An Enterprise Class Hosting Solution Should Provide The Tools To Meet Your Needs
Answers You Should Know Before You Shop
When you are comparing the hosting providers that will ultimately be responsible for providing your business with its Enterprise Class performance and reliability there are some basic concepts you shoud be familiar with before you make your selection.
- What is web hosting?
Web hosting refers to the process of publishing a web site so that it is available to the world on the Web. Paid web hosting also involves getting a domain name and not having forced ads displayed on your site.
- What is shared (virtual) hosting?
Shared (or virtual) web hosting is the most fitting way of hosting for 99% of web sites. It means that a web hosting company will have one or more servers that will be running multiple web sites (it will be shared). Unless a web site is exceptionally busy or requires a lot of bandwidth, this is the least expensive way to get a real web site. You can still have your own IP address with virtual hosting and the site won't look any different to users. Other options are dedicated, co-location, or doing it yourself web hosting. In those options you have the whole computer to yourself and you can do things like install your own software.
- What is Domain Parking?
Domain parking lets you cheaply reserve a domain name for future use and display an "under construction" default page on it. You can register a domain and not park it anywhere but then your site will simply be inaccessible until you get a web host. Some registrar let you park your domain for free.
- What is Full Service web hosting?
"Full-service" can refer to a variety of services offered in addition to providing web space, transfer, and emails for a web site. For example, it could be 24/7 toll free phone support, web design services, or web site content maintenance services.
- What is uptime?
Uptime is the percentage of time that a web site is working. For example, if some host has an uptime average of 99.86%, this means that your site will be down for a total about 1 hour each month. We monitor uptime of customer websites of all our hosted sites and we display this data on the host's details page. Some hosts also offer "uptime guarantees" but this is not as valuable as it might appear. It is important to determine how they gather that metric and what they don't count in their uptime guarantees.
- Will I have forced ads on my site like Geocities or oter low cost hosting solutions?
No. None of the web hosts listed in our database force any kinds of ads on your site. In fact, if it is your intent to market on your site, you can put your own ads if you'd like.
- Should I simply start with the cheapest hosting I can find and change providers if I ever need to grow?
We don't recommend ever hosting a site you intend to use for business on a vendor that is offering hosting for the least expensive price. These hosting solutions are intended for personal sites that don't impact your bottom line if they ever go down. When your business is on the line find a provider that will offer a significant amount of support at a reasonable price.
- What steps do I need to take to set up my first website?
There are a variety of ways to take those first steps. The steps you are required to take depend on the provider you choose. You may already have a site or an idea for a site. Once you compare the potential providrs and select a solution that provides you with enterprise class support and scalablility you can take the next steps.
In order to host a site that is accessible on the internet you need to select a hosting environment based on Linux, Unix or Windows. You then need to check and see if your domain name (www.mydomainname.com) is available and then you need to register that domain with a domain registrar. Then finally you must deploy and test the website on your new web server environment. The provider you choose may do a few or many of those tasks for you.
When you host with IB NextGen we handle all of these tasks for you. We can help you deploy that site or create a new site from the great ideas you already have about your business.
- How long after I sign up will I be able to start uploading my website?
After you decide on the type of hosting you require IB NextGen can quickly provision a hosting space for your site. If you have selected shared hosting your site can be uploaded and access by IP within hours. It will take several days for your newly registered domain to fully propagate across the Internet. More complex solutions may take longer to provision but are more suitable for highly complex e-Commerce sites.
- How do I start the process?
If you've made the choice to trust IB NextGen Solutions with your hosting needs you can contact us to discuss your specific needs. We'll guide you through the process and complete the tasks needed to deploy your site successfully.
- How do I get an additional website added to my hosting account?
IB NextGen designs your hosting solution with scalability in mind. When you're ready to add to your hosting solution simply contact your dedicate account leader and they will handle the steps required to add a new site to your hosting account.
- Can I setup Streaming Media on my website?
We work with many of the top streaming media vendors and can create an environment that will allow you to present robust and reliable streaming media.
- Do you place advertisements on my page?
Again, we understand that your business is your business. We will not host any advertisements or pop-ups on your site.
- What platform do your servers run on?
Depending on the needs of your business we can host and maintain your site on a Unix, Linux or Windows hosting environment.
- Can I edit my site?
That is up to you. We provide you with full access to edit your website or we can provide on-demand or dedicated support resources to do that for you. There are no limitations on when or how often you can edit your site.
- Can I get assistance in managing my sites?
You are free to manage your content as you like but if you need assistance at any time, we can assist in HTML, Java, ASP, PHP, any type of scripting, automation and debugging.