Getting Hosted

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Jesse Snyder <snyderjw@pacificu.edu>

BS, Computer Science, Pacific University

INDEX:

.01 Reasons to get hosted
.02 Free Hosting
.03 Paid hosting
.04 Paid Host Features
.05 Getting set up
.06 Recommended hosts:
.07 In conclusion

It seems like everyone has a web site these days. Heck, if someone as crazy as Time Cube guy (www.timecube.com) can get something on the web, your average Netizen should be able to get a site.

Many people think that getting a web site up and running is a daunting task, something that should be left to the experts. This isn't so. Getting hosted is a fairly simple task if you know where to look, and can follow step-by-step instructions. Part of the reason people are put off by attempting to set up a website is that there are so many different ways to go about it. Let's try to put out these technical fires and get a website up and running!

.01 Reasons to get hosted (return to index)

Before we actually set up a site, it's best if we think about why you want a web site. There's already a ton of content out there, some of it good, some of it not so good. However, what's the reasoning behind setting up your site?

The reason I ask is that we need the right tool for the job. We don't push in thumbtacks with an air hammer, and we don't drive railroad spikes with our bare hands. Web sites need the right hosting package depending on the content. If you plan on hosting family photos, you won't generate a ton of traffic to your site. As such, you don't need a monstrous, expensive hosting package to place your site online. Likewise, if you're planning an uber-site for hosting many large files, you'll want a larger hosting package that can accommodate your bandwidth needs. More bandwidth means more expensive.

.02 Free Hosting (return to index)

Candidates:

Free hosting is a good option for most people. The reason I say this, is that the average person usually just wants to post a resume online, or perhaps a page or two with some family photos. In these instances, the only people viewing the site will be a potential employer, or your close family, not the entire Internet community.

Lucky, there are tons of options for free hosting. The least obvious is through your Internet Service Provider (ISP). My provider, AT&T (now Comcast I think) allows for a free web site as long as I use their cable Internet service. In fact, they allow for one website per user on the account, and under my cable Internet package, I can have five separate accounts. The idea is that mom gets her site, Dad gets a site too, little Tina can set up her Backstreet Boys page, Timmy can host is video game fan site, and Rover can set up a page about his favorite flavored milk bone.

Setting up a site through your ISP is generally not difficult. For example, at the AT&T Personal Web Pages site (http://home.attbi.com/), once you sign up for a site (which is only available to AT&T customers) you'll be given step by step instructions on how to set up your site, and even given access to tools which allow you to build your site. These tools are limited, but at least you don't need to be an HTML whiz to get a site up.

There are many other options outside your ISP, such as geocities, Angel Fire, Fortune City, just to name a few. In fact, you can review the top 100 free hosting sites here (http://100best-free-web-space.com/). Essentially, they all work the same as your ISP. You sign up, then you'll be presented with site building tools and instructions on how to get your site up and running.

Simplicity and free hosting has a few drawbacks. For one, you're stuck with a complicated domain name, such as http://www.geocities.com/myhomepage/ or http://home.attbi.com/~myhomepage/. That, and if you generate too much traffic, the host might shut down your site temporarily. Also, you won't receive much space to host your files. This means you probably can only host a few pages and pictures, and probably not a film clip.

In short free hosting is a good choice if you want to get a simple site running, and don't have a lot of cash to spare.

Good Stuff:

  • Free
  • Site Building Tools
  • Simple

Drawbacks:

  • Advertisements & Pop Ups
  • Limited bandwidth
  • No PHP, CGIs, Email, SQL, access to logs
  • No Large Files
  • No custom domain names

.03 Paid hosting (return to index)

This is where we get to the good stuff. I say this since I make a ton of websites and have just recently purchased a hosting package to get my personal site up and running (http://www.hummerdesign.com). I'm hosting my portfolio online, which contains many, large, game files. These files also generate much traffic. In fact, within the first few days, I've used up 4 gigabytes of bandwidth, and received over 1000 hits, which really surprised me.


In any event, if you're hosting a site that many people will visit, and you have a many large files, or you want a customized domain name (http://www.hummerdesign.com), you'll have to pay for it. The good news is, you can start relatively small, and pay around $6-$10 a month. The bad news is, that's only for the hosting. If you want a personalized domain name, you'll have to pay for that too, which costs around $20-$30 in most cases.

However, there's more good news. Once you buy a domain name, you own it, like property. No one can steal it, and you get it usually for about a year, at which point you must spend around $20 - $30 to renew the domain name. If you change hosts, you can have the domain name transferred.

In most cases, you won't have to buy hosting and the domain name separately. Usually, the hosting provider registers the domain name for you, as well as hosting your site. This setup makes your life a whole lot easier, trust me.

.04 Paid Host Features (return to index)

Les assume we're past the family photo site, and we need something bigger. What exactly do we want from our host? Well, obviously, you want web hosting. This is the easily the most common option. However, each host will have different packages which govern how much space you get and how much bandwidth (traffic). Keep in mind that storage and traffic are two different things. Storage is how much space you have to place files. Traffic or bandwidth is how much can be downloaded from your site.

I'm going to use ipowerweb.com as my example, since I'm getting my hosting through them. For the record, ipowerweb only has one package for hosting, although it a very good and cheap hosting solution.

On the ipowerweb features (http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/webhosting/index.html) page, they have listed "MB Storage – 500 MB." This means you can place 500 megabytes of files on their server. That is a lot of space. This is slightly less than a full compact disc worth of content. Further down the list they have "Transfer – 30 GB." This means that 30 gigabytes of data can be pulled from your site in a month. Anything greater than that, and you'll be charged, or have your site shut down. I'm not sure which, and I don't hope to find out.

In that list are many other features, some of which may be important to you, other not. I'll give a brief description of each one, so we all know what they are. Some of them seem awfully cryptic without explanation.

  • Domain Name – Your .com, .net, .info, etc. site. Some hosts register at a cost, some for free if you sign up with their package. You will need a domain name when you pay for your hosting.

  • POP3 / Web Email Accounts – You can have your own email address at the domain name you choose. For example, you can now reach me at hummer@hummerdesign.com. I can access account from a mail client (pop3) or from a webpage (Web).

  • Forwarding Accounts – You can have your email forwarded from once email account to another.

  • CGI-Bin – Used for scripts and scripting. For example, a guest book or online shopping cart.

  • PHP – Scripting language used to add more flexibility to your site. Makes dynamic sites much easier to develop and maintain.

  • MySQL – Data basing software used to store dynamic content. Often used with CGIs, and PHP.

  • Log Files – Allows you to keep track of visitors to your site, where they are from, what pages are receiving the most hits, etc.

  • FTP access – This should be a given on any package. Allows you to connect to your site with an FTP client to transfer files manually.

  • Chat – A live chat application that will be hosted at your domain name, usually runs on a different port.

  • Forums – A bulletin board, forum application.

Now these are the most common and useful features anyone might need, although there are many more features such as Microsoft Front-Page extensions and cold fusion support. In general, you'll need to do a bit of searching around the host's features and packages pages to find exactly what you're looking for.

.05 Getting set up (return to index)

Once you've picked a host you feel comfortable with, you'll want to go ahead and purchase a package. Mine cost $90, but I paid for a full year, plus I had my domain name registered. This is less than $10 a month, which to me, is incredibly cheap and well worth the money.

You'll eventually be contacted via email with your account info. Domain names take a day or so to register, so be patient. Once it's ready, you can access your site maintenance through a control panel on the web, much like this one {PIC HERE}. Your host will have a help file online that will guide you through what all the options do, and how they work. For the most part, the options are fairly self-explanatory. Click the button, and go through the steps.

Any host worth their salt will allow you to upload files through this interface from your machine. This means you won't have to use an FTP client to set up your site. In addition, most hosts will have site-building tools of some kind. This will allow you to get some footing before you hire a web designer to set up your site, or do it yourself.

.06 Recommended hosts: (return to index)

As I stated earlier, I use ipowerweb.com. They've been great so far. I had trouble accessing my account to start with, but I emailed them and they fixed the problem overnight. I recommend them since I already did much of searching around, and found that they had some of the most traffic allowed, the most storage allowed, and the cheapest price.

Westhost.com is another good option. I have a friend who works in the programming field and used Westhost as his provider. Although Westhost doesn't have as much traffic or storage as ipowerweb, they are priced competitively and have all the useful features.

There are many hosts out there to choose from. You can find a list with reviews here (http://www.companyreviews.net/webhosting.php), which go into more detail.

.07 In conclusion (return to index)

Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into with your hosting package. Setting up a decent site will take some time, even if you're building with your host's site building tools. Also, you can get hosting for free if you don't plan on a lot of visitors. Otherwise, you'll want to ante up some something bigger and better, like this guy (http://www.timecube.com). In all, getting a website is a pretty easy task if you're patient and can follow directions.