The Problem With Web Hosting Today
When it comes to web hosting, the quality of the bandwidth is as important (if not more important) than the hardware your site runs on. That’s because even with the fastest web server, your site will come to a crawl if it’s connected to poor quality bandwidth.
In the beginning, the Internet consisted of a single network (backbone) used by US government-funded researchers and organizations. Today, the Internet consists of more than a dozen backbones and hundreds of interconnected computer networks. These networks exchange traffic with one another primarily at two public network access points in the US — one on each coast (MAE East & MAE West).
Then the Internet grew and telecommunications companies built additional backbones to support the additional traffic. But while additional backbones provided more bandwidth, the overburdened public network access points caused major slowdowns and serious bottlenecks. To ease this congestion, backbone providers created private connections or ‘peering points,’ between their networks. This allows data to move from one network to another with much less use of the public access points.
But as Internet traffic continues to increase, private peering points are becoming more congested and backbone providers lack the financial incentive to invest money to accommodate their competitors’ traffic. When peering points are congested, data packet loss occurs, slowing downloads and decreasing the reliability of data transmissions. This may not sound like a problem, but when you consider that even a one percent packet loss can double your customer’s download time, you can see how points of congestion lead to major slowdowns in data transmission on the Internet.
The solution: Intelligent Routing Technology and ASsimilator Technology.
Intelligent Routing Technology simply means instead of routing your Web site traffic through MAE East or MAE West or peering points, your web site is directly connected to the major backbones. Nine of these backbones are considered major and carry approximately 95% of all US Internet traffic. Data from point A to point B is sent directly to its destination via the fastest and least congested path possible. This dramatically boosts your web site’s performance. Multiple routing options also virtually guarantee connectivity to the Internet, regardless of problems individual backbone providers may be experiencing. This technology also assures you of superior performance during peak traffic times by getting your data to its destination and back in the fastest, most efficient way.
ASsimilator technology is intelligent software-based systems for Internet Protocol route optimization-that selects the most direct route for your data. ASsimilator assesses the global routing tables being advertised by all of the backbone networks home to a given service point. It automatically determines exactly which Internet Protocol routes are to be optimized to which networks. ASsimilator then routes data to its intended destination backbone. A verification system allows ASsimilator to monitor the routing of data, and if routing is found to be suboptimal, adjustments may be made to further optimize routing. ASsimilator controls outbound routing to a backbone network from the service point as well as influences inbound routing from non-controlled networks.
So what does this all mean if you are looking for a company to host your website?
You need to have your website hosted by a company that uses these TWO technologies. They are BOTH necessary for the effective and efficient functioning of your website. It will bring certainty to the process of communicating on the Internet — a peace of mind that your website has the redundancy and bandwidth needed to stay online 24/7.
Additionally, it will allow your customers to receive fast, reliable and centrally managed Internet connectivity services that maximize the performance of their mission-critical Internet-based applications.
Rick Caraballo is the author of this article and the CEO of Avance Web Marketing- http://www.avancewebmarketing.com, a South Florida Web Marketing firm that provides state-of-the-art web design, e-commerce, marketing consulting services and web hosting using BOTH Intelligent Routing and ASsimilator Technologies and up to nine of the major internet backbones.
Tags: Fast Web Hosting, hosting, internet hosting, reliable web hosting, Web Hosting, website hostingBest Web Hosting Company - Find The Most Affordable Host
If you’re creating a community web site or a business web site, one of the first things on your agenda will be finding good, dependable, affordable web hosting for your site. In most cases, a free hosting service isn’t going to work. You’ll quickly discover that there’s a wide range of prices in what’s considered affordable, and in what services come with your web hosting package.
What to look for in an affordable web hosting package
Before you make any decisions, it’s important that you know what you’ll need. Sit down and plan what you’ll be using your web site for, and what your server will need to provide for you in order for you to do it. As an example, if you plan to host a web-based community forum, you’ll probably need a web host that provides PHP and an SQL database. If, on the other hand, you’re planning on running Active Server Pages, or .NET applications, you’ll need a server running Windows rather than a UNIX or Linux code base.
Know what you’re looking for before you start looking. It will be far easier than having to change once you get started.
Watch Out for A La Carte Plans
Add-ons can turn an affordable web hosting package into an expensive proposition before you know it. Most hosting packages will allow you to add on a la carte items as you need them, but it can get pricey quickly. If the web host you choose charges a setup fee for the shopping cart you didn’t think you’d need, it could easily be the equivalent of several month’s hosting fees. Instead, you should decide what you’ll need, then get more than you think you’ll use.
Even the cheapest web host should provide 24/7 support.
Ideally, your web hosting provider should acknowledge any request for help within an hour with an estimated time of completion. They should provide you with a searchable knowledge base and tutorials to guide you through most common tasks you’ll need to do, and support desk help should be available to you online at all times.
No matter how low cost a web host is, if it’s not working, then you’re paying too much. Before you sign with a web hosting provider, monitor them for a while, or ask around on forums about their record. A hosting service MUST be reliable. A hosting service that can’t keep your site online and available will only lose you business and money.
To view our top recommended companies for web hosting, visit: Recommended Web Hosting Companies Online.
Carrie Reeder is the owner of eZerk, an
informational website with articles and the latest news about various topics, including web hosting.
Virtual Web Hosting - What Is Virtual Web Hosting
If your web site has outgrown its shared hosting solution, it may be time to move it to virtual hosting, which is often seen as a low cost alternative to getting your own dedicated server. A virtual server gives you most of the advantages of a dedicated server at a fraction of the price. The web hosting service takes advantage of the fact that few small to mid-size web sites need the full resources of a machine and puts several web sites on the same server.
But, you’re thinking, that sounds like the shared hosting plan I’m using now. What’s the difference, and why do I pay more for a virtual server?
While there are some similarities, there are also marked differences between shared web hosting and virtual server hosting. While a web hosting company puts multiple accounts on the same server in both kinds of hosting, the resources of the machine are portioned out differently.
On a shared hosting server, generally the cheapest kind of web hosting available, all the server resources go into a common pot. If one account gets ‘greedy’ and scoops out more than its share of CPU time, for example, every account on the server is affected.
When you’re on a virtual hosting account, that can’t happen. All the resources of the server are portioned out and assigned to each account in the amounts that they’re allowed to use. Rather than every web site reaching into a common pool and grabbing what they need, each one is handed a ‘bowl’ of CPU, server space and traffic. When they use it all up, they can’t just grab more.
In addition, each web site is set up with its own operating system and assigned an isolated segment of the disk that’s separate from other web sites on the same disk. In some cases, each may even have their own hard drive on the server. If something crashes one web site on the host server, it doesn’t affect any other web site.
Having your own operating system also means that you can make changes to it that you may not be allowed to make on a shared server. This allows you to customize the way your web site behaves almost as if you were on a single dedicated machine without worrying about affecting other customers on the same machine. To go back to our bowl of soup analogy, if your next door virtual neighbor decides to add extra salt to his bowl, your web site visitors aren’t stuck with over-salted soup.
Prices for a virtual server range from about $35 a month to $99 a month and up. Your own dedicated server will run several hundred dollars a month, depending on the options that you choose for it. Overall, it’s an excellent web hosting choice for a small-to-mid-size web site that needs more flexibility than shared server hosting allows without overstretching their budget.
To view our top recommended companies for web hosting, visit: Recommended Web Hosting Companies Online.
Carrie Reeder is the owner of eZerk, an
informational website with articles and the latest news about various topics including web hosting.