Every Website Needs A Host
Every website on the Internet needs to be hosted somewhere. There are a vast number of web hosting companies offering various services, so which one should you choose for your website? The answer depends on your website: which technologies it is built in, how big it is, how much traffic it receives (or is likely to receive) etc…
Choose Your Hosting Platform
The biggest different between web hosting is the server platform: Windows or Linux. (These are other platforms available, most notably Unix, but Windows and Linux operating systems dominate the web hosting world.) A Windows server will typically be running Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) web server, and a Linux server will typically be running the Apache webs server. Apache is the industry leader, serving 55% of all active websites in October 2009 according to Netcraft. Microsoft IIS is the second most popular web server, powering 20% of websites in the same period.
Apache vs. IIS
The web server, and ultimately the website host that you choose, will probably be determined by the technologies that your website will, or does, utilise. The most common website programming language deployed on IIS web servers is ASP (whether Classic or .NET), and the most common programming language used on Apache web servers is PHP. So if your website is built in ASP you’ll probably want IIS hosting on Windows, and if your website is built in PHP you’ll want to host under Apache on Linux. (Whilst Apache can support a version of ASP and IIS can support a version of PHP, it’s better to stick to the web server and operating system that the languages were developed for.)
Databases
Most dynamic websites (i.e. those programmed in ASP or PHP rather than plain HTML files) will make use of a database. Windows-based web hosts usually offer MSSQL databases either as part of the standard hosting package or as an optional extra. Linux-based website hosting packages usually come with MySQL database(s) as standard. It’s almost certain that if your website is developed in ASP and requires a database that it’ll be an MSSQL database and a PHP website will use MySQL. So after choosing your programming language you’ll probably have opted for either Windows-based IIS hosting or Linux-based Apache hosting and the choice of database should not be an issue.
Other Considerations
Once you’ve narrowed-down your choice to either a Windows/IIS or Linux/Apache plan, there are a number of other requirements that you should consider in order to compare hosting plans:
- How much disk space will your website require?
- How much bandwidth will your website require?
- How many email addresses do you require?
- Do you require email forwarders or autoresponders?
- Do you require spam protection such as Spam Assassin?
There are other things to consider but these are the main points that will let you differentiate between hosting providers.
Web Server Location
One often-overlooked aspect of choosing a web host is the physical location of the web server that will house your website.
Website hosting companies in the United States are usually noticeably cheaper than their UK counterparts. This is because in the UK the hosting companies’ overheads are higher. Does the location of your web server matter? Yes, it does!
If you are predominantly targeting a UK audience you should seriously consider choosing a more expensive UK web hosting company over a cheaper US-based alternative. There are a number of reasons for this:
- All other things being equal, your website will load faster for UK visitors because the data has a lesser distance to travel
- Google and other search engines take the server’s physical location into consideration when ranking your website
- In terms of getting support, UK web hosting companies will be working at the same time as you are, whereas hosts in the US will be approximately 8 hours behind, so responses may take longer
Conclusion
The choice of host for your website is largely based on the website itself. It depends on the technologies that your website utilises and your space and usage requirements. No two websites are exactly the same and can all require different hosting packages. If you’re not developing the website yourself then your website developer should be able to tell you what your website requires and usually even recommend a website host.
WSI Website Hosting
WSI specialises in Linux web hosting and we can also offer Windows hosting packages. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your needs.
