HOSTING FAQs

What is Hosting?

To access information on the web, your website must be hosted on a computer that has a permanent connection to the web. This machine is called your 'host' or 'server'.

Servers are not standard PC's, they are powerful machines specifically designed to store and host websites. When you purchase hosting you are in fact purchasing a share of hard disk space, CPU usage and bandwidth. You need to consider your forecasted usage when choosing your host. For companies that have a large requirement for hosting space, it is possible to purchase dedicated servers to store only their information.

What is Bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer passed through your host server computer. Bandwidth is usually calculated on a monthly basis, and most hosting companies give set allocations of bandwidth per month based on the amount of web space purchased. Additional bandwidth can usually be accommodated but is likely to incur an additional charge per amount used.

What can cause large amounts of bandwidth to be consumed?

Large downloadable files from your website that are frequently accessed, for example

• Video clips and sound files
• Vast visitor numbers
• Email usage

Should your site be using excessive bandwidth as a result of masses of website activity, then it would highlight that your site has become successful and that it is likely that any increase in bandwidth charges has been negated by extra business brought about by the success of your website.

Email usage is usually the cause for most companies to overindulge in bandwidth. Every time an email is sent, the contents of that email are passed through the host's mail servers, thus the larger the email or more frequent the usage the more data will be transferred, or more bandwidth is used. Should the company then initiate a mass mail marketing campaign, they may consume greater bandwidth than their allocation.

Insufficient bandwidth can result in your site functioning very slowly and will therefore be of detriment to your sites overall success, or in extreme cases it may even cause your website or email to stop functioning altogether.

For a new venture, bandwidth is something that is often not calculable at the outset of a project. For this reason it is recommended that you purchase statistics with any hosting package. With detailed statistics you will have the ability to see bandwidth usage, and forecast future expenditure.

Is it better to host in-house?

Although this may be possible, it may not be the best solution. Hosting in-house would only be practical if you had the technical and financial resources to support an infrastructure that meets your websites needs. To establish such a system requires many man hours that could be much better spent such as developing and maintaining your day-to-day business activities.

In addition to the time taken for the initial set-up you will face the following ongoing problems:

• Security problems for you data
• Slow and unreliable connectivity
• And of course, downtime

All of these will have to take first priority during the working day and can at times be a serious drain on your resources. You will not make money from operating a data centre. So leave it to the professionals and concentrate on your own business. Still, feel free to investigate and make up your own mind!

What Is Secure Hosting?

You can upgrade your web space to Secure space for Ecommerce sites or to protect sensitive data. If you use Secure space (https) then don't forget you will also need a digital certificate (padlock).

If your hosting space has been upgrade to secure hosting then you can use https in the URL line. For example:

• /hosting - Normal
• https://www.ssiweb.co.uk/hosting - Secure

This means that the data moving between your browser and the remote server will be encrypted and protected. This is required if you are entering in credit card details online. When the data is encrypted you will have dramatically increased your chances of protecting it from hackers who might eavesdrop your computers conversation.

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