So, You Want to have a Web Site for Customers
Web Hosting Options
So you've been thinking of putting up a Web site, eh? The good
news is that there are a number of ways to do it. The bad news is that
if you're not careful, you can run into delays, frustration,
people (customers?) who lose their way to your site, and of course
wasted money.
I, of course, learned the hard way, but read on and you'll hopefully be able
to avoid the mistakes I made.
(If you've already chosen a bad webhost and need to change to
a new one, make sure you read the page on changing webhosts for some
tips on how to make the change go more smoothly.)
There are basically four options for putting up a Web site.
You can:
1. Have your Internet Service Provider (ISP) host your site.
2. Find a free webhosting service.
3. Use a paid webhost.
4. Run your own webserver (also known as Do-It-Yourself).
Each of these options has its own joys and sorrows, which are
described in the linked pages. But I'll cut to the chase and tell you
that the only option I'd recommend for the small business person is
Option 3.
Why is that, you ask? Well, based on my personal experience, the short story is:
1. I tried Option 1, but my ISP didn't have low enough prices for the services I wanted.
2. Had bad enough experiences with the wrong (make that two wrong) Option 3 provider(s)
to even consider Option 2, and
3. Based on my experience with getting cracked just running a Proxy server (geez, don't people have anything better to do?),
decided that I had better things to do than play Webserver cop.
So, go check out the links above or click on the link below and
get yourself a good webhost to securely and cost-effectively host that
money-making site of yours!
Summary of Advantages/Disadvantages
Have Your Home ISP Host Your Site
1. Potentially Low Monthly Costs for a Small Mom and Pop Business
2. Prices for Larger Businesses Are Usually Higher
3. Your url will be hard to remember
4. Unprofessional Appearance
5. Missing Features
6. Not likely to Support a Specialty Business Well
Free Web Hosting
1. Your url will be hard to remember
2. Unprofessional Appearance
3. Not Reliable, Missing Features
4. Not likely to Support a Specialty Business Well
Paid Web Hosting
1. More Cost Effective, More Affordable Monthly Rates
2. More Features
3. Focused on the business of web hosting
4. You Have Better Things To Do
5. You Don't Have the Time to Learn or Money to Pay an Independant Consultant
6. Pre Packaged Services
Run your Own
1. You Still Have to Rent a High Speed Dedicated Internet Line
2. You Are Resposible for Your Own Hosting Support Services, such as Security, Backup, and Operation
3. High Initial Equipment Costs
4. High Level of Customization Possible
5. Open Source Webservers Software Are Available and Free
6. Learn ALOT on Your Own
7. You May Likely Have to Hire a Programmer Operator
8. You Own Your Customized Business Software Application
1. Have Your ISP Host Your Site
2. Free Web Hosting
3. Paid Hosting
4. Run Your Own Webserver (Do It Yourself)
ISP hosting is usually the first thing that people consider when
putting up a Web site, probably because most ISPs give you space for a
small Web site as part of their monthly service charge. So, hey, if
you're paying for it, you might as well use it, right?
The "free" ISP-hosted Web site has one primary drawback: its URL or
address. The address for your Web site will usually contain the ISPs
name, followed by your username, maybe followed by a directory name,
and then maybe ending with "index.htm"
Really says "This is my web site!" doesn't it? Besides the
fact that people know right away where your "home" is, this ISP-tied
address is a big liability when you change ISPs. This article describes
why registering your own domain name is a very good thing to do, and I
recommend it for anyone who is serious about establishing a
professional web presence.
Note: If you don't want to register a domain name, you can still get
a better address than one based on your ISP's domain by using a dynamic
DNS service.
"But wait!" you say. "My ISP will host my site with my own domain
name!" Yes, they will... for a price, and those prices vary widely, so
shop around and compare features!
What to look for
No matter which hosting solution you choose, you should look for certain
features from your Webhosting service provider.
This list is oriented toward a small business user.
* Setup fee of no more than $50
* No charge for registering your domain with InterNic
* At least 5 mailboxes included.
* Unlimited email forwarding.
* At least 1GB of monthly traffic allowance
* 24/7 toll-free phone tech support (Very important!)
* Microsoft Front Page support (Nope, not for me!)
* Good webserver log analysis reports
* 30 day moneyback guarantee (they usually keep the setup fee, but refund any monthly service charges that you've paid).
If you are planning on accepting orders or providing access to any databases via your Web site, then you'll want the following additional features:
* Support for database access (usually ODBC)
* SSL Encryption
* Some sort of E-commerce package
* CGI and/or Active Server Pages support
This option really isn't recommended for someone who is trying to
establish a business presence on the Web, because free hosting services
usually don't allow you to have your own domain name. Although you can
work around this disadvantage with a dynamic DNS service, "free"
hosting usually has some other undesirable "feature", like having to
display a banner ad for their service on each page, or getting an
annoying "popup" window.
Not exactly the way to establish a professional web presence!
Paid hosting, also known as professional hosting, is the way to go for the small business person. Why?
* It's cost effective. You usually get more features for less money than from ISP hosting.
* They're more focused on the business. When all you do is host Web sites, you
better make sure you do it well, or you'll be out of business.
* You have better things to do. Even if you know how to run
your own webserver, this is one area where it's well worth it to spend
the money for someone else to do it.
* For your reasonable monthly fee, you get a high-bandwidth
24/7 connection, file backup, email hosting and forwarding and plenty
more.
The challenge is choosing the right company. If you were a large
corporation, you could go through a formal evaluation process and
request proposals from prospective webhost providers.
A small business person, however, doesn't have this option
available, especially if you're looking to spend under $30 a month for
service!
Why all the changes?
My Company #1 was a reseller and actually was fairly trouble-free
until they were cracked and had about 1000 domains erased from their
servers, mine being one of them. To make matters worse, they were not
backing up the Web site files! However, I had a complete copy of my
site on my computer and was able to upload it after they got the
domains restored. But the thing that gave me the most problems with
this first company was that the only contact with them was via email
(no phone numbers were provided) and tech support had a one to two day
turnaround.
* Lesson Learned #1: Don't do business with anyone who doesn't provide
a phone number, especially for tech support! Companies that don't
provide phone numbers are usually reselling space on someone else's
server and you're better off dealing directly with the company who is
really providing the service.
My Company #2 experience looked like it was going to be great. Nice
big ads in multiple trade magazines, good features, low price, 24/7
toll-free tech support, they'd move the domain for free, etc. etc.
Well, to make a long story short, I stayed with this company about 10
days, and my site never really ran properly. The things that went wrong
with my site make me wonder how Company #2 can even stay in business,
if what happened to me happens to others. But I didn't hang around long
enough to find out.
* Lesson Learned #2: Even if a company can afford big ads in just
about every trade magazine you read, it doesn't guarantee success.
My final piece of advice is to check out whatever company you're
considering in the newsgroups. Do a Google Groups search on your
prospective company's name. Post a message asking for feedback about
specific companies. Followup privately via email with people who
provide thoughful, informative answers. The basic idea here is to get
as much information as you can before you host your domain with
someone.
Remember, your domain is your company's identity on the web. You want it always available, fast, and trouble free.
So you don't really believe any of the horror stories about running
your own webserver, or you just want to see for yourself if it's as
much fun as advertised!
At any rate, you want to set up your own webserver. Since I haven't
done this myself, I can only offer a few pointers and some links to
places more knowledgeable than here.
High Bandwidth, all the time.
The key thing you'll need is a high bandwidth, 24/7 connection to
the internet. You shouldn't attempt to host a webserver on a 56k dialup
connection. You should have at minimum a full duplex cable modem or
'DSL connection. (If you are going to use a cable modem connection, be
sure that running a webserver is ok under your ISP's Conditions of
Service.) (NOTE: Depending on your business you may need a full T1 line
or better)
Most ISPs do not assign permanent IP addresses unless you pay for a
dedicated line, so in most cases you'll have a dynamic IP address.
(Cable modem ISPs usually assign IPs dynamically using DHCP.) Since you
need a static IP address in order to host a domain, you'll need to sign
up for a dynamic DNS service. (NOTE: Since an Alarm System Company that
plans on providing monitoring services is likely to have high bandwidth
requirements, a dedicated high speed line with a static IP address is
recommended)
For a good step-by-step on setting up a web server on a DSL or cable modem connection, hop on over
www.dslwebserver.ctechinfo.net
Get yer webserver here...
Once you have your connection, you'll need a dedicated computer and
webserver software. You can run a webserver on just about any OS
platform that you like, but Linux seems to have the most options for
"free" (or nearly free) webserver software.
Security!
If you run your own server, and especially if you run your own mailserver, prepare for unwanted visitors!
You might want to first check out AntiOnline or Rootshell.com
The stories here might just convince you to let someone else worry
about getting hacked or cracked. Lots of good info, and very readable.
After visiting AntiOnline, you'll be ready to visit the CERT and
CIAC sites for both tutorials and information on the latest happenings
in the world of computer security. These sites are also good places to
go if you want to see whether the virus warning you just received is
real or a hoax (the McAfee Virus Library and Virus Alert pages are also
excellent places to check for hoaxes and latest viruses). CERT also has
a good Q & A style document on Home Network Security that's worth a
look.
The WWW Security FAQ from the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is worth checking out, if you prefer a FAQ format.
You'll need a firewall of some sort to protect your site. ICSA Labs
Firewall Buyers Guide (free, but you'll need to register in order to
access it) has info on stateful inspection and probably everything else
you'd want to know about firewalls!
Last, but by no means least, read the book, "Hacking Exposed". It's
very readable by non-experts and gives coutermeasures to every hacking
method that it describes. Well worth the $40 or so. The Web site also
contains comprehensive lists of Tools, Scripts and other links.
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/do-it-yourself-hosting/
