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There are many hosting automation software available in the market, for example cPanel, Sphera, Vdeck, H-Sphere and others. However, cPanel has been one of the most widely used software all across the world.

Website maintenance includes some common tasks such as setting up databases, email accounts, or monitoring web traffic and other reports. cPanel offers you a user-friendly interface that enables you to perform these tasks without needing any specific technical knowledge or training.

Besides, cPanel has Fantastico that provides you a distinct advantage as you can install programs and scripts with just a few clicks. The programs may be Wordpress (for blogging) or phpBB (for hosting an online forum). For Linux based hosting, cPanel is not an expensive choice considering its usability and diverse set of features. Most of common tasks are available at few clicks of a button rather than following long list of commands.

A few more reasons for using cPanel are:

• Easy to update login information such as password and other personal information
• Track bandwidth and disk space usage, set alerts and notifications emails for timely reminders
• Manage email accounts – add, edit, delete with advanced options such as forwarding emails to a single account
• Site backup, directly from the server
• Customizable spam filters
• Advanced options such as adding a shopping cart, if your disk space allows you to.

http://webhostinginformation.net/bandwidth-throttling/

Bandwidth throttling is quite synonymous with any other web hosting terminology. While getting your site hosted, there are some terms and conditions about bandwidth usage that is permissible per month. Technically, this information should be clearly specified in your agreements with the hosting company. This is very important if you expect heavy traffic or data exchange during specific days or time of the year.

The hosting companies use a throttling device that limits the amount of data that your site transmits or accepts within a specified time period. This is to ensure that other sites are not affected if your site begins to use too many resources of server or network. Bandwidth throttling ensures quality service and prevents network congestion or server crashes.

When server reaches the bandwidth limit, a bandwidth throttling device can block the user requests and moves the users in a queue. Depending on your agreement, your site may go offline to accommodate other sites that are hosted on same server. However, if this happens frequently, it may adversely impact your business.

Bandwidth throttling blocks reading requests first and user can continue writing if it reaches the limit for example, while submitting a query form. So you need to evaluate your business requirements carefully, and then enter bandwidth related agreement with your host.

Sometimes, a host can use excessive throttling and target for upgraded hosting plans. When your site is offline, you are tempted to upgrade your hosting pack. Ensure that your host is genuine in bandwidth claims; else, look out for some other host.

Budget hosting is a cheap hosting solution that is most suitable for small startup businesses, or for personal websites. A host who provides budget hosting offers limited features and therefore the cost is very low, sometimes as low as $5 to $10 per month.

A few scenarios where budget hosting can be a cost-effective solution are:

• You have just launched your business and you cannot afford a good hosting package
• Your business does not need any advanced features in the website and the objective if just to send across static information to users and customers
• If your personal site has only static HTML pages and it does not require any user interaction or a database, it is likely to generate less traffic.

When you opt for budget hosting for whatever reasons, see what all features you need for your website. See the big picture and what your business may need in immediate future. Do some research on user reviews on budget hosting services of your host. Many a times, budget hosting begins with a minimum of one-year contract. In such cases, see if there is a clause of cancellation of services midway; else do not hurry up making a decision.

Some budget hosting companies provide server access for important tasks such as managing email accounts, updating site when required, and so on. See if your host asks for any additional charges for these features and if you can pay it. Clarify on all these critical points before proceeding any further with a budget hosting service provider.

Website backup is an important service that every genuine hosting company provides. Inspite of all security measures, no one can take absolute guarantee that your website is always safe. What if the server crashes and the data are not recoverable? In this situation, what if your host does not have a backup and you end up losing your updated website.

To deal with such incidents, your host should be responsible for regular, timely and latest backups, even if you have to pay a few extra bucks.

Some hosting automation software provides automatic backup features that you can schedule. The frequency of backup depends on your business, the size and design of website, and whether the host provides backup every time you want. For example, a social networking site or an online shopping cart may need daily backup whereas a personal site does not.

Besides periodic backups that you have scheduled either manually or automated, you should always take back up whenever you update the site. It ensures that the latest copy is always available to you. You can ensure it by including backup in your checklist that you refer while updating your website.

Schedule your backups intelligently and document the schedule for reference. If possible, refer the reason for every backup and this document also help you if you change the host midway, for any reason.

Even if your host takes back up of your site, it is advisable to note down the location on server where the backup is always available.

After all the hard work and efforts that you have put in to develop and complete your website, the next crucial step is about selecting a hosting company. This is crucial because this single step can sometimes make or break your business.

Being a business owner, you always want a web host that is reliable, technically equipped, and cost-effective. However, web hosting business has grown in tremendous proportions and there are limitless options to choose from.

Some web hosting companies offer free hosting which seems quite tempting. Do not hurry up your decision for saving some money. A host offering free hosting may not be genuine as its claims for good bandwidth, disk space, uptime and downtime and other such features fall flat when really needed.

If your business is wholly dependent on your website, you should trust a host that seems very genuine in whatever services are offered. And logically, no genuine service comes free of cost. Paid hosting services are the best option as paying for hosting only a small investment, just as any other investment that you make into your business.

Visualize the long-term goals of your business and your website. For example, if you plan to have forums or blogs in future, ensure that your host provides these features when required even if you do not need these now. Similarly ask for other important features and services such as bandwidth, disk space, online technical support, managing email accounts, backup etc and most likely you will not find a host that provides all these features free of cost.

The first time a program was written for web hosting was in the year 1990. Further developments were carried out by experts and scholars and that has led to unbelievable growth of web hosting industry.

The first ever internet browser was ‘line mode browser’ and the first hosting program was published on internet to facilitate a discussion by few experts. The subject of discussion was HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and UDI (Unified Display Interface). It was done on NeXT machine and later on, more browsers such as Mosaic, Cello, and Viola were introduced.

The world realized the importance of having common standards and protocols after World Wide Consortium came up in 1994. To begin with, TCP/IP was the only option but when major players like Microsoft, Sun, IBM and others stepped into the process, the options diversified.

Initially, big companies were ready to rent out extra space available on their servers and that is how web hosting became so common and flourished into such a massive business as we see today. Gradually, the need was felt for having advanced features for better connectivity, more disk space for heavy websites, ability to handle different file types such as media files, and for web conferencing.

The hosting automation software such as cPanel has further added to users’ advantage. Even non-technical users can easily manage their sites, email accounts, shopping carts, reports, traffic statistics and other such features.

Like many other technical services, web hosting is available at cheaper prices in developing countries as compared to US, UK or some European countries. For startup business, cost is an important factor and overseas hosing is a good option if all required features and services are available.

When hosting is available at cheaper prices in Asia as compared to US or UK, it does not mean that the quality of hosting services is missing there. They are equally capable service providers, with all advanced features that you find anywhere else in the world.

Before making a decision on offshore hosting, consider following factors.

• What is the design and size of your website? If it has many media files and interactive features, it may take longer to load if the hosting server is located at far off location.

• What features and services do you expect from the host? For example, automated scheduled backup, advanced email accounts management, shopping cart management, CMS management, and so on. If you need all these, will you be comfortable managing these from an offshore location?

• See the time zone difference between your location and of your host. This is important when you are calling them for technical support, or for general queries. Besides language should not be a barrier in communication. Both the parties should be proficient in at least one common language, notably in English.

For remote hosting, go through the hosting company website in detail. Read testimonials or reviews by their customers and the host’s privacy policy. If you are fully satisfied about the credentials and services, it can be a good and cost-effective option for any business owner.

Starting your own web hosting company seems to be an exciting prospect. It does not require any technical educational background, massive investment, or a special office with large number of people working for you. But it is important to make a detailed business plan and see how you begin it.

A few pointers that can guide you on starting a web hosting business are listed below.

• Evaluate your technical skills as how well you understand the technical concepts such as networking, handling servers, providing resolution to users’ technical queries and so on. See if you are ready to take training to prepare yourself technically.

• Familiarize yourself with cyber laws and local legal aspects of business. This gets important because hosting involves security or hacking concerns.

• Make a checklist of what additional skills you need for running the business – it may be financial planning and management, office management, managing your support team, your website, and so on.

• Do proper documentation of all policies and procedures of your organization; seek legal experts’ opinion on these documents so that these are valid and acceptable to international audience.

• Competitors’ research is another important activity of any startup business. See what they are offering, and what prices. A detailed analysis would help you set pricing-feature matrix.

• If your budget is limited, you can get some hardware on lease rather than purchasing those.

Apart from these, if there are certain tasks that you can not handle such as accounts, security issues, plan to outsource these to reliable hands. It will help you focus on your core business effectively.

Getting your website hosted with a genuine and correct hosting company is as important as the site itself. Hosting has got so many options that it becomes a difficult decision unless you do a detailed analysis of what you need and consider all other important factors such as cost, location and so on.

When you are looking for a host, prepare a checklist of what all you should look for in the service provider.

• Note down the contact information of your host – email, phone numbers and these should be readily available to you and to your support staff. You would need it most often frequently in the beginning.
• List down key features of your website and what are basic objectives of your business. This will directly determine what features and services you want from your host. For example, if you need forums, blogs and plan to sell flowers, you would need more control on the server to manage content and shopping cart.
• Plan your backup and document the backup process. Even if your host provides scheduled backup, you should also take backup whenever you update the site.
• Make a list of all email accounts that you need. Have a policy on having email IDs and passwords and follow the policy guidelines.
• While updating your site, keep a track on how much disk space is available. Always keep a buffer and ask for more space if you are approaching the limit.

Most of the businesses have grown dynamic where business owners prefer to make frequent changes in websites to accommodate the changing requirements. In these situations, you are sometimes not sure about the exact requirements of your web hosting needs as to how much bandwidth would be sufficient, how much disk space or connection speed may be optimum for your site, and so on.

This leads to confused decisions about your host and later changing your host as your business grows, and as traffic increases on your website. Unmetered web hosting is an excellent solution to handle such problems. It ensures that your site is always available, irrespective of the amount of traffic that it receives.

Discuss your business requirements with your host in detail and ask for different packages providing unmetered sources. It should include unlimited data transfer, bandwidth (though virtually unlimited bandwidth is almost impossible, unmetered hosting ensures almost unlimited bandwidth), email accounts, databases and so on.

Unmetered hosting is the safest option where you do not need to keep track of bandwidth limit or disk space. You do not need to shed extra cash when bandwidth or disk space is approaching the stipulated limit. It saves your time, efforts and other resources that you should focus on your core business area rather than bothering about these minor issues.

Your website is always available as there is no downtime which you can hardly afford in today’s competitive world.