Web Hosting
The following are articles related to website hosting from the archives of Website Magazine. For daily coverage of all things Web related, please visit the
Website Magazine Daily Blog.
Current Articles on Web Hosting From the February 2008 Issue of Website Magazine:
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Green Hosting : Hosting all the world’s information requires an
immense amount of energy. Is there a better way? Enter the green Web host.
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SEO-Friendly Hosting : If you manage several websites, you may want
to consider a better solution — niche Web hosts that provide IP ranges
spread out over multiple Class A or C
Archived Articles on Web Hosting From Previous Issues of Website Magazine:
By Peter Prestipino
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The Web requires an incredible amount of energy usage. Booting up a
computer, viewing those dual monitors and playing an online game or two
all use up large amounts of electricity. But even greater is the amount
of energy required to run all of those servers needed to host all the
world’s information and entertainment. Is there a better way? Enter the
green Web host. |
What Makes Web Hosts GreenElectricity can be generated from any number of sources. As you might guess, the most common are power plants based on coal, oil, nuclear energy, natural gas and large hydro fuels — some of which emit significant quantities of carbon and other greenhouse gases linked with global warming and climate change. On the other end of the spectrum, green energy is generated from a renewable source, such as wind turbines or solar photovoltaic panels. Although there are no formal standards, if a company is using at least some form of renewable energy to power their Web and mail servers, they can be considered environmentally friendly or “green.”
Some hosts may go as far as utilizing their own on-site renewable energy sources, such as electricity-generating windmills or solar panels. Affordable Internet Services Online, Inc. (AISO.net) uses solar panels to runs its data center and office. But there are plenty of other ways for hosts to “green up” their operations without switching to such a dramatic solution outright. Sustainable Websites (SustainableWebsites.com) offsets all of its energy usage for its servers and office equipment by purchasing wind-powered Renewable Energy certificates. Also known as green certificates (or green tags), they ensure the power they use is generated in an eco-friendly manner.
Tim Ashworth, Technical Director of NuBlue Digital Web Solutions explains how his company takes even the smallest steps to be more eco-friendly. "Hosting requires significant levels of electricity, but as an environmentally-conscious company we try to do everything we can to minimize our impact on the environment. All our non-essential electrical equipment is turned off at night and energysaving appliances are used throughout the office. We run a virtually paper-free office and nearly all information (including invoices, quotes etc) are sent electronically."
The BenefitsAs renewable energy sources typically come at a higher cost than their non-green counterparts, it is important for hosts to find ways to offset those costs to make green hosting as accessible as possible to the consumer. After all, we all want to be environmentally friendly, but paying excessive amounts for cleaner air or a cleaner conscience usually doesn’t balance out for small businesses.
The electricity required to power servers and provide cooling is a major operational expense for data centers and hosting companies alike. As green solutions increase in demand, the industry is seeing more improvements in energy-efficient Web servers. It’s not just the source of energy used that makes an enterprise more environmentally friendly, but also how that energy is used. AISO.net also utilizes AMD Opteron powered servers that require 60 percent less energy and generate 50 percent less heat.
So how are consumers responding? Matt Russell, Chief Operating Officer of WebHostingBuzz said, “When we first announced this, there was a positive but small response. As 'carbon neutrality' has become more widespread in this industry and others, customers really begin to appreciate what we've done. We have customers who have signed up with us purely because we're carbon neutral.”
Next year, WebHostingBuzz will be launching carbonneutralwebhosting. com and an “extra-green plan,” where clients can choose to pay a couple of dollars more for “doubly carbon neutral.” In return, this money will be invested into a tree planting sponsorship with the International Tree Foundation, a charity that oversees tree planting worldwide.
While new hosting plans are emerging that cater to those focusing on being environmentally friendly, consumers will typically pay a little more for a green hosting experience. But as technology catches up to our ethical standards, expect those costs to lessen. And as green hosts become more widespread and their prices match non-green hosts, consumers can focus on a two key elements with which every Web host should be measured — service and reliability.
By Lloyd Brown
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It’s no secret that Google modifies their algorithm in what seems to be an effort to fight attempts to “beat the system.” Several years ago Google announced the implementation of their Automatic Filtering. When enabled, one of the effects takes the form of a host crowding penalty — if multiple results come from the same Web host, only the first two are returned.
One suggested solution is to simply disable the filter. But the odds of users doing this, or even knowing how to disable the filter are slim. Therefore, the filter remains active and users are not seeing what are considered duplicate results because of the host crowding penalty. As a result, many companies, whose only sin was having multiple sites all on the same host, lost significant traffic from search engines.
Another solution is to host your websites with multiple hosts. But this forces you to manage multiple control panels, bills and contacts.
If you manage several websites, you may want to consider a better solution — niche Web hosts that provide IP ranges spread out over multiple Class A or C subnets, giving search engines the impression that your sites reside across different hosts. This is important when you have sites that promote similar products, or when you want to interlink the sites you have into your own mini-network — another reason for Google to impose the penalty. Plus, you get the added convenience of one bill, one contact and usually one control panel to manage all of your sites.
Choosing a C-Class HostChoosing a proper host can be difficult. Many know that website owners are seeking SEO-friendly hosting, but do not understand why. As a result, many providers sell hosting plans with multiple Class Cs, but they share IPs with multiple customers — mainly because by not sharing IPs, hosts are limited as to how many customers they can serve. But this can be dangerous for a website owner. If you share an IP with an unseemly website owner you run the risk of having the entire IP banned, instantly losing your search credibility. And some hosts will put upwards of 9,000 different domains on one IP. Like many things, you often get what you pay for.
Bruce Clay observed that although only 3 percent of websites are on dedicated IPs, well over 90 percent of the top-50 results in the search engines are sites having dedicated IP numbers. They confirmed this by moving a site from a shared IP to a dedicated IP and noticed “significant ranking increases.”
Websites live and die with their search rankings. So it’s important to optimize your portfolio of sites, including spreading out your domains through a dedicated, C-Class hosting service. As an added bonus, spreading out your sites over multiple IPs makes it difficult for your competitors to find all of your sites through a simple reverse IP lookup.
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The Web’s growth
continues virtually unabated. Netcraft’s 2007 Web Server Survey
found the Web growing by nearly 50 million sites since December 2006 (19
million new, active sites for annual growth of 38%). While there
continues to be strong growth in traditional hosting, Netcraft reports
the most dramatic growth were sites at blogging services providers
such as MySpace, Live Spaces and Blogger — accounting for approximately
25 million of the more than 155 million sites of which Netcraft received
responses. So what servers are these sites running on? |
About the Author: Lloyd Brown is Director of Business Development for
Got Web Host — a premier provider of Class C hosting and leader in SEO hosting services. Brown’s portfolio includes nearly 10 years of Internet marketing experience.
You have spent countless hours designing and optimizing your website. Now you must make an important decision — Linux or Windows? There are major differences between the two and making the right decision is important for your online success. However, determining which is best for you can be difficult, especially if you are inexperienced with Web hosting. And one of the biggest reasons is a lack of unbiased information examining the technologies — most information is based on the authors’ personal and philosophical preferences. So, in an effort to avoid the philosophical arguments that pit one technology against another, let’s take a practical approach to the key considerations directly related to Web hosting and platform selection. There are many other metrics that can be used to compare the two systems but, for the purpose of Web hosting, these are the most significant.
Some Facts Regarding Web Hosting
• If you are planning to purchase Web hosting from a Web host, it won't matter much whether the platform is Windows or Linux. Most basic services such as Web, FTP and email are provided by almost all hosting companies. Instead, your chief concern is making sure you pick a good Web host. Selection criteria should include your desired levels of functionality, reliability, security and price.
• Your technology selection will largely determine the hosting environment you require for hosting your Web services. For instance, PHP, mySQL and email will run on both platforms. However, if you are using any MS technologies such as ASP, MSSQL or Windows Media streaming services, those choices will require hosting on the Windows platform.
• A semi-managed server means that the provider helps you with some aspects of the setup and configuration but you are responsible for the day-to-day operations. An unmanaged server means that the provider gives you a machine and the platform of your choosing and you are fully responsible for the administration of the machine. In a semi-managed environment where help is available, it may not be necessary to know and understand all aspects of managing your machine. However, in an unmanaged environment it is critical that you pick a platform you have experience with.
Windows vs. Linux General Comparisons
In terms of comparing the two platforms along metrics such as reliability, functionality, security and price, I have to reiterate that if you are purchasing hosting services from a Web hosting provider, the difference is largely negligible. Your experience along all of the aforementioned metrics is likely to be impacted by the quality of the host you select. However, if you are planning to rent a server from a provider, set it up and manage it yourself the differences will largely work out like this:
Functionality and Usability
While Linux has improved greatly over the years and can be just as easy to use, Windows has a larger footprint among users and therefore
benefits from a simple matter of exposure — most new users will find Windows easier to use than Linux. However, graphical and webbased
control panels added to Linux systems largely eliminate this advantage. Finally, while Linux is improving all the time, Windows has much better hardware support.
Reliability
If we focus strictly on uptime (the amount of time a system can run in production without being rebooted) Linux wins hands-down. While Windows has made several improvements and can run for months on end, there are many things that can be done in Linux without requiring reboots that would require as much with Windows.
Security
Both systems can be attacked and have their share of security-related issues. But, in spite of security advancements it remains a fact that
Windows is still the most vulnerable to attacks and viruses.
Price
Linux is open source software (OSS) which means that it is free, while Windows is proprietary and contains licensing costs. However, just
because a provider offers Linux services doesn't mean that it will always be cheaper than a Windows-based solution. The price can
fluctuate and will largely depend on the provider and solution offered.
About the Author:
Lee Evans owns and operates LeeWare.com, a premier provider of unmanaged virtual dedicated Linux servers.