Shared Hosting
Your site resides in the same server as
several other sites.
Pros: Low cost; little maintenance; better
connection; higher reliability and security;
professionally managed server
Cons: Less control; do not have full access
to server; maximum potential for performance
bottlenecks
Dedicated Hosting
The Web host provides a server for your
site alone.
Pros: More control; more software options;
more configuration options; good connection.
Cons: Higher software and maintenance
costs; requires technical expertise
Colocated Hosting
A server you own is housed at the Web
host's site.
Pros: Full control, which may include
security; unobstructed access to Internet
connection, climate control, and power
backup.
Cons: Increased maintenance costs, possibly
including security expertise; increased
server and software costs; no easy access.
Do-it-yourself Hosting
You maintain your own server and Internet
connection at your site.
Pros: Full control; instant access to
hardware and site; software and configuration
flexibility.
Cons: Labor-intensive; requires
technical expertise; high
costs for equipment, direct
Internet connection, and more.
If you are new to web hosting,
choosing the right plan may
seem confusing but it is relatively
simple.
Your decision will be based
on 3 main criteria:
Disk or web space
Data transfer or "traffic"
Type of content
Disk/web space refers to the amount of
space that your website will occupy on our/your
server. It is measured in megabytes (MB)
as is traffic/data transfer since every
time a visitor comes to your site and visits
or downloads from your website; they transfer
the size of that page(s) or file over to
their computer. Of course, the more visitors,
the more data is transferred and the higher
your traffic is therefore if your website
is going to get more visitors or transfer
larger file/image sizes, you should select
a plan that allows for this.
Another factor that is pertinent to this
decision is the type of content your website
is going to contain. If your site contains
large graphical imagery, a database or sound
files (.wav) then it is anticipated that
you will require a more complex web hosting
plan.
We recommend that unless you have previous
experience or knowledge that your website
is going to require more complex functions
such as those above, then one of our more
basic account types may be adequate to initiate
your website.
Then as time and visitor growth
necessitates, you can upgrade
your account type according
to the particulars of those
demands. Also you might want
to add more features as required
overtime.
Of course, if you have any
unanswered questions about choosing
the right account type for your
needs, please do not hesitate
to contact
us. We will be happy to
assist you in getting the web-hosting
plan that is perfect for your
needs.
We recommend in most cases,
your needs will be better satisfied
by choosing one of our Unix
Web Hosting Accounts.
Some newcomers to hosting make
the mistake of thinking that
if they use Microsoft Windows
on their own computer, Windows
hosting will be better. This
is not correct. Only for those
extensively utilizing Microsoft
Windows® specific applications
such as MS Access, MS MSSQL,
ASP, and VBScripts, do we suggest
Windows hosting.
The reasons are simple.
Unix is definitely more reliable,
more stable and more universally
compatible with any operating
system. This is due to the functionality
and speed of the Unix operating
platform. Without a doubt, Unix
is far more stable than Windows
in a shared-server, or multi-user
environment. So if you are unsure
and you do not think you will
be using one of the above, we
recommend a Unix account.
On the other hand, if you know
you will be using Microsoft
applications mentioned above
extensively, or you plan on
developing extensively using
FrontPage, especially FrontPage
2002®, are looking for E-commerce
add-ons or will be using high-end
databases/development, our Windows®
Hosting Plans are the right
choice for you.
NOTE: FrontPage® 2002 web
hosting is supported by both
UNIX and Windows Web Hosting
plans.
To conclude, if you are looking
for universal compatibility
regardless of the operating
system the end user has, the
ability to run a much wider
variety of custom scripts and
programs than Windows, and offers
easier, lower-cost set-up for
advanced applications such as
CGI scripts, databases, etc
then the obvious choice must
be one of our Unix web hosting
accounts.
Picture it. You build a website, you host
it at a web hosting company (preferably
ITE) and before you know it, you have a
successful web presence. Suddenly you need
more memory, more web space, more bandwidth
and more features. You know you need a more
comprehensive web hosting solution but do
you upgrade your virtual account or do you
go to a dedicated server - a server dedicated
to your needs alone.
While Virtual or shared hosting may have
been or may be enough for your website,
you should keep in mind that you are sharing
resources with others, much like living
in an apartment building.
On the other hand, dedicated hosting is
like owning the house. Your website will
have complete usage of the server's resources
therefore likely to be served faster versus
sharing with a 100 plus sites on the shared
server. This option could very well cost
hundreds of dollars more per month over
the virtual hosting but if your website
and traffic, not to mention your business
requires it, then skimping on money should
be your last concern.
Unlike shared hosting, a Dedicated
Server is where you lease the
entire server from your web
hosting company, including the
hardware and the operating system.
The hardware, operating system,
connectivity, redundancy, and
monitoring costs are usually
spread out over the duration
of the service agreement. Typically,
this includes connectivity to
the Internet, redundancy measures,
and monitoring.
Dedicated servers are for larger, professional
websites which may require a great deal
of traffic, use secure E-commerce applications,
have sensitive content, application hosting,
resellers offering shared hosting services
to their customers and so forth. The Dedicated
Server is provided by the web hosting company
and "leased" to the customer.
If your Internet business or
application falls into one of
the categories above, leasing
a dedicated server from a web
host can save you time and money
in the long term, as well as
reduce the risk involved with
owning and maintaining the hardware
yourself. You don't have to
bear the upfront costs of purchasing
the hardware yourself, plus
the installation and Internet
connectivity costs, plus the
costs of continuous monitoring
and hardware maintenance.
Another important reason to
choose a dedicated hosting solution
is the need for large amounts
of bandwidth or data transfer
capacity. If you have a heavy
traffic site, you will certainly
require a large amount of bandwidth
each month.
Finally, and best of all, only
your data is on the server.
You are not sharing the memory,
processor, or bandwidth with
anyone else. Your server has
it's own port to the Internet.
It is there to serve you.
Once you have decided that
a Dedicated Server is the right
choice, here are a few other
considerations:
Operating Systems: The
two most popular are Unix
and Windows. There are others
such as BSD and Solaris, however
these are the two most prevalent
choices. For more on this
read 'Deciding
Between Unix and Windows'.
Usually the decision comes
down to the scalability of
Unix versus the standardization
of Windows.
Web Servers: Here the most
popular are Apache for Unix
and IIS (Microsoft Internet
Information Server) for Windows.
Programming and Databases:
For Unix, the two most popular
are Perl and PHP. PHP is growing
in popularity because it allows
you to connect to a database,
usually MySQL very easily.
For Windows ASP is the language
of choice, which can be used
with MS Access or MS SQL Server
database software.
Hardware: The choice is
what speed, single or dual
processors, RAM, how much
hard drive, SCSI or IDE and
most importantly, who pays
for hardware maintenance.
Data Backup and Security: Without going
into great detail, the choices are RAID
(short for Redundant Array of Inexpensive
Disks) using such methods as disk striping
and disk mirroring (RAID level 1) to achieve
redundancy, lower latency, higher bandwidth
for reading and/or writing and most importantly
recoverability from HD failures.
No matter what type of back-up
option, it is important as
anyone who has ever had a
HD fail and has lost all his
or her data, can attest to.
