17 Hosting Requirements And Other Terms Of A Website

Before you sign up a contract with any hosting provider, surf some other web sites on their servers, and try to get a good feeling about their network speed and services. Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option. Hosting services should include proper Email Accounts and Email Services.

1. Email Accounts

Hosting solutions should include email accounts for each person in your company.
Email addresses should appear like this:
stephen@mycompany.com
paul@mycompany.com
mary@mycompany.com
Most common is to use first name or first initial and last name.

2. POP Email

POP stands for Post Office Protocol. POP is a standard client/server protocol for sending and receiving email. The emails are received and held on your internet server until you pick it up with a client email program, like Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, etc. POP email programs are built into Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers (i.e. Microsoft Outlook Express).

3. IMAP Email

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP is another standard protocol for sending and receiving email. The emails are received and held on your internet server until you pick it up with a client email program, like Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, etc. IMAP represents an improvement over POP because email stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from several computers (a computer at home, a workstation at the office, etc.) without having to transfer messages back and forth between computers. POP was designed to support email access on a single computer.

4. Web-based Email

Web-based email services enable you to access email via a web browser.
You log into your email account via the Web to send and retrieve email.
Being able to access your email from any browser anywhere in the world is a very attractive option. Examples of web-based email services are Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail.

5. Email Forwarding

Email forwarding allows you to have multiple email personalities.
With email forwarding, you can setup aliases for other email accounts like postmaster@mycompany.com should be forwarded to peter@mycompany.com sales@mycompany.com should be forwarded to mary@mycompany.com

6. Mailing Lists

Some service providers offer mailing list capabilities. This is a valuable plus if you plan sending out email to a large number of users. This section describes some of the most common hosting technologies.

7. Windows Hosting

Windows hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the Windows operating system. You should choose Windows hosting if you plan to use ASP (Active Server Pages) as server scripting, or if you plan to use a database like Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server. Windows hosting is also the best choice if you plan to develop your web site using Microsoft Front Page.

8. Unix Hosting

Unix hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the Unix operating system.
Unix was the first (original) web server operating system, and it is known for being reliable and stable. Often less expensive than Windows.

9. Linux Hosting

Linux hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the Linux operating system.

10. CGI

Web pages can be executed as CGI scripts. CGI scripts are executables that will execute on the server to produce dynamic and interactive web pages. Most Internet service providers will offer some kind of CGI capabilities. And many will offer preinstalled, ready to run, guest-books, page-counters, and chat-forums solutions written in CGI scripts. The use of CGI is most common on Unix or Linux servers.

11. ASP - Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages is a server-side scripting technology developed by Microsoft.
With ASP you can create dynamic web pages by putting script code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser. Both Visual Basic and JavaScript can be used. ASP is a standard component in Windows 95,98, 2000, and XP. It can be activated on all computers running Windows. Many web hosting providers are offering ASP, as it is becoming a more and more popular technology.

12. JSP

JSP is a server-side technology much like ASP developed by Sun. With JSP you can create dynamic web pages by putting Java code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser. Since JSP uses Java, the technology is not restricted to any server-specific platform.

13. FrontPage

FrontPage is a very common web site design tool developed by Microsoft.
FrontPage allows users to develop a web site without any deep knowledge of web development. Most Windows hosting solutions support FrontPage server extensions for users that use FrontPage to develop their web site. If you plan to use FrontPage, you should look for a Windows hosting solution (meaning not Unix / Linux).

14. PHP

Just like ASP, PHP is a server-side scripting language which allows you to create dynamic web pages by putting script code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser.

15. Cold Fusion

Cold Fusion is another server-side scripting language used to develop dynamic web pages.
Cold Fusion is developed by Macromedia.

16. Secure Server

A secure server can transmit data encrypted. If you plan to do online credit card transactions, or other types of web communication that needs to be protected against unauthorized access, your web host must provide a secure server.

SQL Server or Oracle for high traffic database-driven web sites.

Access or MySQL for low traffics database-access.

17. Web Databases

If your website needs to update large quantities of information via the web, you will need a database to store your information. There are many different database systems available for web hosting. The most common are MS Access, MySQL, SQL Server, and Oracle. Have A Good Day.