Web Site Hosting Reviews

   I have found the following factors to be the most important in choosing (see also Picking the right Web Site Host) a either a web hotel or virtual hosting solution. Not every point applies to web hotel.

• Bandwidth: This is the amount of bytes (usually expressed in GB (giga or billion bytes) per month. There is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth. Someplace buried in your agreement if not disclosed outright is a clause to either chuck you or charge you extra for clogging their backbone!
  
  
• Connection Speed: Just how fast is their connection to the Internet? Just because somebody claims to have T3 service doesn't mean much if they have to pass through a series of balky routers. Use the Windows TRACERT command to count and time those hops. Do it several times during the course of the day and night. Ask your friends far away to try it for you as well.
  
  
• Reliablity: Nothing and nobody is perfect. How reliable do they claim to be. Remember, 99% can mean being down for 3-1/2 days a year! Do they backup their servers? How often?
  
  
• Support: Is there any on-line documentation? Can you contact support staff by phone or e-mail? Do not expect free help when it comes to setting up CGI scripts and other work from hosting companies. But do make sure they can answer ALL of the questions you might have to get those scripts running.
  
  
• Unix Server: My preference. Unix can do everything that NT can do- and much more. If you pick NT and try to install a script, all I can say is, "I told you so".
  
  
• SSH Access: I cannot stress this enough. I am tired of hearing virtual hosting companies denying or charging extra for SSH (terminal) access to their accounts for reasons of security.
  
  
• SMTP Service: Can you originate e-mail from their servers under your domain name?
  
  
• Does Your Domain Operate as You? Simply put, does the server operate under your server user id, or as a special user id such as nobody. If not as you, then you will have to allow write permission to your files that are modified by scripts. This is a security compromise that will allow anyone with access to the server to read and modify your files.
  
  
• Are They the Real Hosting Company? Check to be sure that the hosting company is in fact really the provider and not a reseller for another company! Look, there is nothing wrong per se with getting service through a reseller- provided they allow you to contact support at the provider directly in an emergency.
  
  
• Server Side Includes. Gotta have SSI!
  
  
• .HTACCESS Access. There should be a mechanism for both password protecting directories and adding MIME types.