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Your Online Guide » Guide to Technology » Web hosting Guide

[W193]Web Hosting And Domain Registration
by John Lemon, Joh
A kind of Internet hosting, the web hosting service is that which enables individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. The web host companies provide space on a server which they own for their use and providing internet connectivity. The web host also offers data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers which are not owned by them and are located in their data center.

A web hosting company has computers that are hooked up to the internet 24/7/365. These computers are called servers and they are assigned IP numbers in order that they may be found by other computers hooked up to the internet. It is on these severs that all your web files are stored in variety of fashions.

The hosting servers that store and serve up the web pages to the internet cost money to set up, configure, and maintain, this is why web hosting providers typically charge a fee for that service.

There are different kinds of hosting services- free web hosting service, shared web hosting service, reseller web hosting, virtual dedicated server, dedicated hosting service, managed hosting service, colocation web hosting service, clustered hosting and grid hosting.

The hosting services have different scopes of which the most basic is a webpage and small scale file hosting where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web Interface. The files are normally delivered to the Web ?as is? or with little processing. The web page hosting service is also available for free at several places. In fact, the personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement sponsored or economic in comparison to the business website hosting.

When you type a web address into the address bar of your browser and then click Go or press enter, your browser sends out a request to get that web page. The request travels across the internet highway to the appropriate web sever and attempts to locate the web page on that server.

When choosing web hosting you should keep a few things in mind. Most website hosting services offer a stats package that you can study. Statistics are a vital part of tracking your marketing progress. Know how many GB of space, and bandwidth you need, and how many email accounts you will need. Also, it would help if you know whether you need just a basic hosting package, virtual dedicated hosting, or dedicated hosting. If you don't know don't worry, help is usually availble depending on the provider to assist in choosing the right solution for your needs.

Web Site Design

There are many different reasons for creating websites. A website is entertainment, education, enrichment, and enjoyment. It contains art, music, museums, and culture. Further, a website is political, governmental, and religious. Some people use websites simply to have a piece of the internet or to expand their businesses. Basically it can be anything you want it to be.

However, keep these principles in mind when building your web site. Have a quality banner/header with high resolution. Have images with high resolution. Your color scheme should be uniform. Your text colors should be uniform. Text font should be consistent through out the page. Text size for content should be 10-12pt. Text should be clear and readable. Flow of layouts and cleanliness of transitions is important. Backgrounds should accentuate not take away from content. White space should only be enough to allow readability. You should have good navigation. If building your own website seems too difficult or time consuming then hiring a professional web designer is another option. Here is a web design company that I would highly recommend if you are looking to have a web site built for you.

Fax Thru Email

Fax Thru Email allows you to send and receive faxes from any computer. Two things are required, an Internet connection and email. No more hassle and expense of a fax machine, tons of paper, and ink cartridges. Fax thru email makes it more affordable, flexible, and convenient.

Domain Names

A domain name is the official name of a computer connected to the Internet. It is that part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that tells a domain name server using the Domain Name System (DNS) whether and where to forward a request for a Web page.

Domain registration is the process of registering a name or identity on the web by which your website will be known. Just as a person is known by his name, a website is known by its domain name such as www.yoursite.com.

To own your preferred domain name, you need to register it on the Internet. This paid service is offered by several websites, who register your domain name, provided it is not taken-up yet by anyone else. Registrations are processed by dozens of registrars approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

The general rule of thumb is that a Domain name should be short and easy to remember. Decide what you are using your web site for. Conduct a search to see if the name is available. Often times even if the name is taken a search will reveal available names that are very similar. Also, to prevent someone else from copying a domain name very similar to yours it is often recommended, depending on what you're using your website for, to purchase a couple of other similar domains in order to prevent this from happening. Individual and business needs usually dictate whether this is necessary.

Registering a Domain Name

To secure a name on the web for our site, what we have to do is first of all, select an authorized domain registrar that is approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) the authority that manages the international Domain Name Server database, and ensures that all domain names are unique and map properly to a specific IP address. While selecting the domain registrar we have to scrutinize their trustworthiness through various means such as by checking their review on the net, their customer base, prices, special offers, etc. we should select only that registrar who is giving us complete control over our domain. There are many registrars who hide some critical information for the customers and secure the rights to some very important settings in a domain such as changing the DNS servers.

To register domain name, enter your preferred domain name in the search box, and select the TLD extension (.com, .net, etc.) you want to search under. Then click the "Go" button to see if that domain name is available for you to register.

If the name you entered is available, you can easily register it.

In the event that the desired domain name under the TLD you wanted has already been taken, other options are available. Our intelligent interface will automatically check to see if the same name is available to register with a different TLD extension like (.net, .org, .biz, .us, .name, .ws, etc.), and offer you the option of registering your preferred name with one of those extensions instead. And you may do so either in addition to your first choice in a domain name, or instead of your first choice.

SSL Certification and How it Works

The Secure Socket Layer protocol was created by Netscape to ensure secure transactions between web servers and browsers. The protocol uses a third party, a Certificate Authority (CA), to identify one end or both end of the transactions. If you are an online business it will boost sales and create customer confidence that you are operating a safe, secure location. This is in short how it works.

1. A browser requests a secure page (usually https://).

2. The web server sends its public key with its certificate.

3. The browser checks that the certificate was issued by a trusted party (usually a trusted root CA), that the certificate is still valid and that the certificate is related to the site contacted.

4. The browser then uses the public key, to encrypt a random symmetric encryption key and sends it to the server with the encrypted URL required as well as other encrypted http data.

5. The web server decrypts the symmetric encryption key using its private key and uses the symmetric key to decrypt the URL and http data.

6. The web server sends back the requested html document and http data encrypted with the symmetric key.

7. The browser decrypts the http data and html document using the symmetric key and displays the information.

Something Easy To Remember:

Think of a website as an office building set well back from a road, behind some trees. To find the office building, you're going to need a sign and a path to get there. You can think of the hosting server as the ground the building sits on, the website as the building. The domain name serves as the sign, and the IP address as the direction in which the sign is pointing. The internet is the road you travel down to get there.

Before jumping into any web hosting plan, you have a few things you need to consider. First off, if you can afford a web hosting plan, I strongly urge you to get one. I am not implying that all free web hosting plans out there are not good, but there are far more advantages you can gain from if you purchase a web hosting plan. But if you do not even have any budget for a web hosting plan, fret not. You can always settle for free web hosting such as Wordpress and Blogger.

If you do choose to settle for a free web hosting plan, make sure that you do have plans for the future. Take for example, if your site made a name for itself and there are tons of visitors coming in each day, you would like to make some modifications to it. But free web hosting only allows limited modifications and you might not be able to modify your site into a better looking one. So, if that really happens, I suggest you start saving up now in case you need to purchase a web hosting plan in future.

Also, before you start purchasing a web hosting plan, here are a few points you need to think about:

- Hosting Location
- Disk Space
- Bandwidth
- Pricing
- Uptime, support and access speed

These are certainly the most important things that you need to check on and consider right now.

Hosting Location

This will have to depend on your target location. If you wish to target locals, you would have to find a local web hosting company. Why? This is to ensure that the visitors that visit your site are the market that you wish to target.

Disk Space

To publish your site to the world, you would need to upload some files into the host's server. If your site isn't too large, a size of around 50mb would definitely be more than enough for you. But if you wish to host more than 1 site, I advise you to find a plan that offers a larger amount of disk space.

Bandwidth

This is probably the most important factor you need to consider. If you estimate that large amount of visitors will visit your site, I recommend you to get a monthly bandwidth that is around 5-10 times your disk space. If you purchase one with low bandwidth and you exceed that set limit, the web hosting company would then have to charge you for exceeding that limit.

Pricing

If you are deciding to use a free web hosting plan, this factor wouldn't be a problem to you. But if you choose to purchase a web hosting plan, take a look at the plan's offer. If you can afford to purchase a longer time, then do so since it will be cheaper that way. Or else, just try to settle with monthly or quarterly payment.

Uptime, Support and Access Speed

Uptime is very important to people who constantly has visitors coming in from all over the world. Therefore, it is wise to look for one that has a great percentage of uptime. Most web hosting companies' uptime is 99%. While not all of them are lies, you can do a search about this company to find out if it really is true.

After considering the above factors that I have mentioned, you are definitely ready to purchase a web hosting plan of your choice.

Article Source : Pg. 7

About Author
Both John Lemon & Puripong Koomsin are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

John Lemon has sinced written about articles on various topics from Writing, About Web Hosting. Great Domain Now is a premiere web hosting and domain registration (ICANN) provider. It's intent it to inform and educate readers about available online services with the intent of helping them make educated decisions. For more information visit us at. John Lemon's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.

Puripong Koomsin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development, Computers and The Internet and About Web Hosting. If you enjoy reading this, you may enjoy to read more about which web hosting is your and read. Puripong Koomsin's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
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