Transcript Site planning - Web hosting - week4

Web Hosting
This Week
1 – Any Questions
 Web Hosting
 Assignment 2-3
 Assignment
Choosing a Website
Hosting Provider
What is Web Hosting?
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1.
2.
3.
Once your site is on a web server, it is
available on the internet.
To have your site hosted on the web, you
need three things:
A Website
A Domain Name
A Web server
Web Server
A computer that can be used to store
website information and accessed by any
computer with a connection to the Internet
and a web browser such as Internet
Explorer.
Web Hosting
A company who will either:

Rent you space on one of their web servers
(Shared hosting)
 Rent you an entire server (Dedicated hosting)
 Rent you space on a shared server that you can
use like a dedicated server (a Virtual Server)
 Connect your own server to their Internet
Connection (Co-location)
What type of web Hosting Package?
 You
can get FREE web hosting.
 Or you can PAY: The average small
business pays £10 - £50 a month,
depending on features, web space, and
data transfer “bandwidth” required.
Group Exercise - Free Web space
 There
must be some catches…
 What are they? – discuss
 Google this – what options can you find?
Paying for web space
Reasons why you would want to pay…
FREE Web space is generally…
For small, personal sites only – it doesn’t look
professional
 Offers limited web space and little bandwidth
 A personal, unique domain name is often not
possible
 Many ISPs give free web space when you sign
up with them.

Paid for Web space
For business or professional websites.
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
Use your own domain name
Need more space or bandwidth
Service guarantees
Support for PHP/ MySQL etc
Things to consider when choosing a
hosting provider
Amount of web space needed:
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
What things take up web space?
What things on a web site cause it to load
slowly?
Features wanted:
what might you want to include:


on your website?
with your hosting package?
Web space
 If
your web site is text-based, you won't
need much web space
 Graphics, audio, video and Flash
animations require more space.
Features you might need
On your website:
 E-commerce options for selling online
 Database support
 Server Programming Language support
 Shopping carts
 Audio/video streaming support
Features you might need - With
your hosting package
 Website
builders
 Technical support
 Facility to upgrade or downgrade plans at
any time
Data transfer
 What
is it?
 When is it important?
Issues for Professional Websites
Selling Online
 Look for a provider who can provide commercial
web solutions e.g.:
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a Merchant Account,
Shopping Cart Software and
A secure online payment system certificate
compatible with their hosting platform.
Choose a large web space with a high
bandwidth in this case.
Data Transfer Allowance
 Depends
how many visitors you're
expecting and …
 how well you promote your web site.
 For most sites, 3 to 5 GB /month should
suffice.
Choosing a Hosting Provider
Exercise:
In groups of 2 or 3, research and select a hosting
provider for the Translation Services Website.
Some sites to try:
http://www.oneandone.co.uk
http://www.easyspace.com
http://www.123-reg.com
http://www.globalgold.co.uk
Choosing a Hosting Provider

Research their support policies
 Check support policies
 Some provide lists of Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) and support documents on their web sites

Select a provider with years of experience
 Look for a list of their customers and check some of
their web sites
Experienced providers will have:
 A large
web site containing pages of
services & support documents,
 Phone and fax numbers
 A physical address
What else should you do?
Clarify the scope of your site,
 Will you need a database attached to your site?
 Do you want to start small and expand later on?
Clarify the functions you wish to have.
 e.g. database – which one?
 Other software you wish to use i.e. PHP, ASP, Cold
Fusion
 Online shopping facility
Assignments 2 & 3
 Choose
an available domain name for the
web site defined in Assignment 1 – give
your reasons for the choice of this name?
 Choose a company to host the website
defined in Assignment 1 – provide the
details of the company, hosting package
chosen and your reasons for making that
choice
 Should be about 1 side of A4 for both