Hmm, I've been reading around here and it seems to me quite a few people are unhappy with Hostrocket. Could someone elaborate on this a little ^^;? And if hostrocket really stinks so bad, could someone recommend an alternative host with similar features (give or take a little storage space...I really only need 200 megs storage =p) for $10/mo. or under?

I also have a few more questions. What is the diff between a dedicated ip address and a static ip address? --; and what are Unix/NT/RedHat Linux?

^^; Thanks for your patience with the 14yr old n00bie...

dont know about host rocket.

a dedicated IP is similar to a static IP in that it is a unique number given to uniquely identify a machine on a network (be in LAN or WAN) but AFAIK a dedicated IP is in reference to giving a site its own IP and a static IP is in reference to a dial-up \ cable internet link, i.e. the end user always has the same identity on the internet, as normally (here in the UK anyways) unless you request otherwise you get one assigned to you at each connection occurance and its usually different making it harder (services like mydns get around this) to offer internet services such as ftp servers etc. lol i may be wrong cos ive a UK education in this and some terminology is different UK<-> US.

UNIX etc, well when you host a web site it placed on a machine connected to the net permanently and this refers to the operating system it is running. i wont delve into the UNIX vs M$oft argument but basicly they each have strong points and weak points. UNIX is more of an industrial OS, LINUX (redhat being a variant of linux) and it has been around in many forms for ages, as ms has to some degree. theyre all fine products and i believe there were a few threads a while back on which is best \ more secure etc. but in summary theyre just different operating systems on the server your site is hosted on, like your home machine can have linux , win 98 se or win 2k or mac os if its really ill ;)
umm u might want to post your bandwidth requirements as well.
hope this helps and peeps feel free to correct me if im wrong , which has been known to happen :) lol

I'm kind of new too, but with a dedicated IP address, I think you will have a faster connection and even people using old browsers will be able to get to your site directly. I guess static means the other kind of IP address, which you share with others and makes it take longer for your web page to load.

Unix and NT I think are called platforms. Web hosts that use Unix are the most popular and probably the best unless you need a Windows database.

RedHat Linux is an operating system that sucks, but I wouldn't reject a host that uses it because there are SO many other things that can make a host suck and there are SO many hosts that use RedHat. One reason it sucks is that it's less secure.

Originally posted by Wassercrats
I'm kind of new too, but with a dedicated IP address, I think you will have a faster connection and even people using old browsers will be able to get to your site directly. I guess static means the other kind of IP address, which you share with others and makes it take longer for your web page to load.

I've never heard of a case of this being true. If you don't have a dedicated IP, your site will be pointed to the server IP (or another specific shared IP) and the server will direct the user to the proper place. If you have a dedicated IP, your site will point to that, and the server will direct the user to the proper place. Either way, some direction has to be involved and I don't think there is any difference (speed wise).

Static and dynamic IPs refer most often to your dial up connection, how you are connected and whether an IP is assigned to you, or if you are assigned one every time you connect.

If there is a way to mislead in competition, someone will find it. Chicken is right about the terms. What some host due is try to confuse potential customers. They know most customers wouldn't know the difference between dedicated and shared in terms of function. However when you call something "shared", it has a negative connotation to a customer. So some host use a dial up term "static", meaning you will have the same IP. Most customers won't ask if this "static IP" is dedicated or shared. "Static" lets host avoid the term "shared", and also avoid "dedicated" so they don't have give each customer one.

Not sure if im allowed to post this kind of thing but im sure one of the kind moderators will fix things if im not :) The people who go around and post negative things about us are either the very small fraction of our customers who end up unhappy which is almost unavoidable with 8k+ customers, or other hosts who love to jump on us at any oppourtunity.

Just about any IP you get with a hosting account will be static. A shared IP one that hosts several websites. The disadvantages to a shared IP are: If you are using frontpage you can't publish your website before the domain resolves, and people using web browsers 2.0 or lower (if they still exist?) cannot view your site properly.

Other than that shared IP hosting works the same way as dedicated IP hosting.

The difference between unix/linux/redhat or whatever os is pretty negligible for most end users unless you plan on doing a lot of shell work. The only big difference is if you use an NT host which works quite a bit different because its windows instead of a flavor of linux.

-Brendan

Give HostRocket a try. They are very good for the majority of people, and if you don't like it, you have 14 days to cancel you account and get your money back.

They have an integrated Bulletin board, OpenBB, which is real cool also. HostRocket is also releasing the new Real Cool Control Panel in about a week or two, and it is very cool.

I think you should try them. Their responses, from what I hear, are extremely fast again, and I think it is a very good provider for most people. :)

Good Luck Brendan with HR :)

-Kyle :D

Originally posted by Naive
[snip] and what are Unix/NT/RedHat Linux?


These are Operating Systems, just like Windows95 is an operating system.

There are many types or flavors of Unix which has been around since the early 1970's. Linux is a flavor of Unix. There are many other flavors of Unix, some commercial and some free. FreeBSD is a flavor of Unix that some servers run. Sun Microsystems has a flavor of Unix that only runs on their (expensive) Spark stations. Sometimes you see the various flavors of unix referred to as *nix.

Linux is one of the free flavors of unix. RedHat is just one of many distributions of Linux. A distrubition is just a packaging mostly for marketing purposes. Often a distribution will come with extra support or documentation, and some may include extra libraries, but the kernel, which is the main core of the OS is always essentially the same.

Linux is a very secure OS. However, if the sysadmin running the server doesn't know what they're doing, they can leave gaping holes in the security.

NT is a Windows operating system made by Microsoft as is Windows2000. These are variations on Windows95 with features added to make them more suitable for running servers.

To function as a server, the OS must run a webserver application. The most common webserver on Linux is Apache. On NT, the webserver is called IIS (Internet Information Server).

Many people prefer Linux as a platform for a server, because it is free, and it is more secure than Windows. However, NT and W2000 have progressed and are quite suitable for running servers too.

As a consumer, it really doesn't matter which OS your website is hosted on, unless you want to run applications that are specific to one OS. For example, if you need to use Microsoft Access or MS SQL as a database, or you wanted to use VBscript as a backend, then you need your site hosted on NT or W2000. Otherwise, Linux is the way to go.