What is Web Hosting?

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organisations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data centre.

The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Some hosts specialise in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce).

What is a domain name?

Think as a domain name address such as www.harrisontech.com.au as a unique internet/web telephone number (domain name addresses are unique). If you are viewing this page on the internet right now, then you are actually using domain names. A domain name is the technical term for the ‘web address’ of a particular website on the internet, the domain name tells your browser where to look to access the pages you want to see. The domain name for this website as an example, is “harrisontech.com.au”. You may have got to this page by clicking through one webpage to another, moving from one domain name to another, or clicking on a link on a webpage/typing the exact address into the address bar of your browser.

What do letters such as PHP, SQL, Java, IP, etc… mean?

Those acronyms refer to various features such as programming languages (html, PHP, Java etc…), IP (Internet Protocol), databases (SQL, MySQL etc…) and so on, that might be available with a web hosting plan.

Can I keep my domain name when I change a host?

Yes you can if you are the owner of the domain name. It doesn’t matter where you purchase your domain name from, all you need to do is access your domain name DNS settings and point your domain name to the new host provider by renaming the name servers. If you do not have a domain name, we recommend that you register a domain name before getting a hosting plan .Then, when you need to move to another host, you just need to point your domain’s name servers to this new host.

How can I pay for web hosting?

This depends on which host or service you decide to go with. Most web hosts will accept credit cards, and some will accept PayPal and/or a Money Order / Check. To purchase web hosting with Harrisontech visit https://www.harrisontech.com.au/contact and send us a message

What are sub-domains?

Consider sub-domains as an extension of your domain. For example, your site is www.example.com. A sub-domain would be demo.example.com

Sub-domains are or can usually treated as separate sites from the main domain site.

What is uptime?

Uptime is the amount of time your site is up online throughout the entire month each month.

The best uptime would be 100%, but because things can go wrong from time to time, many hosts may offer 99.9% uptime guarantees. This means that if your site breaches the uptime policy in a single month, the host may reimburse you, depending on their terms and conditions of service.

I have a fast internet connection; can I just host my own website?

You could, but that’s not recommended whatsoever!

Why?

1.
Most ISPs have clauses that do not let you use your internet connection for web hosting – doing this may result in termination of your account.

2. Think of the stress not to mention the headaches it can provide. You have to make sure your system is secure so it can’t be hacked, you will need to have your computer on 24/7, and meet the speeds expected when viewing as a user.

3. Most good web hosts use powerful servers with lots of RAM and high performance hard drive(s). Furthermore, they have multiple internet connections at speeds far higher than what residential DSL or cable services can provide.

4. If something goes wrong, it will be your job to fix it – you will not have the professional to correct the problem.

What is space and bandwidth/data transfer?

Space is disk space allocated/used, and is the size your website uses for file storage, email storage, webmail operating system and database used etc…Every bit of data on your website has to be stored somewhere on your web host’s server. Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HT pages are usually very small, but it is the extras such as images, scripts, and even databases that can take up large amounts of disk space.

Bandwidth/Data Transfer is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month. Transfer is usually measured in gigabytes – billions of bytes. Once you go over your monthly limit, a host may either suspend or shut your site down for the remainder of the month or it can charge you for addition over use.

What do I need to do to put Flash on my website?

In todays market we would recommend not to as it’s not SEO friendly and is somewhat outdated for web purposes. To install flash you need to insert a .swf file onto your viewable website page (created in Flash). Flash is a client side feature (it runs on the user’s computer, not on your web host). As long as the user’s browser has the correct plugin installed, it will run on their computer.

What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting?

UNIX is the most widely used OS for web hosting!

Depending on which operating system to go with, will depend on your needs.There are some things to remember/consider first.

Just because you use Windows at home does not mean you should use Windows hosting as they are completely different operating systems. Having a Windows system at home will not affect your ability to communicate with a UNIX server.

Linux is much more common with web hosts due to its superior stability, Linux is an excellent product.

If you need to support Microsoft products such as ASP, MS Access, or VBScript, then Windows hosting would be better. Furthermore, if you are comfortable with IIS and do not have the time to understand how UNIX works, Windows hosting would again be a better choice.

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is a measure that reflects how much data can be transferred over a data communication channel.

In web hosting plans the allowed bandwidth generally indicates how much data can be downloaded from your web site per month, and therefore indicates how many web pages and pictures your visitors are allowed to download. If the average amount of page views per visitor is assumed constant, the allowable bandwidth restricts how many visitors you are allowed to have per month.

Just as important, however, is how fast the communication channel between your web host and the Internet is. The amount of data that can be transferred per second is also called the bandwidth of this channel, and this bandwidth is shared by all the web sites hosted by the same provider. If this bandwidth is insufficient, you’ll sometimes notice a slow down in the display of your web pages. In most cases, however, such a slow down is more likely to be caused by an overload on the web server itself.

What is SSI or Server Side Includes?

SSI or Server Side Includes are directives in your web pages HTML that are evaluated on your web server just before the web page is served. SSIs are often used to include small files with common text for all your web pages, such as menu’s or footers. This allows you to maintain this text in a single file to prevent having to edit all your web pages if you want to add a menu item or change the footer text.

SSI’s can also be used to create simple dynamic web pages, for instance by putting the time or date on your pages, but for larger dynamic applications you are better of using CGI scripts or PHP/ASP pages.

What are Frontpage Extensions?

Although not widely used today, Frontpage extensions in a web hosting plan offer support for Microsoft’s Frontpage application for the development and uploading of web sites. Unless you intend to use Frontpage, there is no need for these extensions. Most other web authoring environments simply use FTP to upload your pages, and almost all web hosting providers support FTP.

What is Web Mail?

Web mail is a web based interface to your own email directories on your web server. If you use domain hosting, your web hosting provider will also offer to support a number of email accounts based on your domain name. You can download the email in those accounts to your own computer, using Outlook Express or a similar email client, or, if your web hosting company offers web mail, you can access your email with web mail as you would access a hotmail account from any computer you happen to have access to.