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OVERVIEW
Selecting appropriate hosting for your web site is a difficult and important decision.
Many companies lack the professional resources and technical infrastructure to host
their own web sites. Selecting third-party hosting is a balance of finding a service
that can handle the web site as the requirements grow while not paying for services
that do not add value to the site.
Sanctuary Software Studio is not an Internet Service Provider. However, we do provide
key support in the selection of hosting services and web site deployment. We have
partnerships with local and national service providers to leverage the economies of scale
to get you the best deal. Our experience has shown that there is no single, ultimate
solution. The requirements for a corporate presence are quite different. Many ISP's
provide low cost solutions for simple sites, but cannot inexpensively supply secure
e-commerce solutions. Since we do not look to hosting as a profit center, we are able
to focus entirely on the best solution at the best price for your individual hosting
needs.
CORE HOSTING SERVICES
Any ISP will provide a set of core hosting services. It is important to understand what
services are provided and what are the real costs of these services.
- Web Site Space: The web content must reside on an Internet accessible server.
Most ISP's provide a limited amount of drive space for a fixed price with the
option for additional space at an additional cost.
- Internet Bandwidth: The primary expense for a hosting service is their Internet
bandwidth and a major a cost passed on to the customer. Hosting services price
bandwidth based on a total monthly transfer, continuously available bandwidth
or a flat fee for shared bandwidth.
- Electronic Mail: Hosting services generally include basic electronic mail service.
E-mail service may consist of domain redirection or complete SMTP mail service with
POP3 mailboxes.
- Domain Name Service: The web site needs to be tied to a universal resource locator
(URL) through the Internet domain name system. Hosting services provide name server
support to ensure that your clients can locate your web server.
- File Transfer Protocol Service: FTP service provides support for the public and
private transfer of computer files. FTP service is also used for maintenance and
update of the web site content. FTP requirements must be taken into account when
determining the required bandwidth and web site space.
An undersized hosting solution will often result in increasing monthly charges as web-site
traffic increases. Paying for unlimited service provides little advantage over hosting
the site internally.
AUXILIARY HOSTING SERVICES
Advanced web sites require additional services that are not conveniently available through
all providers. A complete analysis of the services required for the current site and the
company's long term Internet strategy is needed to identify hosting requirements.
- Secure Socket Layer: E-commerce requires that clients be ensured of the protection
of their personal information. Providing online ordering requires full HTTPS support
with digital security certificates.
- Server Side Programming: Any site that expands beyond static web content requires
support for server programming using one or more different technologies. Many
technologies are mutually exclusive based on the hosting platform.
- Multimedia Streaming: Streaming audio and video are useful for creating an engaging
web experience that keeps traffic returning to your web site.
- Virtual Private Networking: An Internet presence may be used to augment a company's
information system infrastructure. VPN services allow a company to securely communicate
between diverse locations using cost effective Internet connections.
- FrontPage Server Extensions: A small company can efficiently maintain its own web site
through consumer level tools such as Microsoft FrontPage. FrontPage server extensions
allow a non-technical person to easily make changes to the web content using a WYSIWYG
interface.
SELECTING A HOSTING SERVICE
Once needs have been identified, its time to analyze the proposals of several service
providers. Evaluating an ISP needs to take several aspects into question.
- Price: What is the real cost of the service? The pricing criteria vary widely from
provider to provider and services are fraught with hidden prices. Setup charges,
usage fees and bandwidth charges will add to the basic monthly fee. Price is the
most important aspect of selection, but it can be deceptively difficult to quantify
the potential cost of a specific service.
- Reliability: How available is my web site? Server downtime can be devastating to
traffic building. E-commerce and mission critical systems require guaranteed availability.
Not all service providers utilize redundant connections and servers. The cost of
reliability needs to be weighed against the cost of downtime. Determine the exact
network infrastructure used by the provider. Evaluate the provider's reliability policy.
Analyze the track record of the ISP on meeting their reliability claims.
- Technical Support: Whom can I call when I need technical support? One of the primary
reasons to contract hosting is that server maintenance and upkeep is a complicated
technical task. When there are problems, the ISP must be available and responsive.
- Local Availability: Do I have access to the server? Complicated sites may require
access to the server for configuration and deployment. Paying national services for
hours of technical support can erase the price advantage of national providers.
- Scalability: Can I grow with this service? The requirements for a web site change
as the site grows. Better hosting services are capable of providing cost effective
scaling. While many auxiliary services may not be needed at the outset, identifying
the potential services provided by an ISP and their costs can help avoid moving the
site to a different service.
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