Hosting FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Purchasing Web Hosting
When I buy webhosting, what am I actually paying for?
When you buy hosting, you are actually renting out space and capacity on a computer to store your files, web site or blog. This computer is called a server. Web hosting, as the name suggests, allows you to host content that is then accesible to anyone with access to the world wide web.
What is a domain? Do I need one?
The other thing that people will almost always buy with hosting is a domain name. This is the name given to the "www.yournamehere.com" that you also register, that points at your hosting.
In almost all cases, you will need a domain. Basically it means that instead of having to type an IP address to access your website such as " 254.123.145.122" , people can just type in a much more easily memorable 'domain name', such as www.webhostinsider.com.
Like hosting, domain names are also rented. You pay to have them registered in annual fees to ICANN. Some web hosts (such as our top rated one) include a free domain, and support multiple domains.
This means that you would only need to pay one fee for hosting and could potentially host dozens of sites with extra cost, other than the cost of the domain registration fee.
Does my host need to be based in my country?
Having a host based in your country is advantageous in certain respects, but it is by no means necessary anymore. Typically, hosting based in the US is very affordable, and certain major hosting companies their have great rates, reliable, fast hardware and excellent support. Some people may be concerned about their US based site not being shown in search results for their local searchers, but search engines actually let you set the geographic target of your domain name. We have a tutorial on it here.
Though this site is hosted in the US, it is optimized for Australia, so that Google knows most of its users will come from Australia.
How much bandwidth and storage do I need?
Ideally, unlimited. These days unlimited storage and bandwidth can be obtained very, very cheaply from US based hosting. If you are really determined to have local based hosting that has limited bandwidth and storage, your usage requirements will vary markedly based on how you plan to use your site.
A personal blog may be adequately hosted on 500mb of storage, and 1gb of bandwidth. An e-commerce website may need 5-10x that amount. Whichever option you choose, make sure you look not just at the plan you intend to sign up for, but also the plans above it. You could very well be upgrading to them at some stage, so be aware of the costs, features and restrictions that they entail.
What is the difference between Windows and Linux Hosting? Which is better?
Just like your home computer, web hosting servers also run operating systems. Two of the most popular operating systems are Linux and Windows.
For most users, Linux Hosting will be a superior choice. Linux is an open source operating system, which means that it was developed over time by a community of software engineers working for free. Its very powerful, but because it is open source, its not owned by any one person, so it can used by web hosting companies at no additional cost for licensing the software.
This is reflected in the price of linux hosting, which is almost always quite a lot cheaper than Windows hosting.
Windows hosting is not bad by any means, but there are only a few instances where someone would require Windows hosting. Such instances include having to run Windows based scrips such as .NET, MS SQL etc.
Unless you fall into one of these camps, we recommend you stick with a linux based host.
What is a good number to look for when assessing a web host's uptime?
'Uptime' is a term used to measure how long a server has been up and functioning, as distinct from having crashed or undergone maintenance, and therefore experienced 'downtime'. Host's state their uptime as a percentage of time they have been up annually. Typically, you should not even consider a host with less than 99% uptime. This table from Wikipedia demonstrates why:
| \ | Total downtime (HH:MM:SS) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability | per day | per month | per year |
| 99.999% | 00:00:00.9 | 00:00:26 | 00:05:16 |
| 99.99% | 00:00:09 | 00:04:23 | 00:52:36 |
| 99.9% | 00:01:26 | 00:43:50 | 08:45:57 |
| 99% | 00:14:24 | 07:18:17 | 87:39:30 |
What is the difference between shared and dedicated hosting? Which do I need?
When someone buys dedicated hosting, what they are purchasing is an entire server, dedicated to hosting their content. Conversely, when someone buys shared hosting, the server they are renting is potentially hosting dozens of customers content at the same time.
Unless you have a very high traffic web site, or specific hardware and operating system requirements, shared hosting will be perfectly adequate for hosting your content.
Servers these days are very powerful, and even when shared, your service will not likely notice any disruptions or speed bottlenecks. This is, however, dependent on how many users your web hosting company try and fit on to one server. The top rated hosts we review are all shared web hosting services, however, they evidently do not cram customers on servers that cannot support their usage, as user feedback regarding space and speed for our top picks is excellent.
We recommend that users start with a reputable shared hosting service, and upgrade to a more costly yet powerful dedicated solution if their needs warrant it.
What is cPanel?
cPanel is an administration panel used by many popular web hosts to allow their users to configure aspects of their hosting, and access various features. We at Webhostinsider are big fans of cPanel, it makes managing your hosting service very easy. For a better understanding of cPanel, you can check out our video tutorial section.