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How to choose the best hosting

A good selection can save money and problems
A good selection can save money and problems

Except in cases of very exceptional technological developments, 90% of websites have common characteristics and therefore common hosting service needs. These needs are amply covered by the standard hosting packs offered by the main providers.

As a general rule, a standard hosting should contain some minimum specifications: space on a hard disk, an acceptable file transfer rate, free E-mail accounts that are linked to the main domain, FTP file transfer service, POP3 and webmail services —preferably also having an IMAP service for travelling—, space for SQL databases and statistics.

A company website needs about 400 MB of hard disk space, some 5 GB of monthly bandwidth, a hundred E-mail accounts, some 20 MB of disk space for standard SQL databases —generally MySQL from the 4th or later editions or PostgreSQL from the 7th or later editions— and a web statistics system that provides sufficient details. This type of service should cost between 175 and 300 € a year, based on fees that were current in June 2009.

Before signing up for a hosting service it is necessary to take into account the specific requirements needed by the website developer: type of server (with the Apache, Tomcat or Microsoft IIS systems); the scripts version (PHP, ASP) and the activated modules; existence of specific libraries (GD graphics, ImageMagick…); etcetera. This information is more important than having an antivirus or antispam service on the server, seeing as filters can always be applied with greater security to the client applications (Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail…).

Physically present in Spain
The selection of a web-hosting provider should also contemplate a few basic aspects. The server should be physically located in Spain and the provider should be the final systems administrator.

The first of these aspects refers to possible failures or malfunctions in the service that, generally, are only noticed when the corporate mail service fails. If the website is outside Spain, language difficulties can make it more complicated to explain the real situation to the support technician and to fully understand the measures that need to be taken. It is also possible that the server is on another continent, meaning that when the fault is detected in Spain, it could be midnight in the country where the sever is situated and the night time support service might have fewer staff available to deal with the repair.

It would also be useful to verify whether the provider is the systems administrator. Developers very frequently rent services on the servers that they then in turn rent to their clients. This generates a chain of subcontracts that do not offer sufficient flexibility when a problem emerges, and which increase the total price of the service through speculation.

These issues can be verified by using any whois service. For example, Domain Tools, which indicates the city where it is located (IP Location) and the name of the administrator, which should be the same name as the one that appears on the offer received from the provider.

Secure sign up
Signing up is simple. You only need to have a domain name and to contract the most suitable hosting service. You can sign up the domain and the hosting at the same time, starting from, for example, the banner situated on “The selection of the best domain”.

If the developer has not yet provided a list of the necessary specifications, most of the servers offer a domain parking service: spaces with no resources that are used as “waiting rooms” until you sign up for a more suitable service.

In any case, you can always sign up for a basic pack built on a linux platform —its cheaper—, with a more appropriate designation  (“company”, “business” or “trader”). If in the end more services are required, you can always upgrade the pack without any delays or additional costs other than the price difference between the two packs. 

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