!

 

[jennypretty]

Good. I think I 'll go with MySQL and php plan..... I think Access is not as good as mysql. The only reason is it is hard to code in asp with mySQL. And, php is too new for me.
jenny.