Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #4: What is a control panel?

This video tutorial will teach you about the control panel, an essential part of any web hosting account.

In terms of web hosting, the control panel is a web-based interface provided by your hosting company that allows you to manage a variety of hosted services in one spot. A control panel allows you to configure email accounts, upload files to your website, access server logs, manage databases, analyze web traffic, add new functionality, and more. It is an essential part of any web hosting account. Without it – even just a basic control panel – you wouldn’t be able to get very much done.

You do not necessarily need to know computer programming to effectively navigate your way around a control panel. It is a browser-based, point-and-click interface. Three of the most widely used web hosting control panels in the industry today are cPanel, Parallels Plesk, and DirectAdmin. They are popular because they are easy-to-use, intuitive, and offer a wide variety of robust services.

Some control panels only run on Linux, some are meant for Windows, and some will work with both types of operating system. One important thing to keep in mind – just because your computer at home is running Windows doesn’t mean you need to find a
Windows hosting account. You only need a Windows account if your website requires features that only work on Windows. Otherwise, a Linux account will work just as well, and with very few differences.

What’s the difference? Most versions of Linux are free, whereas you can’t install Windows on a computer unless you pay for a license. Because of this, Windows hosting accounts generally cost a bit more. Many of the companies in our top 10 web hosting list provide linux-based control panels like cPanel, this helps make them very affordable.

Up Next:

The key units for measuring website space and usage: megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB).

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #3: What’s the difference between shared, dedicated, and other types of hosting?

This video tutorial will teach you about the different types of hosting so that you can determine what type of service might be right your web site.

In our first video, we briefly touched on the different types of web hosting that are available on the market today. If you are just getting started, more than likely you’ll want a shared hosting provider for your website.

Shared hosting means that your website is hosted on a server that is shared by other customers and that your web hosting provider is the one responsible for managing and monitoring your site. Inexpensive and popular, shared hosting is the easiest and cheapest way to get started with hosting your website online.

However, if your account frequently uses up a lot of server resources – for example if your website draws incredibly high amounts of traffic or uses a lot of video – your hosting provider will probably require you to upgrade to something more suited to accommodate your website’s needs:

Reseller hosting. One option is another type of “shared” hosting called reseller hosting. This basically allows you to sell shared hosting accounts to other people. Sometimes a reseller server will be less crowded and better suited to websites with high resource usage.

Dedicated servers. A dedicate server is the most expensive form of web hosting, costing anywhere from $40-100 a month. However, unless you know how to manage the server yourself, a dedicated server is probably not a smart option. If you don’t know a thing about server administration, you would probably need an entry level managed server, which is even more expensive.

Managed dedicated servers. A managed dedicated server leaves the hardest parts of operating a server to experienced technicians, allowing you to focus more on your websites, less on the technology. Typically an entry level managed dedicated server will cost around $200 a month.

Virtual dedicated server. On a slightly smaller scale is the virtual dedicated server (VDS), also known as virtual private server (VPS). In this situation, a hosting company divides a very powerful dedicated server up into separate “virtual” servers using virtualization software. Each virtual server gets its own operating system, and acts almost exactly like a real dedicated server. How powerful a VDS truly is can vary depending on the hosting provider and the plan you choose.

How can you tell which one is right for you? It all depends on what your website requires. Shared hosting is well-suited for personal websites and small businesses. A dedicated server is more appropriate for larger hosting needs, yet is considerably more expensive. By knowing your site requirements, you can determine which is solution is right for you.

Up Next:

Now that you are clear on the types of different hosting, let’s talk about the software that allows you to manage your website, the control panel.

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #2: What are web servers? Why are they necessary?

This video tutorial will teach you what a web server is and why they are essential to running your website.

Web servers are computers that have been set up by a hosting company, usually in a facility called a datacenter. A web server’s primary purpose is to store the content of websites – HTML web pages, images, style sheets, etc – and then quickly deliver that information to a visitor’s browser when it is requested.

Ordinarily, a server is able to respond to at multiple requests at a time – even hundreds. However, the number of websites a server can comfortably host at a time depends on a wide variety of factors, ranging from the physical (server hardware) to demand (how popular a site is).

Even the most expensive server hardware isn’t very useful without the appropriate software. The most important software programs of a web server are also called servers, or daemons. Software servers are key to getting things done. At a minimum, most servers used for web hosting have at least these four types of software servers running at all times:

• HTTP or web – serves the websites
• FTP – enables you (and in some situations others) to upload information to the website
• Email – allows you to send and receive email messages
• Database – stores essential data and information essential for operating the website

Perhaps you’re wondering if web servers are even necessary or why you need to pay a company to provide you with this type of service. Why can’t you just run your websites from a computer at home? Trust us, there are several very good reasons:

1. Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) specifically disallow people from running any type of web-related server on their networks. Doing so can potentially get your Internet account suspended or terminated.

2. In addition, most consumer broadband ISPs aren’t reliable enough for hosting websites. Do you want people to be able to visit your sites at all hours of the day, every day of the week? That won’t be possible if your Internet connection is acting up or your ISP is performing maintenance.

3. Another consideration to factor in is the costs of running a computer for extended periods – this include the cost of any parts that may fail, plus increased electricity costs.

Still skeptical about why you can’t just use your personal computer as a server? A big factor to consider is the upload speed of your connection. While broadband connections are increasingly getting faster and faster, the upload speeds of your Internet connection are usually about 10-20 times slower than download speeds. When running a server on your computer, your upload speed would directly determine the total download speed shared across everyone accessing your sites. More than likely, you’ll only be able to offer up a megabit or two. Even if you’re just hosting a basic website with only a few pictures on it, that bandwidth will quickly be used up by only a few people.

On the other hand, a professional server with a hosting provider, offers connections that are as fast as 10,000 megabits. You’d have to pay a fortune to get even a 100 megabit connection to your house, whereas a hosting provider can offer you space on a server with an ultra-high speed connection for a fraction of the cost.

Up Next:

Now that you understand what a web server is, let’s move on and discuss the difference between shared, dedicated, and other types of web hosting .

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #1: What is Web Hosting?

It might appear to the average web surfer that the Internet works all by itself. However, many website owners have come to learn that’s not the case at all. Web hosting is a critical component of how the Internet works today. But what is web hosting, really?

In order for your website to visible and available to the world, it hast to be hosted on a web server. Web hosting is a service provided by thousands of businesses – Internet service providers and/or web hosting companies – worldwide. They set up and maintain entire buildings called datacenters that are full of computer systems called servers.

The service these companies provide (in the form of a web hosting package) is access to your websites via the Internet. With this type of access you can also upload your websites – HTML pages, images, etc. When configured properly, computers around the world will quickly know exactly where to find them and making your website visible to Internet users all over the world.

There are several different types of web hosting providers – shared, dedicated, ecommerce, etc. If you are just getting started, more than likely you’ll need a shared hosting provider for your website. Shared hosting means that your website is hosted on a server that is shared by other customers and that your web hosting provider is the one responsible for managing and monitoring your site to ensure that it is always up and running. Inexpensive and popular, shared hosting is the easiest and most typical way to get started.

Ready to learn more about web hosting?

Even someone who is tech savvy and has lots of computer experience is likely to have many unanswered questions. We hope that most of those questions will be answered in the series of tutorials that follow.

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #11: What can get my web hosting account suspended?

For the most part, web hosting providers are reasonable and willing to work with their customers. At the same time, there are those certain aspects that are prohibited and can get your account suspended if you are not careful. To ensure you never have to face this dilemma, here are a few things that can get your account suspended from various providers.

For the most part, web hosting providers are reasonable and willing to work with their customers. At the same time, there are those certain aspects that are prohibited and can get your account suspended if you are not careful. To ensure you never have to face this dilemma, here are a few things that can get your account suspended from various providers.

One of the most common reasons for an account being suspended is if you exceed your storage and bandwidth limit or frequently use up a large amount of server resources like CPU and memory. There are providers that offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space that can help prevent this problem. The key is making sure the company is not a fraud as many that offer unlimited options tend to be.

Spam email messages that are sent from your account are another big no-no. Not only is this problematic for the provider, but for the recipient as well. Along those same lines includes hosting or linking to material that infringes the rights of a third party or any Federal, State or local laws, and hosting or linking to pornography.

As mentioned, there are those hosting providers that are reasonable and willing to work with customers. In such case, you may find the host will give you a warning before your account is suspended. However, you should never rely on a warning and stay on the safe side.

Outside of a suspended account, there are also those rare instances where the provider will simply terminate the account without a warning or suspension. If you are attempting to gain unauthorized access to someone else’s account or files, you can expect termination. The other instance where this may occur is if you verbally or physically abuse or threat the company’s employees. Whether it is over the phone, through email or in person, this is cause for immediate termination.

The thing you need to understand is that every hosting provider is different. They have different features, rules, and guidelines you will want to become familiar with prior to agreeing to any long-term contract of any sort.

After considering your options, it is vital you look at everything carefully. You will want to ask the hosting provider about their abuse, legal, or support department or check their acceptable use policy, terms of service, and other legal agreements to get clarifications. As long as you do not push the limits and steer clear of the mistakes listed in this article, you should have no problems with your account being suspended or terminated.

Up Next:

Learn more about uptime guarantees and how they affect your website.