Web Hosting Box

Overestimating site requirements is an all too common problem in the hosting industry, as many webmaster tend to want more than they need or can even handle. Although it is admirable and often advisable to plan for excess and assume that you will need a powerful hosting plan, it is not wise to continuously pay for server resources that you are not using. Not only is this wasteful financially, it is also costing the hosting company and the planet energy unnecessarily.

Dedicated hosting plans are perhaps the most common culprits in terms of under usage. Most people that have a dedicated hosting plan do not use more than half of their available server resources, and therefore waste a great deal do money each month. Knowing how and when to downgrade is an important aspect of conserving your budget resources and optimizing your hosting situations. The following information teaches you how to tell when it is time for a downgrade, while also revealing some alternatives to dedicated hosting that may be more suitable for you.

Steady Surplus

If you find that you have a steady surplus of server resources each month, and your empire of sites and traffic levels are not increasing rapidly, then it may be time to consider a downgrade. You can check the amount of server resources your account is currently consuming within the main section of your hosting control panel (usually on the top of the left navigation bar). To the contrary, if you’re gradually approaching the limit of your hosting capabilities then it may be time to schedule an upgrade. While it is recommended to have more than you need on hand in case of a rapid traffic surge, a good rule of thumb is – downgrade when you’re consistently using less than 50% of your plan’s capabilities. If you’re unsure about the total amount of server resources you’re currently consuming in relation to your plan limits, then you should call your hosting company to inquire about this as soon as possible.

Downgrade Decision

After deciding to downgrade, it can be difficult to select a plan, as everything else may seem substandard in comparison. Fortunately, since you already have a hosting plan, you should have access to the aforementioned server analysis stats in your control panel that will let you know exactly how much power you’re using. After determining how much you’re currently using, try to find a plan that offers at least 30% more than what you currently have. This will give you enough room for expansion, while also preventing a complete waste of money and energy. In most cases, you’ll want to consider downgrading to a VPS or reseller hosting plan, as these are the most similar to dedicated hosting. A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a mix between shared and dedicated, whereas a reseller plan gives you the ability to brand and resell some of your hosting resources.

Consider Cloud Computing

If a structured billing schedule does not appeal to you and you would like to try something more flexible, you may want to consider cloud hosting. Cloud hosting is based on cloud computing, which pools entire networks of servers to bring you unlimited and instant expandability and scalability, while only charging you for the exact amount you use each month. This eliminates the guess work, save s you time and money, and ensures that you always have access to the server resources you need.

Microsoft Exchange Server is a powerful enterprise level software that is used to secure business communications, facilitate business management, and mediate online collaborations. This software is utilized by thousands of successful businesses every day, primarily because of its ability to simplify corporate communication and enhance overall productivity. Windows exchange hosting is a type of hosting service that includes Microsoft Exchange Server preinstalled on the web server, ready to be used for no additional cost. Microsoft Exchange hosting is ideal for online business owners that would like to take advantage of Microsoft Exchange Server, without having to invest $1000 on the software. The following information reviews the basics and benefits of Windows Exchange hosting.

Main Features of the Windows Exchange Hosting

The primary focus of the Windows Exchange hosting plan is to provide access to a fully functional copy of Windows Exchange Server, as well as the server resources the software needs to function optimally. Windows Exchange hosting providers offer comprehensive support related to the use of software, administrative server management assistance, and enough bandwidth and disk space to facilitate the creation, storage, and transmission of large amounts of data. With a Windows Exchange hosting solution you’ll be able to start utilizing Windows Exchange Server from day one, without having to pay an Internet technology specialist or tutor to teach you how to use it. In fact, many Windows Exchange hosting services include detailed tutorials and instructions for using the software.

The Cost-Saving Benefits of Windows Exchange Hosting

If you were to set up a Windows Exchange hosting solution yourself you would need to make several significant investments, both monetarily and temporally. First, you have to purchase a license of Microsoft Exchange Server, and install it on your Web server. In order to install such software, you would need to have access to a dedicated or virtual private server hosting solution, both of which are just as expensive, if not more expensive than a Microsoft exchange hosting service. On average, Microsoft exchange hosting providers offer services for about $10 per month per mailbox. Thus, you would have to have more than 200 employees to warrant investing the money for a private Web server and a license of Microsoft Windows exchange.

The Reliability of Windows Exchange Hosting

By choosing to utilize the services of a Windows Exchange hosting provider you are also ensuring the most reliable and stable platform for your business communications. These services usually utilize networks of VPS or dedicated servers, both of which provide extensive server resources and supreme stability. By choosing to purchase a Windows exchange hosting plan rather than host the application on a private Web server, you’ll also gain access to redundant Web server’s and multiple ultrahigh speed Internet connections through the state-of-the-art data center owned by the web hosting company. Thus, if an error occurs with the software or a Web server goes down unexpectedly, your data will immediately be transferred to a working server within the hosting environment.

VPS, or virtual private web servers, is a term used by most hosting companies to refer to a virtual machine. This virtual machine acts like a dedicated server, in the sense that clients can control certain aspects of the machine they normally wouldn’t be able to. However, it is still a modified version of shared hosting.

Generally speaking, every VPS has its own fully installed, dedicated operating system. These VPS systems usually do a good job of splitting up the resources of a machine as the hosting company sees fit. This allows a modern hosting company to bridge a gap between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. VPS is often much cheaper than dedicated hosting and a little more expensive than shared hosting. This makes it a good fit for a web master who is in an in-between area, in terms of hardware requirements.

Right of the bat, an assumption most people make is that a VPS is the best choice. However, this isn’t always the case. Take a look at the chart below for a good comparison of the different systems.

This isn’t an all-inclusive chart, but it does illustrate some of the differences between the different times of servers. As you can see, the difference between a VPS and a dedicated machine is pretty slim. The only major difference is that on a dedicated server, the CPU is entirely yours. On a VPS, the system is sharing the processing capacity with other VPS systems on the machine.

More Ram the Better

Generally speaking, the more ram available the better your server will perform. Some providers offer an extra pool of memory that is reserved for high traffic scenarios. This extra ram is used as needed by a VPS and then quickly released to the pool for other VPS systems to access

So, what is the best choice? It really just depends on your budget. Try and take a good look at the requirements you’ll have as a web master and weigh them with the cost carefully.

Shared web hosting plans have long been renowned for being the cheapest type of web hosting available. However, many people don’t realize that this is not an entirely true statement, as the billing structure and various other factors associated with the shared hosting environment can often cause it to be more expensive than VPS hosting plans.

VPS hosting is known as being the steppingstone between the shared hosting and dedicated hosting environments, giving you cheap access to a server partition that is only used by your network of websites at any given time. VPS hosting has a number of advantages over shared hosting, and in reality, it can actually be cheaper than shared hosting when purchased from certain web hosting providers. The following information outlines the major advantages of VPS hosting over shared hosting, and explains why it is possible to purchase a VPS hosting plan for less than shared hosting plan.

Monthly Billing Versus Annual Billing

Most VPS hosting providers allow their customers to pay on a monthly basis, only paying for the month they are about use in advance. On the other hand, shared web hosting providers require their customers to pay for a year in advance, which even at the low cost of five dollars per month, can equal as much as $60 plus setup fees. A VPS hosting plan that only costs $10-$20 per month can be paid for on a monthly basis, and the setup cost is therefore only $10-$20 per month plus any setup fees. Although the monthly cost of the VPS hosting plan may be more than shared hosting plan, the cost of setting up an purchasing a plan is actually less expensive.

Advantages of VPS Hosting Over Shared Hosting

Unlike shared hosting, VPS (virtual private server) hosting gives you much more flexibility, freedom, and overall control over the software configuration and administration of your server partition. With a shared hosting plan, you are required to share a single Web server with dozens or even hundreds of other webmasters simultaneously. This can create problems when other websites within your IP range that are hosted on your web server become liable for nefarious activity. In fact, there have been many cases in which legitimate websites have been taken off-line for hours or even days at a time because of illegitimate activity being performed by unrelated webmasters on their shared Web server. This risk is completely eliminated with VPS hosting, and the web hosting account owner also has the ability to install new software and web applications on their Web server.

Additional Cost Benefits of VPS Hosting Over Shared Hosting

Since VPS hosting plans are known for having less server downtime, and generally offer higher performance than shared hosting plans, it is possible to save money in the long run by eliminating the loss of sales due to slow page loads and server hardware/software issues. VPS hosting plans are more powerful, which means you can boost productivity and enhance the capabilities and functionality of your website through the use of proprietary server-side web applications that are specifically designed to automate and simplify administrative tasks.

With new web hosting businesses being born every day, and the web hosting industry (one of most competitive industries in the world) expanding at a rapid rate, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the mountains of advertising material and sales pages effectively. Fortunately, if you use the right set of criteria in the proper order of operations, choosing the right web hosting plan or provider can still be a relatively simple process.

Knowing which aspects of web hosting plans are most important can help you save time when comparing the most essential attributes and features of each plan. The following four crucial aspects should be considered when examining any prospect of a web hosting provider or plan.

Web Hosting Platform

First and foremost, it is important to decide whether you need access to a web server that utilizes the Linux/UNIX operating system or the Windows operating system. This decision should be based on your individual website needs and the development technology you use(d) to design and create your web pages. Websites that are developed using Microsoft technologies such as ASP and VB will require access to a Windows server to function, while the majority of other open-source programming technologies such as PHP, Python, and Perl can function optimally on Linux-based operating systems.

Web Hosting Features

After deciding which web hosting platform would be most suitable, it’s best to begin comparing the most essential features between each plan. Some of the most important features to compare include the amount of disk space, bandwidth, databases, e-mail accounts, and domains allowed with each plan. As mentioned, it is also important to consider which programming languages and platforms the web hosting plan is compatible with. It is also important to look for features such as uptime and money back guarantees, as well as server redundancy and scheduled server backups.

Plan Affordability

After establishing your web hosting needs and narrowing the list of prospective plans, it’s time to begin comparing the prices of each plan. Unfortunately, the majority of novice webmasters choose to carry out these steps in the opposite order, choosing a plan based on price rather than establishing their server needs and comparing features and platforms first. If you want to ensure optimal performance and the highest rate of success for your websites, then you should never choose a web hosting provider based on price alone. Only begin comparing the prices of similarly sized plans after you have narrowed your list based on the two aforementioned aspects.

Customer Service and Support

Most people overlook the importance of having access to responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable customer service. That is, until something malfunctions and suddenly your websites are off-line or all of the pages are loading slowly. When this happens, you’ll need access to 24-hour support that is competent enough to handle any administrative tasks, regardless of what time of day or night it is. Thus, it is best to test the responsiveness of each web hosting provider’s customer support staff by calling them at random times and seeing how long it takes, and in which way they answer all of your inquiries.