Before you can evaluate a web hosting provider — whether
shared, vps, or dedicated, it’s important to know certain basic web-hosting
related terms. This blog will review some of the basic web hosting terms so you
can better understand what you are seeing at when you evaluate a web hosting
provider & web hosting policies. Most important thing that there are certain
differences between Linux hosting and Windows hosting platform offerings.
Disk or Storage Space – usually measured in MB or GB, this
term denotes the volume of disk. This is the same concept as the amount of
storage space on your PC’s hard disk. Typically a few hundred MB is a fine space
to start for a normal web site.
Bandwidth – bandwidth is a quantity of how much data, or
transfer data you can use. For example, if you have a 10MB file, and any one user
downloads it, you have used 10 MB of bandwidth. If 10 people download it,
you’ve used 100 MB of bandwidth. Typically speaking 1GB of bandwidth is usually
more than sufficient for most basic web sites. If you have a website where a
lot of downloading or looking of bulky files is expected, then you may want
more bandwidth.
Databases – most dynamic web sites need some kind of
database to store the data. Hosting companies generally will offer two major
types of database options: MySql for Linux hosting, and MSSQL for Windows
(.NET) hosting
SQL Server hosting is a tiny different, because due to
licensing limitations and costs, only advanced Windows hosting plans have some
type of MSSQL hosting — and they usually limit you to one or two databases due
to the above-mentioned licensing reasons. Also note if remote access is
allowed, though this is a more advanced feature that most casual users don’t
need.
Programming Language Support – Most important point is that,
Linux hosting supports PHP/MySql, but Windows hosting supports .NET/Sql Server.
Check the requirements of any application you will be using before you make a
hosting choice.
FTP access – Practically every company will permit to some
level of FTP access. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and using FTP is the
coolest way to upload files to your website hosted place. FTP should be
reserved for website file maintenance only.
Domains allowed – this measures the number of different
website you may host on one web hosting account. Most companies permit you to
host several web sites. This means that on one account you may host www.onewebsite.com,
www.anotheronewebsite.com, www.onemore.com. In my estimation, do not buying
your domain name directly from your web hosting provider as this can be difficult
if you decide to change web hosts. See a more detailed explanation of my
reasoning here.
Sub-Domains Allowed – A sub-domain is a domain that can be
used as a subcategory. Most small websites don’t need to worry about
sub domains. Examples of sub domains are: my.onewebsite.com.
