|
|||||||||
| Translate this page with Google's Language tools |
What matters when choosing a good webhost
Here are some of factors which can make or break a web hosting service
Server speed
For the consumer serious about the speeds that a viewer will see their site, need to consider how fast the hosting servers are. Although bandwidth and connections are main factors, server speeds are also equally important. If a server is hosting many sites and if the access load on these sites is high it will have lot of impact on the your website. No matter how fast the connection is this can seriously slow down a viewers speed to surf through a site. A simple way to test the speed at which a server responds should reveal the load at which it is operating. This will determine how quickly a server can receive and send back a small piece of data through the connection you have to it.Speed of the host processor is also important. Few sites that will make greater demands on the host are CPU and will consequently run slower - and slow down every other site(s) on the server also. Multimedia streaming, internet forums and bulletin boards, online surveys websites, and high animation all require huge amounts of memory and fast access to the main server. So a overly loaded processor can slow down a site's response time considerably.
Host server Software
The software powering the can also affect the response time of a site. Linux and Windows are the most common server software environments. Having the server software all the necessary versions and patches is very important. There are new vulnerabilies discovered in backend hosting components like apache, php, Ajax, mysql which should be considered for all patches to avoid unwanted downtown. Also the server should be free of other unwanted software modules which can impact its speeds at times.
Server Security
Protecting a site data from unwanted intrusions is also a key consideration while selecting a good web host. Again all the security patches should be up to date on the server's hosting farm. A good firewall and virus scanning should be employed on all the machines. Generally if your website don't need outbound access it is best to make it block any outgoing access which can make an intruder open tunnels to your server engine. A false sense of security is actually worse than having no security at all. Generally a good web hosting service provide all the details about their security plan and efforts to tackle any outside intrusion.
Customer Service
Customer Service is one of the most important aspect while consider a hosting service. Major Hosting providers offer a variety of customer service plans. Services offered can be 24-hour toll free number, 24-hour email help, Frequently Asked Questions pages and help forums, a business website 24/7 online and telephone access is key. If the worse happens a guaranteed access to help is a big factor towards the usability of a web host.
Server Reliability
Reliability of a hosting service should be close to 100%. A Hosting service should have several backup systems in case something fails on the main server. Some hosting services provide a hourly or daily backup of your website resources which is very useful if your site undergoes lot of daily activity online or use to maintain client data and other useful information. Failure do happen but with a good recovery and backup mechanism the impact may never be felt by an end consumer. Best option could have a redundant server setup where an alternative server takes over if the main server crashes.