From: Ken Ross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >I was hoping some of you might offer some of your insight in my >search for good web hosting. I am now ready and going to be designing >sites for people. Some might want me to get them domain names some might >have them already and some may want to just site in a url behind a url i >own such as www.kenconsulting/~customerhere (or somthing like that. But >what i wanted help with is who to use as a hosting service. I want some >advice from you guys as to where to go, best price and most offerings >and all. I want to have control over doing stuff for the customers and >keeping up with site stats and such. For instance i have a guy that owns >a travel business and he has his site up at aol i beleave he said. He >wants me to redesign and fix it up and also take him somplace more >reasonalbe. Any suggestions????????? Hi Ken There are basically 2 methods to set-up. 1) Do it yourself 2) Rent Space. I assume option 1) is not what you want to do now because of expense and probably lack of knowledge. Option 2) requires using sombody else's server. Going through a Service Provider (ISP) can provide some space but its not the 'How much space' its the quality of service that counts. There are plenty of bargain Web hosting sites and 'Virtual server' offers but look very closely at the details and ask their customers (or check for yourself) about the service and response of those particular sites. For a personal business or a friends Web page display then most sites are suitable. For a professional business offering a clear package to your clients and customers then it would be necessary to have most of the control yourself and complete details of what you have and what you cannot do. The Web server and hardware are something to ask about. Most WEB servers are using APACHE. Hosts are under Unix (or Linux). The hardware are not a big issue but will be if using a database server structure. I cannot recommend anything other than the BEST and you will see that other system configurations do not come close to high performance Cheap providers are not always the best, IMHO because they tend to take the shortcut to the learning curve and probably use the market familier brand names, who I dare not mention here. Last item, is the connection of the server to the Internet. You do not want any bottlenecks in this area. A server may give you reasonable access for downloads and uploads but having YOUR Client's customer getting peid-off because they can't get a server response or Web unreachable or timout. The problem may not be the Web hosting server access but you must know exactly how its connected. Ask the provider what connection they have to the Net and try to stick with a peered system (A Net link connected to a Large Internet Access provider). DO not take their word go and check it. This area I am a little weak on, but I normally use a combination of PING, IP Routing, IP Numbers, WHOIS registrations and DNS checks. The whole combination will give me a good picture of what the story is with prospective service. But, in all a line not less that 512Mb/s leased line should in most cases be OK. Now Web Space, There is a lot of FREE sites available but are limited to what you can do with regards to CGI-BIN domain name and multi-level directories, pop3 and redirects etc. Also you will have limited control to site and domain setups. If your reselling, space then you need access to all security level and pop3 accounts but usually increase the price. Remember, your talking about Internet and not Extranets. A secure Commerce server is also and important consideration if you and your client want to trade, sell and hope to make money. There are some alternative places where you can get the full service and control, eg Domain Name, DNS and webspace, for free but is usually served to those with no income to start and charitable organisation(or charitable people). [If you want information please contact me direct] The paid Web hosting server providers are a different matter from anything to near nothing to very expensive and some involve strange contracts. The list is too big and the permutations are very complicated. Contact me privately for directions. Regards --------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Mullins Ajaz Communications, Gallipoli, Italy mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ____________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Web Consultants Association : Register on our web site Now Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants If you lose the instructions All subscription/unsubscribing can be done directly from our website for all our lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
