12 things to know when choosing a Web Hosting service

Choosing an Internet / web hosting service provider (web hosting service) in accordance with the requirements of the business is a seemingly simple task but not simple. This article takes a look at some of the essentials in choosing hosting service providers that are suitable for your business.

1. What is a good web hosting service provider and vice versa?
2. How will the business be affected if you choose an inappropriate or poor quality hosing service provider?
3. What types of hosting services are available? Every business, every industry is suitable for which type of hosting service?

1. To choose the appropriate web hosting provider, it is necessary to have an understanding of the different types of hosting services available

Along with the strong development of hosting service industry, customers have more and more diverse options than hosting service packages, each service pack has different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, understanding the current hosting service packages is extremely necessary.

1. 14 Best Web Hosting 2018 is completely free and contains no advertising

Shared hosting (Shared hosting)

Shared hosting means that many customers share the use of a service provider's server. Fully shared servers will be managed by service providers, customers can only manage personal accounts and website maintenance. The strength of this hosting package is the price - it can be said that the cost of this package is the cheapest in the current hosting packages. But also because many customers share a server's resources, it will inevitably affect the operation of websites. For example, if the number of visits to one of the websites saved on that server skyrocketed, it would slow down the speed of access to other websites on the same server, not to mention network security issues. , information security due to shared use. Another weakness of this service package is that customers cannot install their own applications because they cannot directly manage the server and because the service provider wants to ensure a stable environment for all. customers.

Hosting rental locations, transmission lines (Collocated hosting)

Customers of this hosting package are fully equipped with a server that meets the specific requirements, for example, customers can buy servers from suppliers like DELL or HP. The service provider only plays the role of receiving the server from the customer, arranging the location of the server, providing the operating power and connecting the server to the network. In stark contrast to the shared hosting service package, where customers are fully active in managing server maintenance, the service provider is only responsible for maintaining network connectivity and power supply. Continuous operation for the server. In some cases, customers using this service package may receive management support from the service provider.

Unmanaged hosting hosting (Unmanaged dedicated hosting)

This hosting service package is quite similar to the hosting service package for renting a location and network connection, except that there is only one point that the customer must hire the server from the service provider instead of equipping itself. Therefore, the price of this service package is usually quite high. Besides, the level of support that customers receive from the service provider is relatively limited. Most of the support is at the general level, so customers need to ask the service provider to specify the level of support. This type of service can be very good for applications such as online games, but it is not sufficient for business applications that require quick response and absolute stability.

Managed dedicated hosting (Managed dedicated hosting)

Hosting services with support servers are the same as hosting services with unsupported servers, only one thing is that customers get more support in managing and maintaining servers as well as security services. quality assurance from the service provider. Management support services can include real-time server management, hardware warranty, frequent updates of security fixes and many other support services. However, you also need to ask the service provider to specify the management support services that come with the service pack to avoid hosting hosting providers that do not host servers without support. hosting rented server with support.

2. Does the service provider 'own' 'black' IP address?

Many hosting providers only pay attention to profit without caring about who their real customers are. This means that many hosting providers allow hosting of malicious websites, unhealthy content, spammers or servers that contain a multitude of security issues. Therefore, the network of many service providers contains a lot of 'black' IP addresses, which negatively affects customers. There are hosting providers 'owning' a whole C class of 'black' IP addresses and then these IP addresses themselves are again granted to new service provider customers.

'Black' IP addresses are prohibited IP addresses on the network, which are addresses of websites that distribute spam, or IP addresses of websites with unhealthy content. As a result, any email originating from the 'black' IP address will not be accepted by any email server. This means that if customers want to use email as a marketing medium, unfortunately those emails will never be able to arrive at the right address.

So when choosing a hosting service provider, you should also check that the hosting provider has 'owned' the 'black' IP address using the black 'IP address database'. 'like http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/isp.lasso. Or a database of 'black' IP addresses that distribute spam http://www.spamhaus.org/mailinglists.html

3. Do not confuse the stability with the business scale of the service provider

If you only pay attention to the business scale of the hosting service provider and equate it with the quality of service, the level of safety and security is a mistake. In fact, many large hosting providers are on the verge of bankruptcy or operating under the protection of anti-bankruptcy laws. In some cases, the hosting provider is in the process of owner transformation, causing many difficulties for customers? The solution to the problem is to try to find answers to the following problems:

1. How long has the hosting provider been operating in the industry?
2. Has the hosting business company changed over time?
3. The service provider's business is profitable, capital turnover, reinvestment?

4. Don't set prices as a top priority

Don't be cheap!

One of the most common mistakes people often make when choosing a web hosting is choosing the cheapest provider. Even worse, some people even choose a free service. Although the free hosting service does not have much impact on an unimportant website, but you certainly do not want your business website to be hosted by free or cheap web hosting services, right?

A web hosting service provider offers a very cheap price because they provide poor quality services - ie, regular inactivity, lack of important features, poor security, lack of support, etc. Since you can find a good web hosting service for only $ 5 to $ 10 per month, don't be cheap and choose a service for $ 0.99. You almost won't get anything.

If setting a price target as a top priority in choosing a hosting service provider, you will most likely receive only one Internet connection and very little support from the service provider. Even in many cases, the Internet connection you receive is not guaranteed, often running at full capacity or having technical problems.

5. Does the service provider have its own data center?

When you intend to choose a hosting service provider, make sure one thing is that the service provider has its own data center and that the data center must also be guaranteed continuity in operation and connection. connected. Find answers to the following questions from the service provider:

1. What is the total capacity of the service provider's network connections?
2. On average, the level of network connection of the service provider? (You need to understand this because no matter how big the network provider is, if it has to operate at full capacity, it is inevitable that your website's access speed will be slow.)
3. Does the power supply for the service provider's server guarantee continuity?
4. Service provider has backup generator?
5. Do service providers regularly check backup generators?
6. Which network security solutions does the service provider often apply?
7. Does the service provider have system security measures?
8. Does the service provider have fire protection systems?

6. Service providers must have network administrators with practical experience

When asking for technical support from the hosting service provider, sometimes you will feel very frustrated because you have to work with customer service staff who do not have technical expertise instead of working with Professional network administrators. So, should you find out the service provider organization system of the service provider? What are the professional network administrators you need? How long does it take to reach professional network administrators?

7. Service providers must be flexible in customer support

The hosting provider must understand the importance of the quality of service they provide to the customer's business. Many managed hosting providers can support a number of different applications if those applications are not installed when they set up the rental server. So try to choose a hosting service provider that can support many different types of applications.

8. What do customers say about service providers?

When choosing a hosting service provider, you should also consider the reviews of other customers about that service provider. Does the hosting service provider you intend to choose can guarantee the quality of service that will be provided to you as it was for previous customers? Does the hosting service provider have the ability to provide information about their previous customers? .

Perhaps you have chosen a web hosting service provider based on the above factors, but it does not matter if you find out what other customers say about that service provider. Do not read the testimonials on the website of the vendor provided by the user that the testimonial may not exist. Reviews elsewhere, such as forums, will be more reliable.

As usual, don't trust blindly judgments. However, if dozens of users say that the support of the web hosting company you have chosen is a nightmare or the service often stops working, just ignore this company and keep looking for a choice. choose another.

9. Support does not mean extra fees

When deciding on a hosting service provider, make sure you receive a detailed declaration of support services that come with the hosting service package from the service provider. This helps you know what is the free support service, which is the support service that must be paid and what support services are not provided in the hosting service package. In some cases, service providers often do not know this well, they often purposely hide poor quality free support services under the guise of high quality support services to profit profit.

10. Be wary of the word 'Unlimited'

Falling into the trap of the word "unlimited" is another common mistake that beginners or sufferers have. Although "unlimited" sounds great, but it really seems too good, good enough to be suspicious. If you are offered unlimited hosting, chances are it is a shared hosting service, and will make your site slow.

The same thing applies to bandwidth. Just think about what happens when you get unlimited services, but share everything with video streaming sites. These pages will get all the disk space and bandwidth, and you have to wait a long time for your page to load. It is better if you get limited space and bandwidth (but guaranteed), as well as upgrade when needed, rather than unlimited.

11. Don't accept features you don't need

One of the ways to get a good web hosting service, while not having to choose a cheap package or pay too much money is when you choose a service that provides exactly what you need. For example, if you have to pay extra for your email server to be hosted and don't really need it, you should not choose this offer. Of course, you can't always choose the features you need, but when you can, do it.

Another example of paying too much for hosting services, though not necessarily so, is choosing a VPS - Virtual Private Server, while you really don't need it. You may think that your website will grow exponentially and hosting services share too limited for you. But if this happens, upgrade to VPS at that time, not from the beginning.

12. Read the terms of service

There is always something that is not transparent in the details. In the case of services, the terms of service may be a problem. This document defines your relationship with the web hosting service company, and it is boring to read it. Look for terms that determine the amount of refund or compensation during service outages, service termination, etc. because if these terms are not in your favor, all speed and content The large amount of drives that the vendor promises to give you is also useless.

Even if you don't choose the best web hosting service right away, don't be angry with yourself. You can always move your site, if you need it. Of course, it is better to avoid this if possible, so you should invest more time in research, before you commit to a particular web hosting company.

Hopefully the advice in this article will help you find a good web hosting for your website and prevent common mistakes from happening when you choose a provider.

Good luck!

See more:

1. Select the best hosting service provider for businesses
2. How to choose the appropriate hosting service provider
3. Search website hosting - Web hosting: easy or difficult?