Typical Hosting Spec

Typical Hosting Spec

There is no real minimum spec for hosting but as a rough guide, here is a list of basic requirements:

• FTP access <– only really need one FTP account
• 100mb server space <– this is more than enough to be starting with
• 10gb server bandwidth <– this is enough to start with but a busy site will need more in future
• POP3 email mailboxes <– enough to cover your needs most packages come with unlimited
• 1 x MySQL database <– WordPress only needs one – but buy an account that has more in case you want to expand your blog with forums etc
• PHP <– PHP is the web language that WordPress is written with, ensure the build of WordPress you are using will run on the version of PHP your ISP is offering
• Stats package <– very useful for tracking your traffic
• Cpanel <– very useful for admin

Your hosting package will come with a lot more stuff than I have listed above, most of it you won’t need but sometimes it’s nice to know the options are there.

Tip: Don’t buy a hosting package that serves form a Windows webserver. Windows servers are the first point of call for hackers. While any webserver can potentially be hacked, it seems that Windows is the most probed and got-at platform out there. It’s my advice to take a Linux server where possible.

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Host Local?

Host Local in Your Own Country?

There are rumblings around the net at the moment that Google, and others, but Google especially are looking to localise their search results, which means if you are in the UK and you search for something then UK websites served from UK servers will rank higher in the results pages than UK websites served on servers based in other countries. I have mixed feelings about this because my findings at the moment (as of August 2008) is that it’s a load of hyped up nonsense. I own a website business (www.designconscious.com) and right from the word go I hosted in America, my site is a blog and is optimised for the key words “website design telford” here is what google thinks of my site using that key phrase

The internet is such a big place and website design is such a big market place I reckon it’s better to compete locally so my site is optimised for where I live and even though I’m hosting in America Google seems to like me anyway. But that said – this might not always be the case, so to save yourself hassle in the future it might be better to err on the side of caution and host your site in your country of origin. Best advice and future proofing – that’s what you should do.

But….

If you are like me and think it’s all a load of bullshit, then why not think about hosting at Hostagor? Hostagor are an enormous American ISP with a 24/7 online chat support team and a wealth of features that go way beyond what you really need. Take a look – and of course if you are reading this in America, you won’t go far wrong if you take one of their packages.

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Registering

Registering your domain name

This is one of the most important things to do and you must read these next bits carefully.

There are hundreds, no, thousands of companies offering domain name registrations. Some will be big boys, some small, some just running a web script that piggybacks off the back of another system. The choice is endless and I have no time or inkling to review them all. All I can do is give you pointers to what you should be looking out for in the way of configuration and service for your domain.

I am a firm believer in ‘You get what you pay for’ if you buy cheap you will get cheap. If you are expecting your website to be professional and become a proper source of income, you will have to set it up professionally and in this respect cheap is bad. Don’t get me wrong, a domain name doesn’t cost the earth, here in the UK a .com costs more than a .co.uk but neither will break the back. I’m talking about the mega cheap registrations, I have seen websites offering to register your domain for just two pence. I dread to think what kind of service you will ‘not’ be getting if you register with them. In the long run it will cost you a lot more to make that domain ready to serve your site and forward your email.

Shop around and ask questions but these are the kinds of things you will need from a registrar:

• The ability to check the market and display all the TDL (top level domain) availability for your choosen name
• A sensible pricing structure with a well pitched price
• A control panel that allows you to:
  • Administer the owner, admin and technical contacts
  • Change nameservers information
  • Options for webforwarding
  • Options for email forwarding
  • and for advanced users the ability to add A, CNAME, TXT and MX records
• Ability to review your invoices
• And transfer domains in and out without fuss

I’m giving you a list here of features but I have one registrar in mind who I believe do it all and do it very well. The registrar I use for my domain name registrations is www.123-reg.co.uk they are part of Pipex which is one of the biggest ISP’s in the UK.

Go ahead and check your domain choice now – it’s safe to do so.

There used to be a problem where once you checked for a domain name and found it available, the unscrupulous registrar’s used to lock the domain and force you to only buy it from them, then of course you got stuck with their hosting too. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t happen any more but it is still much better to check your domain within a safe environment. 123 gives you the safe environment to check your domains and it gives you all the control you need over your account so you can configure your domain to just how you need it.

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Word of Warning: ISP's

A word of warning about registering and hosting with the same ISP

It’s a bad idea to register and host with the same ISP / registrar. I came unstuck in the past when I have registered a domain name at the same place as I have hosted the website. The reason I came unstuck was this, I had an account with 1&1 which gave me the option of reselling my hosting from the one package. One of the websites I was hosting got accused of spamming just before the weekend, 1&1 acted quickly and without telling me, disabled my account. This is important – they didn’t disable the site accused of spam, they disabled my ACCOUNT. I had multiple other websites in my account all of which went offline. Over the weekend the support team that handle spam issues don’t work so I was very red faced on the Monday morning when I had to speak to my other clients and explain what had happened.

OK, so lets now rewind to the beginning of that story, why is it a bad idea to register and host at the same place? In the situation I just spoke about I couldn’t get into my account to change anything, it was disabled and therefore everything was offline. I could have saved the day if I had done my registration elsewhere and just pointed the nameservers at the 1&1 hosting account, so when 1&1 shut me down I could have logged in to my other registrar and rerouted the nameservers to another hosting provider. Sounds easy but it would have taken me hours of work to do, but at least I would have saved my other clients from their loss of custom.

So now, lesson learned, I register with one company and host with another. I host currently with Hostgator but I will tell you more about that in another post.

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