Archive for web hosting business
What to do When Everything is Running Well at Your Web Hosting Business
Posted by: | CommentsBelieve it or not, owning a web hosting company is not always the hectic, out of control affair we think of it as. In fact, a lot of your time may simply be spent in front of your desk playing Solitaire as the bytes travel back and forth. Your servers may finally be running smoothly on autopilot, but does that mean you should take the opportunity to kick back, relax, and stop working on your systems?
Absolutely not! When you’ve got some “down time”—and not of the server variety—you’ve got a golden opportunity to ensure your servers are smooth, slick, and up to date. You never know when the perfect storm may be just around the corner, and the smart web hoster takes every placid opportunity to give his servers a looking over.
With that in mind, here’s some ideas for you to capitalize on the next time everything is running smoothly on the home front:
- Run Updates: This seems obvious, but taking the time to ensure your servers are up to date is a must. You may have fixed every other aspect of your hardware imaginable, but when’s the last time you checked to see if CentOS added any new features? If you’re bored, can’t think of anything else to check, or just want to keep your servers running smoothly, go run your distro’s updater application and download the changes.
- Nuke The Remnants: When a tenant on one of your servers leaves, their website is deleted. At least, it should be: The truth is, most websites leave behind scripting files, or the occasional stray media cache. There are also several preference bits that tend to get stuck to your hardware. With this in mind, just troll through your file cabinets looking for “remnants,” or bits of old sites that no longer exist on your servers. Take out any loose ends, and then feel better about yourself. House cleaning is hard work, and very likely needed to be done!
- Take Another, Deeper Look: When everything is running perfectly, why not take the extra time to be sure your eyes aren’t deceiving you? Troll through some log files and look for any unseen errors. Run as many diagnostic tools as you can. If there’s an error, you’ll find it this way. If there’s not, you’ll have yet another opportunity to give yourself a pat on the back! It’s a win-win, in our eyes.
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Are You Paying Too Much for Web Hosting?
Posted by: | CommentsThe easiest way to enjoy a low cost on your web hosting bill is to choose the right service provider to begin with. Unfortunately, the web hosting business is growing at a rapid pace, which means choosing a good and reputable host is not only difficult, but often consuming and very frustrating. The good thing is that once you find the ideal host, you will agree that the journey was worth the time and effort you put into it. If you want to make sure you are getting a bang for your buck, keep your eyes on the following areas as they directly attribute to the cost of service:
Bandwidth and Storage
Bandwidth and disk space play a major role in determining the price of web hosting. Determining how much of each you require can be tricky, but coming up with an estimate is important. Whatever you determine, just make sure you understand how these crucial resources are allotted. It is imperative that you understand the rules on overages and what will happen if you use more bandwidth or disk space than you have been allocated. Simply knowing this will spare you the surprise of a huge web hosting bill at the end of the month. A hosting company that will spill the details on allowances and overages ahead of time allows you to take the measures needed to reduce or properly plan for extra usage. This type of host can be a real keeper.
Website Quantity
If you require more than one website, then you might want to consider signing up with a hosting company that allows you to run multiple domains on a single account. This will help you save a lot of money over purchasing separate accounts from different companies. Because you are essentially putting all of your eggs in one basket, you also need to consider the dangers of multiple domain hosting. Should disaster strike the server, all of your websites could be compromised and unavailable to visitors. You need to give this careful thought as crippling downtime might be the greatest cost of all.
Web Applications and Technologies
You can save yourself some money on web hosting just by ensuring that all the software applications and technologies your site requires are included in the package. This includes programs such as FrontPage and WordPress as well as technologies such as PHP or ASP.NET.
If the host does not offer what you need, paying extra for it could end up costing you dearly. Make sure you understand what is included and try not pay for features that can be obtained somewhere else for free.
Hosting Contracts
Many web hosting companies offer substantial discounts when paying for a year or two worth of service in advance. Signing up for something like this may appear to be a smart move, but you need to find out how long you will be locked in first. It is recommended to avoid any long-term contracts until you can assure that you are absolutely satisfied with a particular host. For this reason, you may want to keep your options open to month-to-month contracts where the risks are considerably lower.