Web Hosting Solutions

The company you host your site with will be the equivalent of a the general contractor who builds your building. They have the means to ensure your QoS (Quality of Service) is high as possible. What does this mean to you?

The typical QoS quoted from dedicated hosting companies is 99.9% availability. To achieve this, VWH (Virtual Web Host) companies need to invest in industry-standard equipment for servers, be they NT or Unix(many versions), from IBM, Dell, Compaq, Sun, HP, etc.. The servers should be equipped with multiple, hot-swappable hard drives (meaning they can be replaced without shutting down the machine). They should be connected to multiple power supplies or have a form of self-generated backup power. The servers should themselves be in redundancy to balance the web traffic load or provide failover support. And they should be backed up nightly to a safe and secure backup system.

The Internet connection will usually be provided by larger network providers, running the backbones or NAP's (Network Access Points), and they will install multiple, redundant lines that balance the bandwidth load. The lines should be T3 (45 Mbps) or greater. Some are as high as OC48 (2.4 Gbps!). What this means is fewer bottlenecks and more capacity for web traffic.

Below are some resources for finding and comparing web site hosting companies:

C|Net Web Hosting Page
C|Net User Opinions

Updated: Apr. 22, 2000  ©Copyright Califariel Graphics, 1999, 2000. All rights reserved.
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