Reasons to Opt for Shared Hosting

Shared hosting offers numerous benefits and several of them extend into the e-commerce sector.  For one, it is very affordable as you can easily find a feature-loaded plan for under $10 per month.  In addition to that, you typically receive all the tools and services you need to get your online storefront up and running.  This includes shopping cart programs, web analytic tools and support for SSL certificates to secure your business transactions.  However, while shared hosting can provide you with a relatively secure platform, it can never assure the level of protection and reliability that can be obtained from a dedicated server.

The Dedicated Advantage

Though an advanced and often more complex hosting solution, a dedicated server is not exclusively geared towards larger companies.  In fact, it can deliver the same benefits to small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to establish and grow their presence on the web.  Leasing a dedicated server will cost you more than a shared hosting plan, but it can also guarantee you better overall security and reliability, both of which are vital for anyone who wants to be make sure there business is always available.  For many companies, their website serves as the revenue generator that keeps the business going.  If these are your plans, you need to make it a priority to invest in a solution that ensures your site can be accessed at all times and provides the secure environment your customers need to feel safe.

Capacity and Complexity

When leasing a dedicated server for your small business, you are assured a guaranteed allotment of essential resources such as disk space, RAM and bandwidth.  These features alone can give you a website that performs exceptionally better than it would in the shared hosting environment.  However, you should keep in mind that dedicated hosting is one of the most complex types of web hosting you can sign on for.  Unless you opt for a managed service, you will be responsible ensuring and monitoring security, performing configurations and backups, installing software and general maintenance of the server.

There are quite a few small businesses that can thrive with a shared hosting platform and several others that cannot.  Making a choice is difficult and the final decision will depend on various factors, including your budget, level of expertise and the requirements of your business.  Most importantly, it will boil down to the overall quality of the host providing you with service.

In-House Method

Hosting your e-commerce site in-house involves setting up a server room, purchasing the necessary hardware and software components, leasing a reliable high-speed connection and employing an IT team.  Experienced IT personnel are required to handle day to day technical aspects such as performing backups, monitoring security and basically doing whatever it takes to keep the server up and running.  The costs and complexities that come along with an in-house operation are considerable and often too much for startups and small businesses to handle.

Colocation

Colocation refers to an alternative solution that allows businesses to store their server hardware and network equipment in a facility maintained by a hosting company.  The firm provides you with physical storage space, internet bandwidth and electricity to power the hardware.  There are many advantages to this type of arrangement, including a lower cost for bandwidth and the enhanced reliability you get from the data center.  The disadvantages are that you must purchase your own hardware and actually find a provider that offers a colocation service in your area.

Shared Hosting

One of the most common ways to run an e-commerce website is through a service arrangement known as shared hosting.  In this environment, the websites of multiple companies are stored on a single server, which share an internet connection and various other resources between them.  While suitable for the needs of many, this type of service is best for companies that anticipate a small to moderate amount of traffic and have a limited budget.  This is mainly because there are strict limitations in regard to disk space, bandwidth and control.  With that said, a reputable firm should be able to provide you with a stable platform that can support the needs of both startups and small companies.

Dedicated and Managed Hosting

Dedicated hosting is a method that calls for you to a lease an entire server from a hosting company.  The provider is responsible for maintaining the hardware and network connectivity while the bulk of server administration falls on your shoulders.  This could be a downside because of all the technical challenges that go into maintaining a server, but there are number of benefits as well.  For example, you have extensive control and flexibility that permits you to run your own operating system, database servers, web applications and services.  For those who lack the experience or time needed to handle these tasks, managed hosting exists, a solution that eases the burden of server administration.  Though notably more expensive, managed hosting will allow you to focus more on promoting your e-commerce site and servicing customers rather than dealing with the all the complexities as these processes are handled by the provider.

The fact that there are so many options for hosting an e-commerce site works to your advantage.  What you need to do is a carefully assess your situation and determine which service is best for your business.  After settling on a reliable solution, the fate of your online business is in your hands.

Common Types of Load Balancing

The process of load balancing is one that can be achieved in a variety of ways.  If this is a technology you are interested in, it is best to know what methods are available to you.   After learning a little more about the types of load balancing, you will should be able to better determine which option works best.

Round Robin DNS Load Balancing

One of the earliest adopted techniques, round robin DNS load balancing uses the round robin feature built into the BIND DNS server to facilitate cycles through the IP addresses corresponding to a farm of servers  This is one of the easiest and most inexpensive methods to implement.  The downside to this type of load balancing is that the DNS server doesn’t have any knowledge of the server’s availability.  Therefore, there is a possibility that data could be continuously forwarded to an unavailable server.  There is also a chance that an IP address will be cached by other nameservers and not sent to the server designated for load balancing.

Hardware Load Balancing

With hardware load balancing, TCP/IP packets are routed by a device to numerous servers in a cluster, a method that leverages circuit level gateway to route traffic.  This method is said to create a powerful topology with a high level of availability.  The one big drawback is a cost that is often considerably higher than other methods.

Software-based Load Balancing

The software-based variation is the most commonly used load balancing method.  These type of load balancers are typically integrated as components in proprietary web servers and application server platforms.  This technique is more configurable and offers the ability to implement intelligent routing based on various input parameters.  In many cases, software-based load balancing requires additional hardware be provided to isolate the load balancers.

Narrowing Your Options

The decision of choosing a load balancing configuration based on hardware or software should be made on one’s particular needs.  For instance, if your website only requires load balancing to serve HTML pages or lightweight dynamic, data-driven pages, the round robin method should be sufficient.  On the other hand, if your traffic and data processes are more demanding, you would probably get the best performance out of the more advanced software or hardware methods.  Whatever method you take, keep in mind that the load balancer should be able to deliver intelligent monitoring to evenly distribute the load.  Depending on your situation, different techniques can better direct the loads to the servers that are more capable of handling them than others in the cluster.

In-house vs. Colocation

Hosting your e-commerce business in-house is a do-it-yourself solution that calls for you to purchase the hardware, software applications and lease an internet application.  It also means you need an expert staff to maintain these vital components.  You need to think about server administration, network monitoring, data backups, security and much more.  This is independent method is the most costly way to run your business online.

Colocation is the perfect alternative to hosting your business in-house.  This is the kind of arrangement where you store your server hardware in the provider’s data facility.  They supply you with you an internet connection and the power necessary to run the equipment.  The major benefit to colocation in comparison to an in-house solution is cost savings.  The key is finding a provider you can rely on to keep you online.

Shared vs. Dedicated Hosting

Shared hosting is the most affordable way to get your e-commerce business going, a situation where you share a web server with other users.  With this type of hosting, you are sharing the actual hardware along with the operating system and other critical resources.  Shared hosting is often the first choice of small businesses who don’t have demanding needs.  It also quite limited in terms of control and is prone to more stability and security issues when compared to having your own server.

With dedicated hosting, you sign up for a hosting plan and have the server all to yourself.  You have your own internet connection, operating system and all the other resources that are tied up in shared hosting.  The server can be enhanced with your own software applications, programming technologies and security mechanisms.  Because performing these tasks are more complex than a shared hosting solution, managed hosting exists to aid those with limited server administration skills.

Dedicated and managed hosting services are geared towards businesses that receive a high level of traffic and require maximum stability.  The major difference between these solutions and colocation is cost as you are paying a monthly or annual fee just to lease the server opposed to owning it.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is lot more that goes into e-commerce besides opening up a store and marketing your products.  Finding the right type of service is so critical because it forms the very backbone of your online business.  Ultimately, the solution for you depends on your expertise, manpower, budget and requirements.

What is a VDS?

Short for Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS), a VDS is created by virtualization software that partitions a single physical server into multiple isolated servers.  The result is a powerful platform that gives you the enhanced security of a dedicated server at a price that it isn’t too far off from shared hosting.  After being partitioned, a VDS is allocated with its own disk storage and data transfer for added stability.   The server has its own operating system along with isolated web server instances, a mail server and root access for custom software installations. This technology functions in a way that no matter what occurs on another customer’s VDS, it will have absolutely no impact on your environment.   Unlike its virtual counterpart VPS, a VDS is virtually like having the resources of an entire server.

VDS vs Shared Hosting

In a shared hosting arrangement, multiple websites are generally stored in a single directory.

The mere structure makes this a security risk.  With the average setup, shared customers have a dangerous level read and write access, meaning they could possibly access and modify your files. Other issues relate to stability as customers are required to share a variety of critical resources.  This includes the operating system, disk drive, CPU, memory and applications.  Depending on the severity, an error on a single account could force the entire server to run slow or even crash.  With VDS, the servers are completely isolated, giving you a level of privacy that is equivalent to running the server all by yourself.  In a VDS environment, you are completely protected from all the actions of other users hosting on the machine.

On a shared server, performance can still be an issue when no malicious actions or mistakes have been made.  For example, if one customer starts to experience a heavy load of traffic, their excessive bandwidth usage could slow down the entire machine.  This could result in a loss of HTTP requests and ultimately visitors for other customers on the server.  Additionally, the possibility of their being hundreds or thousands of domain owners on a single machine makes shared hosting very susceptible to sluggish performance.  This is especially true when many of them are using memory-hogging applications.

VDS is the perfect alternative to shared hosting as you are assured critical resources and the privacy you need from other customers.  In this environment, you will not have to worry about anyone consuming all the server’s memory and bandwidth or having the ability to view and edit your sensitive files.  The additional stability and security you get with VDS hosting makes it the next best thing to a dedicated server.

Shared Hosting

For someone who only requires a small, basic website, leasing an entire web server just isn’t practical.  If this sounds like you, then shared hosting would be the perfect solution.  It is cost effective and specifically designed to suite the needs of small websites.  With shared hosting, the web host stores multiple websites on single server, allowing them to offer a service that is much cheaper than dedicated hosting.

Web servers are more powerful than the average computer used in the desktop setting.  They offer plenty of disk space as well as RAM and CPU.  The catch is that you are required to share these resources with other customers, a factor that could lead to performance and security issues. If your requirements are minimal, you should be able to find a shared hosting provider able to supply all the resources you need.  However, as your site becomes more popular, it is very likely that you will exceed the resources the web host is able to provide.  In this case, you need to either consider purchasing upgrades that supply you with additional bandwidth, storage capacity and other essential components.  If the provider is not able to accommodate your needs, it is time to move up to a dedicated server and possibly consider managed hosting.

Managed Hosting

Websites that experience a high volume of traffic and run mission-critical business operations are best suited for a dedicated server.  Unlike shared hosting, a dedicated server provides you with all the resources on the machine.  This includes disk space, RAM, CPU and guaranteed bandwidth as well.  On the other hand, a dedicated server calls for you to deal with server administrative tasks that can be very complex and time consuming.

In its purest form, having a dedicated server means you are responsible for all the maintenance.  This includes basic administration to keep the machine thriving on a day to day basis as well addressing any security issues that may arise.  Those who require a dedicated server but are not up for all the technical challenges often opt for managed hosting.

Managed hosting offers benefits to the website owner or business that either lacks the skills required to maintain a dedicated server or simply do not have the time to invest.  You can generally select the options that best suit your needs, freeing you up to concentrate on other vital aspects while the server is maintained by the web host.   When viewing it from this perspective, managed hosting is pretty much like outsourcing your dedicated server tasks to a third-party company.

Making a Choice

Managed hosting is the perfect alternative to the limitations of the shared server and complexity of a dedicated server.  Keep in mind that these benefits come with a higher price tag.  Therefore, it is very important to make sure you truly require this type of service before making an investment.

Benefits of VPS Hosting

The major benefit of VPS hosting is enhanced performance as well as tighter security at a price significantly cheaper than a dedicated server.

If you plan to move from shared hosting yet can’t afford the high-end price tag of a dedicated server, VPS hosting is the solution you are looking for. Virtualization is becoming more popular, resulting in a price drop on VPS hosting packages. This type of arrangement can serve benefits to a wide range of users. With your platform and operating system isolated from other customers, you will enjoy guaranteed resources in terms of CPU, RAM and disk space.

Who Needs VPS Hosting?

Virtualization is quickly become the preferred option amongst entrepreneurs involved in reseller hosting. VPS provides you with a greater level of control on the services you can offer your customers, resulting in a edge over competitors still utilizing traditional shared servers. The power it provides is well suited for developers looking to a create highly functional blog or demanding social networking site. VPS is also an ideal platform for the webmaster that is already proficient at managing a shared hosting account and wants to upgrade their server administrative skills without fully being exposed to dedicated hosting. All users will have the freedom to install custom applications and change modules on the server. When considering the added privacy, extra layer of security, guaranteed resources and a higher level of performance, it’s no wonder that VPS hosting has become so incredibly popular.

Conclusion

Both shared and dedicated hosting will always serve their purpose but the Virtual Private Server is here to stay. This arrangement makes the perfect solution for anyone who requires more control over their hosting environment yet do not have the resources to invest in an entire server. With VPS, you get a cost not too far removed from shared hosting with a level of control and flexibility similar to a dedicated server, an ideal compromise that allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Free Hosting

Yes, free web hosting really does exist.  You can have your very own website without paying anything at all – that is, if you don’t mind being restricted.  What do we mean by restricted?  Well, with a free web hosting service, you generally have little disk space and bandwidth to work with.  Features?  You don’t get too many of those either.  If you’re lucky, you may get a simple control panel along with the ability to upload a few images and integrate a free shopping cart into your site.  How could we forget the advertisements?  When hosting your site with a free service, the provider typically places third-party ads on your site and best of all, you have no say in the matter.  If you can deal with the drawbacks, know that free web hosting is widely available.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common type of web hosting today.  After free services, it is also the most cost effective.  With shared hosting, you are literally sharing server space and resources with other web hosting customers.  This arrangement calls for you to share disk storage, bandwidth, CPU, RAM and generally an IP address as well.  Shared hosting allows providers to offer a cheaper service because the customers essentially pay for the cost of the hardware and critical resources.  Although you have no control over the web server, you do have control over your site by way of a control panel application.

VPS Hosting

Short for Virtual Private Server, VPS is similar to shared hosting in the way that it involves hosting multiple websites on a single server.  The major difference is an evolving technology known as virtualization.  This type of software has the ability to simulate multiple servers within a single physical server.  A VPS is partitioned in a manner that isolates you from other customers hosting on the server, providing you with guaranteed resources and enhanced stability.  If you require more flexibility than shared hosting can offer but can’t afford an entire server, VPS could be the right solution.

Dedicated Hosting

Often referred to as dedicated server, dedicated hosting is an arrangement where you have the entire server dedicated exclusively to your personal or business needs.  This means that you don’t have to worry about sharing disk space, bandwidth, RAM and other vital resources.  Dedicated hosting provides the utmost in flexibility, stability and security but is also far more expensive than conventional shared hosting.

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting can be described as dedicated hosting in full turnkey service terms.  Because a dedicated server requires extensive maintenance and administration, managed hosting is often needed for individuals who lack technical knowledge or the time required to keep the machine thriving.  With this type of solution, you usually have the luxury to choose a predefined managed package or select the options and services that best suit your hosting needs.

The major issue with shared hosting has always been the same – the availability of security and the fact that this platform can only be so secure.  Without adequate protection, the web host’s server is vulnerable to a wide range of threats including DDoS attacks, malware infection and network intrusion.  You could also be exposed to attacks such as SQL injection, cross site scripting and even the malicious actions of your neighbors on the server.  When your hosting environment isn’t properly secured, you stand the risk of losing the most sensitive of information.

Security is definitely an issue in the shared hosting environment, one that could make the low cost an uneven trade.  The good thing is that several web hosting providers are aware of these vulnerabilities and they are taking the necessary approaches to deliver a secure service.  When looking for a company to host your site, we recommend keeping the following security considerations in mind.

Protection from Thy Neighbor

When assessing the security of a particular web host, you must not only analyze the protection offered against outside threats, but security that keeps you protected against other website owners on the server.  You never know who you’re sharing the server with, as they could be into dealing porn, distributing spam or malicious software.  A few of your next door neighbors just might be prolific computer hackers.  To keep yourself protected in this regard, you should make sure the provider doesn’t allow any unsolicited code to be executed or access to your directories.

Clean Code

One of the biggest threats to your website lies in the code used to build your applications.  When they are not properly scripted, intruders can use them as an entrance to your data and reap major havoc.  You can minimize the possibility of common website exploits by ensuring that the web hosting company offers the latest in development tools whether its PHP and MySQL or ASP and MS Access.  Most importantly, it is up to you to make sure you are coding your applications and web pages in a secure manner.

Security Features

There are also a number of features that will give you an idea of how secure a particular web hosting platform is.  This includes protection for the actual server such as software that defends against DDoS attacks and viruses as well firewalls and network intrusion systems to fend off hackers.  If your site is to involve online business transactions, you will also require SSL support to protect your customers’ credit card information.  When making sure all the vital security issues are addressed, you can better your chances of enjoying a smooth run in the shared hosting environment.

Here are some of the benefits that come along with VPS hosting:

Stability: Unlike shared hosting, the traffic and activities of other VPS customers will not adversely affect your operation.

Performance - Having your own allotment of resources allows you and your visitors to enjoy faster load times.

Dedicated Resources - VPS hosting provides you with more disk space, CPU and RAM.

Flexibility - You have the freedom to choose the operating system and software you want to install on the server.

VPS Features

The features and services of VPS hosting vary depending on the provider.  Although the ones you will need all depends on personal requirements, here are a few you may want to look out for:

Root Access: Root access will grant you with complete control over your VPS account from configurations to software installations.  All of the actions can be handled from the interface of your control panel application.

Management and Support: Similar to a dedicated hosting account, VPS hosting calls for you to manage your own server .  However, there are many companies that provide support and management services to assist with administrative tasks.  This feature is invaluable if you lack technical savvy.

Server Monitoring: A good VPS provider will actively monitor its network and hardware your account relies on.  This ensures the physical security of the server and also helps defend against virtual threats such as hackers, malicious software and DDoS attacks.

Multiple Domain Hosting: Although shared hosts offer multiple domain hosting, most of them do not provide enough resources for you to do so and still enjoy a smooth performance.   Many VPS providers offer plans that allow you to host multiple websites without suffering performance issues.  In most cases, you can set up separate email accounts and allocate specific resources for each individual site.

Managed Data Backups: As with any hosting solution, a VPS plan should offer a way to backup your data.  Because anything could occur within the provider’s network, it is recommended that you choose a service that allows you to manually backup your own data to assure that it can be restored at any time.

VPS hosting offers an inexpensive way to get many of the features, resources, control and flexibility of a more costly and complex dedicated server.  With the technology increasing in popular, prices are dropping rapidly, assuring that you can find a reliable VPS solution that meets your hosting needs.