Web Hosting Options: Your Guide to Hosting Your Site Effectively

1. Chapter 2 Lab 2.1 HOSTING YOUR SITE Free Powerpoint Templates

2. CONTENTS • Hosting Options • UNIX or NT • Sizing a Server • Domain Names

3. Lab 2.1:How are Sites Hosted? • Host • A computer connected to the Internet with an address • A web server is a host • Where can you locate your web server? • How can you connect your web server to the Internet?

4. Hosting Options • Set up your own web server • Co-location • Virtual host • Personal-Page sites (ISP) • Free-Page sites

5. Hosting Options- Your Own Web Server • Gives you complete control over your site • Need to purchase a suitable machine, get it connected to the Internet and make sure it is properly backed up, secured and monitored. • Having your own machine gives you the best flexibility

6. Your Own Web Server Issues • Cost of server hardware and software • Operations • Backup • 24/7 • Power Supplies • Security • Protecting your server • Protecting other peoples’ resources

7. Co-Located/Dedicated Server • If the flexibility of having your own machine is appealing but the price of a high-speed connection is prohibitive, consider a co-located server

8. Co-located Server Issues • You must supply the server • You must administer • Fees to ISP for service • BUT - Good connectivity to Internet - No local floor-space required

9. Dedicated Server Issues • Not your own server • Fees to ISP service • BUT • Much easier to set up • 24/7 support • Good connectivity to the Internet

10. Virtual Hosts • Allows you to have your own domain and it’s fairly inexpensive • Must share a machine with other domains • Cheaper than a dedicated server

11. Virtual Host Issues • Shared server • Limited or no server programming access • Standard solutions • BUT • Inexpensive • Good connectivity to Internet

12. Personal-Page Site • Most ISPs will not let you register a domain name for your personal page • A personal page is good for just that: Personal use • ISP standard offering • Very limited storage • Not for commercial use • May be free with some ISPs

13. Free-Page Site • An option if you have a particularly tight budget or just want some Web space to play around with • A number of companies provide free Web space • Examples: Blogspot.com, Wetpaint.com

14. Free-Page Site Issues • Probably won’t support server-side scripting, Ecommerce or other tools • May not be able to FTP files to the server or limited • May have to create all the pages manually • Limited size

15. Lab 2.2 – Hosting your Own Server • Objectives • Understand what is required to put a server On the Internet

16. What’s it used for • You should determine the main purpose of your server • Typically, if you’re setting up a Web server, you’ll have some business justification for it • Money-selling products on a Web site

17. Getting Connected-1 Requirements needed: • Bandwidth • Amount of data that can be carried out from one point to another • Modem connections • Great for setting up a small server • Cheap • Easy to set up • Don’t require any other fancy network hardware or wiring

18. Getting Connected-2 • ISDN • Provide more than twice the bandwidth of a 56K model • Only piece of hardware required to hook up a single server • Costs slightly more thank a normal modem • Service is more expensive also • Cable and DSL • Becoming more widely available • Increasingly affordable

19. Getting Connected-3 • T-1 and T-3 connection • More bandwidth than DSL can provide • These connection use twisted-pair cable • Typically provided by telephone companies • OC line • Optical connection • Faster connection than T-1 and T-3

20. Networking • Static IP Address - needed for a web server - never changes - allows other domains to connect to your server • Dynamic IP address - different on each dial-up - acceptable for dial-up Internet access - inappropriate for running web based services

21. Router and DNS • Router • A device that sends packets from one network to another • Router knows which packets are local to your internal network and which should be forwarded to your ISP • Domain Name System (DNS) • Allows us to access computers on the Internet via a name and not just an IP address

22. Server Hardware • Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) • Will keep your server running during brief power outages • A good UPS, will tell your server to shut down gracefully during a power outage • And bring it back up once power is returned • Will also condition the power, making sure that the voltage doesn’t fluctuate • System RAM • Will give better and faster processor speed

23. Lab 2.3 – UNIX vs. NT • After completing • Understand the Major differences between Windows NT and UNIX • Determine which Operating System best fits your needs

24. UNIX • Created by AT&T Bell La in 1960s • Has supported TCP/IP networking for a long time • Network functionality is built into the OS nicely • Designed from the beginning to be a multiuser, multitasking operating system • Allows many people to use a single machine, and many programs to run simultaneously

25. UNIX-1 • Very scalable • Scalability- a term used to describe how well your OS and applications will run on a wide range of hardware configuration • Primarily a command-driven, text-based operating systems • Examples: • Sun’s Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX, SGI IRIX, FreeBSD, SCO and Linux

26. LINUX • A version of UNIX • Was created in the 1990s as a small project by a computer science student in Finland • Source code is freely available • Works well on limited hardware • Robusts • Very versatile • Requires investment in learning • Becoming extremely popular for web server

27. Windows NT • Closed-proprietary • Limited hardware platform choice • GUI oriented • Easy to learn • Getting more robust

28. Networking • P2P networking • Each PC can initiate a connection with any other computer on the network • Sharing of information

29. Security • If your server is going to be accessible on the Internet, you need to be concerned about the security of your machine. • NT and UNIX Security • Provide access permissions to control access to file by system users

30. Don’t be state of the Art • You may be tempted to upgrade your server’s OS when a new revision comes out or install the newest major release of server software right way • DON’T BE!!! • Contains bug • Unrealible

31. Lab 2.4- Sizing your Server • If you are running your own server, you need to be on the lookout for performance problems • Is the network saturated with traffic? • Is the server running near capacity? • If your site is hosted on an ISPs machine

32. BANDWIDTH and NETWORK CAPACITY • Bandwidth • Used to describe the capacity or speed of a network

33. BANDWIDTH and NETWORK CAPACITY • Network Capacity • To get a feel for how many people are visiting your site, check the Web Server Log files

34. Server Performance • Very often the bottleneck for your Web server is the network connection to the Internet • Even a small, inexpensive machine can keep up with a large number of hits.

35. Lab 2.5 Domain Names • One key to having a good site • Allows people to access your site easily by pointing their browsers at your domain • All must have IP addresses but names are easier to remember • Makes a statement about your site before a user even views it • Your domain name is owned by you, you can change ISPs without having to change your address

36. Domain Names • Top-level domain category

37. TLD- by countries • Different countries used different domains • Your organization may need to be geographically located in that particular country

38. Registering a Domain • Available on first-come, first server basis • If registered already, purchase the rights to the name from the current owner • You’ll need a few things to register a domain: • A domain name that hasn’t already been registered • A Valid email address • Name and addresses of your Primary and Secondary DNS servers • A Credit Card(pay online)

39. Maintaining Your Domain • Once registration of your domain is complete, its up to your ISP to add your domain and IP addresses to their name server • Network Solutions • Uses email address as authentication • Check the ISP changes

40. The End