Choosing The Wrong Server Will Literally Make Or Break You

Today I am going to talk about two types of servers, one is Virtual Web Hosting and the other is Virtual Private Servers.

 

Over the last couple of years Virtual Web Hosting has been the only way to go when choosing a web server. One of the reasons that Virtual Web Hosting became so popular was because they supported the necessary files and allowed you to have more freedom than other conventional web hosts. But now you can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. Moreover, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, because they are completely different.

 

Before I go any further I must explain what the difference is between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server, so that you can fully understand. In this article I will also go over the advantages and disadvantages of both types of servers, to help you decide which is right for you and your business. Let’s get started with Virtual Hosting.

 

Virtual Hosting

 

Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared Web Hosting, where you are sharing the physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting has been extremely popular in the past for it’s fast deployment, strong resources, and most importantly for having a very reasonable price. Another advantage to Virtual Hosting is that you have a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server without having to have advanced technical skills, making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a beginner webmaster.

 

The disadvantage of Virtual Hosting is that you are sharing the server with other users, which are configured and controlled by an administrator, not you. So basically you have your hands tied behind your back, because you have to contact the administrator everytime you have to adjust or change your configuration settings. Even if you managed to get a hold of the administrator, they may not fulfill your request. It’s up to them, they are the administrator. If you were the administrator you wouldn’t have these limitations and would have full control.

 

Virtual Private Servers

 

Virtual Private Servers are a hot topic these days and for a good reason. Before I get into the advantages of a Virtual Private Server, let explain what it is first. A Virtual Private Server is a single server that is partitioned at the root into multiple dedicated servers. This allows you to share the cost of the network connectivity, hardware, and system maintenance with other hosting customers, while maintaining your flexibility and freedom.

 

The real advantage of Virtual Private Servers is that they allow you to have complete control and they have the security advantages of a dedicated server at the fraction of the cost. You have access to the virtual root, Telnet, web configuration files, and full CGI-BIN access. I can’t forget to mention that you also have access to your password, aliases file, and sendmail configuaration file. For many reasons you can see that a Virtual Private Server is an excellent solution for small to medium size businesses that have an increasingly complex needs.

 

Moreover, there is one disadvantage with Virtual Private Servers, you need to have some program knowledge to control and configure the settings. Sounds overwhelming, most businesses that offer Virtual Private Servers have very detailed manuals making them easier to configure and control no matter what your program level is.

 

Which one is right for you? Well, that all depends on you and the size of your network.

 

If you have or plan on having just one web site and have absolutely no programing knowledge, then Virtual Hosting is the recommended and economical way for you to go. A Virtual Host can cost anywhere from $20 – $50 a month for an account, rather than a $100 or more for a Virtual Private Server.

 

On the other hand, if you have a larger network that requires multiple web sites, like ours, and you have some programing knowledge, then a Virtual Private Server is ideal for you. You can host up to 50 web sites on a Virtual Private Server account, instead of having multiple Virtual Hosting accounts, which is not as economical.

 

When it comes time to get a web server, make sure that the server fits your needs and that it supports the essential software for a prosperous online business.

What is Virtualization?

As some of you know, Rackspace just launched our new virtualization product. It’s been in the works for a while and we’re proud of what we’ve put together. I’m also sure a lot of you are familiar with virtualization technology and how it works. However, just as many of you may be wondering how you can benefit from it.

Reference.com defines virtualization as “the abstraction of computer resources” or “a technique for hiding the physical characteristics of computer resources from the way in which other systems, applications, or end users interact with those resources.” So what exactly does all of that mean?

Virtualization allows you to carve up a physical server into individual operating system (OS) instances or Virtual Machines (VMs). VMs can run a variety of different types of OSs on a physical server, all operating individually and securely from one another. How many VMs can you put on one server? That depends mostly on your hardware and the resources your VMs require. As servers become more powerful and cores per processor increase, a lot of applications just don’t make use of those extra resources. Virtualization can give you the ability to make better use of those resources and reduce the number of servers you deploy, which eases system administration and can be more cost effective.

Usually you’ll see two common types of virtualization implementations. The first one is called a Hypervisor. A Hypervisor is essentially the OS layer of the machine that enables virtualization. It’s typically a very small footprint, allowing for better performance and more available resources for the physical machine.

The other type of virtualization implementation is application based. In this case, the virtualization software installs on top of a running OS. This usually reduces the amount of features available, in addition to reducing performance and allowing fewer resources dedicated to VMs.

A lot of the larger players in the game are developing their virtualization software to go the Hypervisor route. VMware’s ESX, also known as VI3, is one of the dominant players when it comes to Hypervisor based virtualization. They’ve been one of the leaders in virtualization for a while and have a very large feature set when compared to Xen or Microsoft’s Hyper-V, which is unreleased at this time.

Some key virtualization features:
Legacy Operating System Support (varies by Hypervisor): Virtualization abstracts the hardware and usually uses very common virtual hardware; therefore, older legacy OSs are able to function without issue in a virtual environment. This is useful for companies with older applications that only support certain legacy operating systems.
VM OS Provisioning: Since the environment is virtualized, deployment of new OS VMs happens quickly. Once a base Hypervisor is in place, VMs can be provisioned quickly since a new physical server does not have to be assembled, and prepped for the Datacenter.
Templates and Clones: Templates allow you to capture the state of a VM so you can redeploy a new VM later, maintaining the same configuration and software. Clones allow you to make a complete copy of the VM in case you ever need to revert back to that original copy.
Snapshots: Allow you to take a picture of a VM at a point in time and revert back to that time point if you chose. This is useful for testing/development, deploying patches, upgrading applications, and trying something new. If something goes wrong, you simply revert back to the previous snapshot and the machine is back to its original state.
Live Migrations: With shared storage, many virtualization technologies allow you to live migrate a VM from one system to another while the VM is still running. This is useful for performing upgrades or repairs to physical servers without any downtime. For example, if you had two physical servers running three VMs per server, you would need to do maintenance on one of the servers without any downtime. A live migration (also known as Vmotion to VMware users) allows you to shift the VMs off the server that is going down for maintenance while they are still running and serving connections. Once your maintenance is complete, you can shift them back to the original physical server.

Web Hosting Article: Shared or Dedicated – Which should you choose?

Before you begin your search for a web host you should first determine whether you need shared web hosting or dedicated web hosting.

A shared web hosting account is an account on a web server that hosts other shared accounts. The number of accounts on one shared server can vary widely; some servers host a few hundred, while others have thousands of sites hosted on one server. Hosting your website on a shared server is a workable solution for many small businesses, as shared web hosting accounts are priced much lower than dedicated servers. Shared web hosting accounts have limited access to the core administrative functions of the server. Most web hosting companies offer comprehensive technical support for users of shared hosting plans. Complete technical support is usually included in the price of your account plan.

A dedicated server is usually dedicated to one, or just a few websites, usually for the sole use by one company. The cost of a dedicated server is higher than that of a shared hosting account. With a dedicated server, you have access to the core administrative functions of the server. With most dedicated server plans offered by hosting companies, you’re pretty much on your own where technical support is concerned. If you don’t have an IT staff or a server administrator to provide support, you may want to find a person to help you manage your dedicated server. Many hosting companies that offer dedicated server plans also offer “per issue” support, meaning that you’ll pay a certain amount, usually an hourly fee, for technical support issues. Some dedicated server plans have optional “support tickets” that you can purchase in advance.

Another option is what’s called a “managed dedicated hosting” plan. With a managed dedicated plan, you get a dedicated server and the hosting company also provides comprehensive support like you usually find in a shared hosting plan. This is a good alternative for companies that don’t have an IT staff or a server administrator and don’t want to get involved at all in the technical aspects of running a server. The price for a managed dedicated server is usually higher than for an unmanaged dedicated server plan as you’re getting technical support included.
Whatever type of web hosting plan you choose, make sure that the plan you’ve chosen fits your needs.

Points to Consider For Shifting to Dedicated Servers

The user’s actual perceptive of time to migrate onto a dedicated server includes several variables and requires him/her to respond a range of questions. Despite of the fact that dedicated servers are supreme because of the reason that only user and his/her business will be exploiting them, they are costly as well as needs someone to manage them, which asks additional money. One should calculate all the factors before marching to make further plans. Given next are the key aspects that one should keep in mind. Key factors:

1. Affordability
A primary and foremost question arises is whether or not the dedicated server chosen by the user is affordable or not. One is required to do some sort of calculation to see the outline of how much a dedicated server costs, also to know how much the user is required to pay for an administrator or rather can say for a fully managed dedicated server. These can cost high, especially if the user do not possess a large budget. One should make sure that his/her budget permits a dedicated server before searching for it.

2. Managed or Unmanaged
Second aspect to consider is that, is the user requires a managed dedicated server or unmanaged dedicated server. If one is well equipped with knowledge and knows how to manage it by his/her own, in that case he/she can opt for unmanaged server, however if it is not the case then managed server is the choice. One should keep it in mind early before lamenting due to over budget because that’s too late.

3. Requirement of additional space and bandwidth
Is the user really in requirement of space and bandwidth which a personal server provides? In a condition when web pages are loading rather quickly and the user still possess an ample amount of space on a shared server; then the user should consider why he/she need to invest in a dedicated server. If space and bandwidth are in the requirement then one should do it, however if user don’t have any sensitive information then it is useless to waste money.

4. Presence of Sensitive Files
Why individuals want dedicated servers? The answer is that they only hold that person’s information, instead of variety of peoples and businesses. So, if a user possesses ultra sensitive information he/she cannot take the chance. Probably it may get stolen; a dedicated server is no doubt an ideal choice in this case.

5. Requirement of tools and options
If the user possess his/her own dedicated server then it means that he/she definitely got the passport of having a variety of tools and options on the fingertips which he/she cant get if he/she is not having shared server. There are no restrictions with a dedicated server because it is totally of user, so the user can do whatever he/she wishes to do. The only factor that the user needs to consider is that he/she should not ignore the increasing budget size.

About Dedicated Website Hosting…

Dedicated website hosting exists when a company hosts only your website on a single computer (server). Most web hosting is shared, with hundreds of websites residing on a single computer. The advantage of a dedicated server is obvious. If only your site is hosted, you will have all of the computer’s resources dedicated to running your site. It will run faster and will likely be running in a more secure environment. With dedicated hosting you will have: * A massive amount of storage space for your website * High bandwidth for millions of hits per day * A high level of technical support * The ability to install your own proprietary or specialized software * Complete control over the server configuration * A high level of security necessary for large ecommerce sites The total storage space needed must also include the size of your database(s), email boxes, statistics logs and anything else that you have on the server. For example, an article directory created using php, may need its own server if it has more than 50,000 articles. If your site will host high quality images or photos, this will also quickly accumulate storage space. Plan for at least a year in advance before you decide on a hosting solution. If your site is small, but extremely popular, it may receive thousands of visitors a day. If they are each downloading 500KB or more, the total bandwidth quickly adds up. For instance, a celebrity fan site with desktop wallpapers and short mp3 sound bites could have 5,000 visitors a day. If each visitor downloads 2 (100KB) wallpapers and one (200KB) sound clip, that totals 400KB. Then you must add all the pages and thumbnails that the viewer sees but doesn’t download (another 200KB). If you multiply this average (600KB) x 5,000 visitors, you get 3,000,000KB or 3GB. That adds up to 90GB of traffic a month! Another thing to consider is the complexity of the site. If it interacts with several databases and contains several scripting languages, you may require more technical support than the average site owner. It is much easier to have special scripts and security features installed on a dedicated server, than it is on a shared one. Needless to say, you will have complete control over what programs reside on your server, and what extra security features you have in place. However, dedicated website hosting is much more expensive than basic hosting and you may have to spend a lot of money for technicians to install and configure your software. If you think you may require a dedicated solution, it is imperative that you research your hosting provider thoroughly before committing. The number of customers, experience in the industry, quality of their data center and quality of their computer hardware and software are just some of the things to consider.

WHAT IS DEDICATED WEB HOSTING?

Dedicated hosting permits individuals and business to lease pre-configured, state-of-the-art equipment and connectivity from a hosting service provider. Instead of simply sharing server space on a virtual server, dedicated hosting gives you the opportunity to lease an entire server for your own exclusive use.

Dedicated services include the lease of pre-configured equipment and connectivity from a hosting provider. The equipment and connectivity are fully managed by the hosting firm, providing its customers with a customized Web server in first-class data center facilities.

With a dedicated server, you can exercise total control over your Web presence. You can choose the operating system and software you wish to use, and individualize settings for your multimedia and e-commerce requirements. Dedicated servers are a good choice for customers that require custom software or enhanced server control but do not want to make the significant up-front investment required in purchasing a server.

Dedicated hosting is more desirable for users with more sophisticated needs, since it permits the deployment of more complex applications, as such databases, streaming media, and high-end e-mail solutions. Dedicated hosting solutions also have the ability to host multiple sites on one machine. Such solutions are usually provided on a world-class network connection, and include 24×7 monitoring of the server and network availability.

The fact that the hosting provider owns the dedicated server is a significant benefit to you because they are responsible for maintaining the equipment and the redundant connections to the Internet. If a hardware component fails, the provider is responsible for replacing it at no cost. The other advantage of dedicated service is that it is custom-designed for each customer. Advanced hosting providers will allow you select specific CPU speeds, disk space requirements and other hardware components. Such automated server specification processes maximize your return-on-investment by ensuring that you only select the hardware you need.

Dedicated servers are excellent service options since only a consumer and their visitors can access the server. This means that Web server performance and the security of e-commerce applications are enhanced.

Because of these advantages, dedicated servers can be considered a superior service allowing you access to more reliable avenues of content distribution and control over your hosting environment. With more control, however, comes more responsibility. Customers who select dedicated hosting solutions will require a certain amount of competency in IT and server administration issues in order to properly maintain the server. This will mean a greater investment of time and human resources than what a “virtual” or “shared” server requires. Furthermore, dedicated servers will require a much larger financial investment.

Dedicated servers are usually offered for a single inclusive monthly fee to Web developers, e-commerce operators and content distributors. The cost can range from between $99 to $2,500 per month, depending on budget, and the level of customer care and technical support required.

Dedicated servers are therefore considered an entry-level hosting solution for the small to medium sized enterprises.

How to Select a Web Site Host

So, you know how to create HTML files (web pages) and want to start a website. You have a domain name but don’t know where to store the files (web host). You find countless web hosting companies offering a wide range of products but you can’t make heads or tails of all the features to decide which plan is right for you.

Does this sound like you?

If so, this article was written for you. Hopefully after reading it, you will have a better understanding of all the terms associated with web hosting and find a hosting company that is right for your business.

File Storage Space

Usually hosting companies sell different packages centered around storage space. Storage space is specified in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB); a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes.

How much storage space do you need? Well, that depends on what you are planning to do with your website. If you have only a few pages of text and little to no graphics or images, a 25 MB should be more than you will ever need. Most hosting packages start at 25 MB of storage space. When comparing web hosting companies for file storage space, be sure to check their terms and conditions to make sure they do not charge another setup fee for upgrading to a packge with more space.

One way to determine the size of your files in Microsoft Windows, right click the Start button and click Explore. Scroll down and select the file(s) or folder(s) you plan on using for your website. Right click on the selected file(s) or folder(s) and click Properties and you will see the size.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the measure of how much data flows through your site. It is usually expressed in GB transfered per month. If you are expecting a lot of hits (millions of page views) to your site you will need to get the most bandwidth you can afford. For new web sites it may take a while to get up to a significant bandwith. If you find you are approaching the bandwith limit, you can always upgrade to a plan with higher bandwidth. Some plans allow you to increase your monthly bandwidth for an additional monthly charge.

E-Mail

Most hosting plans include a significant number of POP e-mail accounts and unlimited e-mail forwarding.

POP accounts can be accessed with your current e-mail program and some hosts may include a webmail interface for your POP accounts. If you have several people that work for your web site/business and want them to have their own e-mail address, you will need to select a hosting plan with enough POP accounts.

E-mail forwarding is when e-mail that is addressed to your website gets redirected to another e-mail address that you specify. An example of e-mail forwarding: for one of my websites mail addressed to mike-@-mrgoodbeer.com, sales-@-mrgoodbeer.com, and webmaster-@-mrgoodbeer.com all get redirected to my Gmail address. With e-mail forwarding you can easily track where your e-mails are coming from. Be careful though…the more e-mail addresses you have, the more SPAM you will receive.

Shared vs Dedicated

When comparing hosting plans, you may notice plans for shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting simply means that your web site will be hosted with other websites on the same server or machine. Shared hosting is good for the average web site where speed is not a priority.

A dedicated server is just that, a server that is dedicated to your website. The advantages of a dedicated server are speed and control. The disadvantage is cost, you will usually have to pay a much larger monthly fee for having a dedicated hosting plan. If you know nothing about Unix, Linux, or network administration make sure to get a managed dedicated server. The hosting company will take care of all the security and software patches/updates that arise over time.

Make sure to review the hosting company’s terms and FAQ concerning their dedicated servers to determine if their service is right for you.

Support

For the companies that do not have 24 hour support, you will have to determine if their phone support hours meet your specific needs. Make sure to note the location of the company and offset the support times for your time zone. If you plan on working on your web site during all hours of the day, make sure to choose a company with 24/7 phone support; otherwise, you will have to wait for them to open before you can get help to solve your problem.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a program, also know as scripts, that can be run on a website to make the site more dynamic. CGI programs can be written in PERL, C, Unix shell, and countless other languages. It is best to select a hosting plan that allows CGI because you will undoubtedly run across an application or game that you want to modify or include on your site.

There are many resources on the web that list free CGI scirpts and countless companies offering CGI scripts for you to buy.

MySQL

MySQL is used for creating and maintaining web based databases. If you anticipating having some data on your site that your users might want to sort you will probably need to find a web host that supports MySQL. Some hosting companies specify how many databases you can have on your site and charge an additional monthly fee if you want more. You will have to determine how many databases you will need and select the appropriate web hosting plan.

FrontPage

FrontPage is a website creation and management what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool developed by Microsoft. The files generated by FrontPage may have extentions asscoiated with them. If you are using FrontPage to develop your site, you will need to make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports FrontPage extentions or your web pages may not display properly, if at all.

Server Operating System (OS)

For most basic websites you will not have worry about which OS your web hosting company is using. Most hosting plans are running on either Unix or Linux. For some unique web site features, you may need a Windows based server.

Setup Fee

Some hosting companies charge a setup fee when your account is created. This is usually a one time fee and may be waived, in some cases, when you pre-pay for your service. Check the hosting company’s terms carefully to determine the details of their setup fee.

SPAM Filter

Most hosting plans include some type of SPAM filter for your e-mail accounts. This feature can come in very handy if you are using POP email accounts.

Shopping Cart

Some hosting companies provide shopping cart features as part of their hosting plan. You do not have to worry about this featue if your web site is not selling products. Also, there are many different third party shopping cart applications and CGI scripts available on the web that you may choose to implement on your web site such as the ones found at PayPal.