Overview of cPanel Hosting

cPanel Hosting refers to any web hosting plan that uses cPanel as its web hosting control panel. cPanel is the leading control panel interface in the web hosting industry today. It uses a graphical interface that greatly simplifies the management of a website. As such, we offer cPanel on each of our web hosting plans.

cPanel simplifies a lot of the routine website management tools by providing users an easy to use front-end interface. It allows you to easily manage your email accounts, your FTP accounts, the files that are on your website, your add-on domains, your sub-domains, your MySQL databases, and it will even provide you with your website statistics.

If you're on a PHP web hosting plan, cPanel will also allow you to access Fantastico, the instant script installer. With Fantastico, you can install a variety of popular scripts such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, phpBB, Zen Cart, OS Commerce, Coppermine, Gallery, and much more. You can install each of these with just a few easy clicks and avoid the hassle of installing scripts the traditional way.

Web Hosting Sizes

The size of your web hosting account decides how big your online presence can be. There are many ways to determine the size of a web hosting account.

Disk Space

The size of a web page is around 10 to 50 kb - most of the disk usage is graphics. If you throw in large image galleries, big databases, scripts, email and log files, the total size can easily rack up.

Email Accounts

Many web hosting providers offer one email account with their free web hosting plans. Even if only one person operates the website, it is convenient and logical to have separate email accounts for different purposes. For example, you can have yourname@yourdomain.com for private emails,info@yourdomain.com for general inquiries and newsletters@yourdomain.com for signing up newsletters. It is also nice to get email aliases.

Also check if the web host offers webmail with your free web hosting service. If not, you will have to download your email to your computer with a POP3 mail client (ie. Outlook).

Data Transfer

Data transfer is the amount of data transferred to and from your web hosting account. This includes file uploads, emails and visits to your website. Normally, visits to your web site will be the dominant factor.

If your average web page size is 20kb, 50,000 page views will result in 1 gb of data transfer. Most web sites use less than 1 gb per month.

Multiple Domains

Many free web hosting providers do not offer this, but it is a very cost-saving feature to have, especially if you're planning on running multiple websites under one account.

If your free web hosting provider offers multiple domain hosting, there is normally a limit to the number of extra domains you can host with one account. However, the apportioned server resources (disk space and data transfer) of a free web hosting account, you normally cannot host more than a handful of websites on one account.

Common Web Hosting Mistakes

1. Falling for the price trap
Yes, many different companies offer free web hosting services at no cost. However, a common set back is most of these free web hosting plans do not offer sufficient features you need for your website and/or most of them force you to place advertisements on your website.
2. Inexperienced reseller
Hosting with a reseller is not a bad thing. However, you need to do extensive research - sometimes a reseller is very good all around but inexperienced when it comes to scripts and server environments.
3. Not clearly defining your requirements
You should keep a list of what resources your website needs and add to that list as it grows. This will make it easier when you need to upgrade your web hosting services in the future.
4. Forgiving a host's bad or limited website
If a web hosting provider cannot or would not take the time to put together an informational website for their own business, most likely they won't be too concerned about yours either. Look out for cookie cutter websites.
5. Putting all eggs in one basket
If you manage several websites, it may seem like a good idea to have everything in one account. You can simplify your billing and get a better deal. But that's not always the case. If your websites generates income and they are all interconnected, having all of them down at the same time is bad.
6. Not keeping a record of their contact information
Many of us are satisfied with email, forum and live support. But when your web hosting provider is down for days, including their own site, you won't be able to contact them at all if you don't have any records of their telephone number.
7. Relying on host backups
Always keep your own backups, even if your web hosting provider performs backups as well. It happens far too often - a customer's website goes down indefinitely and they couldn't put the website on another web hosting provider because they didn't have any backups of their own.
8. Trusting your host to have the latest software
New software or latest patches are meant to plug security holes. Check with your web hosting provider what versions they are running and how often they make updates before you purchase web hosting services from them.

What is VPS Hosting?

VPS hosting is a type of web hosting that uses Virtual Private Servers. Although the websites are hosted on the same physical machine, VPS allows each website to be fully independent as if each were on its own separate machine.

How VPS works

The easiest way to visualize how VPS work is to use the apartment analogy. Each virtual server, or "container", on the machine is like an apartment suite. You can install any software you like or restart your own container without affecting the other containers on the machine, much like how you can renovate your own suite without affecting the others.

On a shared hosting server, problems with one website might cause the entire server to go down, causing all of the other websites on that server to go down with it. This would not happen on a VPS machine because only the problematic container would go down, but the other containers would be unaffected.

Similarly, some high traffic websites in a shared hosting environment may hog all of the server's resources, thus causing other websites on that server to be unreachable. This would not happen on a VPS machine as each container may only use the resources that are allocated to it.

Why use VPS Hosting?

VPS is great as it slips in nicely and bridges the gap between shared hosting and dedicated hosting services. VPS will give you the independence and flexibility of a dedicated hosting service, but at the price of a high-end shared hosting service.

For users whose websites have outgrown their shared hosting service but can't quite afford a dedicated server, VPS hosting may be the best solution.

Email Hosting - Your Online Brand

The ideal email address is short, simple and logical. Free email addresses are often long and confusing, and they include impersonal domains, like@Hotmail and @Gmail. In business, it is vital to create the right impression - you need an email address that is both unique and memorable.

With domain email accounts, you get complete control over your online persona. Using your own domain name makes it easy for others to email you and remember your address. It helps establish credibility by showing you are a real company with real employees, products and services.

Remember, your domain name is your online brand. Your domain name gives you're a presence on the Internet. Many people will look for your website when they receive an email from your by taking the part after the @ (ie. @doteasy.com). When your website appears, it validates and authenticates you and your products or services. Authentication is very important because of the amount of spam each of us receives from many free email service providers, such at @Hotmail.com.

Other benefits of using your own domain name for email:

establishes/reinforces your online identity

differentiate yourself from competitors (and spammers)

lets your customers know you mean business

Many web hosting providers offers email services with their free web hosting plans. In additional to access via webmail, you should be able to access your emails via a POP mail client (ie. Outlook) and even your mobile device (ie. your iPhone).

The Boundaries of Web Hosting Support

Website creation, web design, scripting, database, eCommerce, search engine optimization, keywords, control panels, FTP, email clients, bandwidth, disk spce, IP addresses, DNS, domain names, etc. These terms and phrases are related to the web hosting industry and can easily be found in many web hosting providers' glossary and knowledgebase. All of this can be very overwhelming to a new website owner or something new to web hosting. There seems to be a web hosting solution for almost every problem related to the Internet, but not all of the problems are within the boundaries of web hosting support.

Support Tickets

Many people become confused with what their web hosting provider should be able to help. When you visit the support section of most web hosting sites, you will see a menu that lists a variety of categories in which you can file your complaint or inquiry. Many of these categories appear to represent your problem, but that is not always the case.

For example, if you are having a problem editing your website's template or installing a third party plug-in onto your website. You may assume that it is a scripting issue. However, in all actuality, it is not a scripting issue that is directly related to your web hosting account. Your web hosting company may advise you to consult with a web design professional. Many people will see this as a lack of support even though that might be the best solution they can offer. Support ticket categories are perhaps the leading cause of confusion and frustration.

Terms and Conditions

A more accurate way to assess the boundaries of your web hosting provider support capabilities is to refer to its Terms of Service. Very often you will be able to find information about what the support staff is able to help you with. A good rule of thumb is - if the problem cannot be solved within your control panel, then the web hosting company probably cannot help you with it.

Phone Support

The easiest way to find out whether or not your problem can be solved by your web hosting company is to call them and find out in real time. Instead of waiting for an email response you may find it more time-efficient to speak with a customer service representative on the phone (or a Live Chat). This will eliminate confusion and frustration that results from information "lost in translation" via email.

Free Website vs. Facebook - which first?

Free Website vs. Facebook - which first?

So you've decided it is time to establish an online presence for your business. Your buddy suggests getting your own website; your teenage nephew says, Facebook Page is free and not to mention the millions of users you can reach!

Now which one do you choose, your own website or a Facebook Page?

Creating a Facebook Page is easy. Signup. Write. Post. Tada! Your page is now accessible to millions of potential customers.

Facebook Pages, or any social networking sites give you an extra reach you don't get with your website. It can help you promote your business to a massive audience without costing you a dime. It allows you to develop your company image and get creative with your audiences and customers.

However, to develop a long term business strategy and loyal customers, you need your own website, and here's why:

Problems with social networking sites:

1. No ownership, no control. Social networking sites can change its policies, lose data, or one day goes out of business, all at their own discretion.
2. Not everyone is on social media networking sites. For example, the majority of Facebook users in the United States are female between the ages of 18-25. (reference:http://www.checkfacebook.com/)
3. A social media networking site URL doesn't deliver the professionalism a website URL does. Would you buy from an online business that only has a Facebook Page and not their own website?

Your website should always be the foundation of your company's online presence. It plays an important part in how your business is seen online.

If the main reason why you would consider a Facebook Page and not your own website is because setting up a Facebook Page is free, then maybe you should know that setting up your own website with your own domain name is not as expensive as you'd think. Many free web hosting companies offer free web hosting services if you purchase a domain name from them. Take advantage of the competitive web hosting market, look for a free web hosting company that also offers free email services, a free website creator and applications to help you build your website, and most of all, no forced ads.

Your own "http://www.yourbusiness.com" , complete with a decent-looking website and @yourbusiness.com email addresses - now that's the kind of online presence that your business needs, first.

Free Web Hosting - Getting Started

Domain name. Hosting. Content. These are the three essentials to putting your website on the Internet. With all the different domain name extensions, registration terms, hosting packages and techical jargons (ie. FTP, SMTP, PHP, etc.) - the simple vision of your own website online has now turned into something mind boggling, confusing and intimidating.

Let's help you break the entire process down into simple, easy-to-follow (and understandable) steps.

1. The purpose of your website

The first thing you need to do is make a list of why you want a website. Do you want a website because you want to share your writings or photos with friends or family? Or do you want to sell your products online?

2. Decide on a domain name

When you've determined the purpose of your website then it'll be easy to come up with a suitable domain name (ie. name for the website). Don't fall into the "free" trap - many free web hosting service providers gives you a free website name. But what you don't realize is, your website name will be a derivative of "http://www.serviceprovider.com/subfolder/.../yourMemberID". Not exactly the most user-friendly nor professional name now.

A common misunderstanding is that you can get a domain name for free.

While completely free web hosting services exist, domain name registrations are not free. In order to use "http://www.yourname.com", you need to pay the .COM Registry registration fee. This fee guarantees that your name will be yours to use for the duration of your registration term.

If the .COM version of your desired name is not available, you have the option to get the .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .US, .INFO or even .CA, .UK, etc. The list goes on and on... Most people usually go for the .NET version if the .COM is not available. It's completely up to you. If your website is about sharing information, then you should consider .INFO. If your website is for your business, then a .BIZ would be good, too.

3. Your needs

Will you be expecting a lot of visitors a day? By a lot, we're talking about in the thousands. Do you have a lot of photos or files to share with your visitors? If yes, then ample bandwidth and disk space will be on your shopping list.

If you're setting up an online store AND will be accepting credit card information from your customers, then you'll need to consider advanced security options (ie. SSL certificate). For more information on setting up an online store, click here (link to "Free Web Hosting and Ecommerce" article).

If this is your first website and you're just experimenting, then your list will be shorter - all you need is a free web hosting plan. A free web hosting plan will offer you the basic necessities to have a website on the Internet without any of the fancy bells and whistles.

4. Find a reputable free web hosting service

Once you have an idea of what you need, you need to find a reputable web hosting service. There are many places you can go to find a service provider. You can do a search for "free web hosting companies" on Google, but do keep in mind that just because a company is listed on the first page of Google doesn't mean it's 100% safe and legit. It's always best to shop around or ask people for referrals and references.

Basic things to look for in a free web hosting service plan:

1. It allows you to use your own domain name. Again, you don't want a website name that's "http://www.notyourcompany.com/notyourfolder/.../yourMemberID"
2. There are no forced ad banners
3. It comes with web hosting storage (for beginners, 100MB is more than enough)
4. It comes with bandwidth/data transfer (for beginners, 1000MB is ample)
5. It comes with email services. With your own domain name, you'll want to be able to setup @yourdomain.com accounts

Once you've found the free web hosting service that best suits your needs, then you can go ahead and start designing your new website and enjoy the fun and joy that a website can bring.

Basic Features of Free Web Hosting

Looking for a free web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Try to identify a reliable web host can be a daunting task especially with so many service providers and options available nowadays. Throw in the feature sheets and promises, the task can be that much more intimidating.

But it doesn't have to be. Let's take a look at some of the most common features a good free web hosting provider should offer:

Disk Space and Bandwidth

Disk space refers to the amount of storage space assigned to you by the free web hosting provider. This space will be used to store your web site files, including text, images, audio, etc. files you use for your website.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. Access means every time a visitor types in your website name in their browser. Leave means every time a visitor receives something from your website, whether it be viewing a photo, listening to an audio clip or downloading a file.

For example, if your website has a lot of graphics (ie. photographs) then you will require higher storage and greater bandwidth.

Website Creator and FTP

If this is your first website and you have limited or no scripting experience, then look for a free web hosting provider that offers a free website creating application where you can create your website simply by choosing a template and adding in your own text and images.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol for transferring your website files from your computer to your free web hosting server, or vice versa. This allows you to upload your finished website files (including images and other multimedia files) from your computer to your service provider's server. It also allows you to download your files from your web hosting server back to your computer. A good free web hosting provider should offer 24/7 unrestricted FTP access.

Email

Yes, your free web hosting provider should provide you with email services - so that you can setup @yourdomain.com email accounts. In addition to a webmail interface (so you can login and manage your emails using your web browser), the email service should also include POP3 and SMTP access so you can setup and access your @yourdomain.com emails using your mobile devices.

Support and Uptime

You should always choose a free web hosting service with free, reliable telephone and email support.

While no host can offer a 100% guaranteed uptime (think problems out of their control, ie. city power outage), they should provide "just-in-case" measures to limit website and email downtime to a minimal. These measures may include 24/7 server and network monitoring, redundant hardware and network configurations, and onsite backup power supply. While you might not completely understand the technicalities of these, look to see if your free web hosting provider has these listed somewhere on their website. If not, ask them about it.

Pricing

If you're looking for a free web hosting provider, then you should expect to pay absolutely nothing for all the basic features listed above. You shoudn't have to compromise pricing with banner ads. Any free web hosting providers that forces ads on your website is a no-no.

Web hosting service

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server owned or leased for use by clients, as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for other servers located in their data center, called colocation, also known as Housing in Latin America or France.

The scope of web hosting services varies greatly. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with minimal processing.^[1] Many Internet service providers(ISPs) offer this service free to subscribers. Individuals and organizations may also obtain Web page hosting from alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or inexpensive. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense depending upon the size and type of the website.

Single page hosting is generally sufficient for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides databasesupport and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, ColdFusion, or ASP.NET). These facilities allow customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. Also, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is typically used for e-commerce.

The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts, as well as other modules and service applications like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce), which are commonly used by larger companies that outsource network infrastructure.

Types of hosting[edit]

A typical server "rack" commonly seen incolocation centres

Internet hosting services can run Web servers.

Many large companies that are not internet service providers need to be permanently connected to the web to send email, files, etc. to other sites. The company may use the computer as a website host to provide details of their goods and services and facilities for online orders.

• Free web hosting service: offered by different companies with limited services, sometimes supported by advertisements, and often limited when compared to paid hosting.
• Shared web hosting service: one's website is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. The features available with this type of service can be quite basic and not flexible in terms of software and updates. Resellers often sell shared web hosting and web companies often have reseller accounts to provide hosting for clients.
• Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a reseller. Resellers' accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server. Many resellers provide a nearly identical service to their provider's shared hosting plan and provide the technical support themselves.
• Virtual Dedicated Server: also known as a Virtual Private Server (VPS), divides server resources into virtual servers, where resources can be allocated in a way that does not directly reflect the underlying hardware. VPS will often be allocated resources based on a one server to many VPSs relationship, however virtualisation may be done for a number of reasons, including the ability to move a VPS container between servers. The users may have root access to their own virtual space. Customers are sometimes responsible for patching and maintaining the server.
• Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (user has root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. One type of Dedicated hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full administrative access to the server, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated server.
• Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (user is denied root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.
• Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and expensive type of web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or changes. Formerly, many colocation providers would accept any system configuration for hosting, even ones housed in desktop-style minitower cases, but most hosts now require rack mount enclosures and standard system configurations.
• Cloud hosting: is a new type of hosting platform that allows customers powerful, scalable and reliable hosting based on clustered load-balanced servers and utility billing. A cloud hosted website may be more reliable than alternatives since other computers in the cloud can compensate when a single piece of hardware goes down. Also, local power disruptions or even natural disasters are less problematic for cloud hosted sites, as cloud hosting is decentralized. Cloud hosting also allows providers to charge users only for resources consumed by the user, rather than a flat fee for the amount the user expects they will use, or a fixed cost upfront hardware investment. Alternatively, the lack of centralization may give users less control on where their data is located which could be a problem for users with data security or privacy concerns.
• Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization. Clustered Servers are a perfect solution for high-availability dedicated hosting, or creating a scalable web hosting solution. A cluster may separate web serving from database hosting capability. (Usually Web hosts use Clustered Hosting for their Shared hosting plans, as there are multiple benefits to the mass managing of clients).
• Grid hosting: this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple nodes.
• Home server: usually a single machine placed in a private residence can be used to host one or more web sites from a usually consumer-grade broadband connection. These can be purpose-built machines or more commonly old PCs. Some ISPs actively attempt to block home servers by disallowing incoming requests to TCP port 80 of the user's connection and by refusing to provide static IP addresses. A common way to attain a reliable DNS host name is by creating an account with a dynamic DNS service. A dynamic DNS service will automatically change the IP address that a URL points to when the IP address changes.

Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:

• File hosting service: hosts files, not web pages
• Image hosting service
• Video hosting service
• Blog hosting service
• Paste bin
• Shopping cart software
• E-mail hosting service

Obtaining hosting

Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering these types of web hosting.

A customer needs to evaluate the requirements of the application to choose what kind of hosting to use. Such considerations include database server software, scripting software, and operating system. Most hosting providers provide Linux-based web hosting which offers a wide range of different software. A typical configuration for a Linux server is the LAMP platform: Linux, Apache,MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. The web hosting client may want to have other services, such as email for their business domain, databases or multimedia services. A customer may also choose Windows as the hosting platform. The customer still can choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but may also use ASP .Net or Classic ASP. Web hosting packages often include a Web Content Management System, so the end-user does not have to worry about the more technical aspects.

What Is a 'Domain Name'?

Domain Name System, or DNS is the most recognized system for assigning addresses to Internet web servers (aka "Internet hosts"). Somewhat like international phone numbers, the domain name system helps to give every Internet server a memorable and easy-to-spell address. Simultaneously, the domain names keep the really technical IP address invisible for most viewers.. 

Some example Internet domain names:

How Domain Names Are Spelled

1) Domain names are organized right to left, with general descriptors to the right, and specific descriptors to the left. It is like family surnames to the right, specific person names to the left. These descriptors are called "domains".
2) The "top level domains" (TLD, or parent domain) is to the far right of a domain name. Mid level domains (children and grandchildren) are in the middle. The machine name, often "www", is to the far left.
3) Levels of domains are separated by periods ("dots"). 

• Example 1 above) About is the mid-level domain, .com is the top level domain.
  
• Example 7 above) japantimes is the smaller mid-level domain. .co is the larger mid-level domain. .jp is the top level domain.
  
• Example 10 above) spain is the mid-level domain, .info is the top level domain.
  

Tech Trivia Note: Most American servers use three-letter top level domains (e.g. ".com", ".edu"). Countries other than the USA commonly use two letters, or combinations of two letters (e.g. ".au", ".ca", ".co.jp"). 

A Domain Name is Not the Same as URL
To be technically correct, a domain name is commonly part of a larger Internet address called a "URL". A URL goes into much more detail than domain name, providing much more information, including the specific page address, folder name, machine name, and protocol language. 

Example Uniform Resource Locator pages, with their domain names bolded:

1. http://horses.about.com/od/basiccare/a/healthcheck.htm
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html
3. http://www.nrl.navy.mill/content.php?P=MISSION
4. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html
5. http://jobsearch.monster.ca/jobsearch.asp?q=denver&fn=&lid=&re=&cy=CA
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conradblack
7. http://classified.japantimes.co.jp/miscellaneous.htm
8. http://www.dublin.ie/visitors.htm
9. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26858
10. http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Destinos/
11. http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php