I am planning on creating a web site offering ALOT of original free graphics for my visitors to download for use on their web pages. I am also planning for major growth over time and will be expecting a ton of visitors after extensive promotion. Also, If I need more disk space after a while, I want to be able to easily upgrade. Any ideas of what hosts are best for this type of site (an image gallery site)? If you don't have a host suggestion, what is the the minimum disk space / data transfer I should look for??? Thanks for any suggestions.

Carolyn

if you need space/bandwidth, a dedicated server would be the way to go. now, there is a great day on a raq3 from 4webspace.com - do a search on them and you fill find a lot of questions and answeres concerning them. they come very highly recommended.

Yeah get a dedicated server

Welcome to WebHostingTalk... do you have any idea of how much space you need now? Obviously, you'll want the the most space with the most amount of transfer for the lowest cost you can find. Be sure to check the host's TOS for references to picture galleries and archive type sites (often there is a clause in there since you are more or less talking about a bandwidth sucker).

Isn't a dedicated server really expensive???

Here's what I'm deciding I want to do:

I want to start out my graphics site slowly. Wherever I host it I want to know that I can just upgrade to a bigger plan if the need arises instead of then having to move to a different host with better capablities. Let's say that I start out with a 60 page site, each page an average of 30k or 40k. Let's say I get about 500-1000 visitors per day. Keep in mind people are downloading my free graphics. Does that still sound like I need a dedicated server?

Do you think that all of the "free graphic sites" out there are on dedicated servers or is it possible to have it on a shared server?

I really don't know much about all this. All I know is that I have to keep the cost down but find a host with adequate space and bandwidth that allows for growth potential.

Now that you know more about my goals with the site, I would really appreciate more input.

Thanks,
Carolyn

Dedicated server will be your best bet once you get popular.

I guess if your looking to start out the site on a community server, you should find a host that offers enough bandwidth & has great support so when you out grow their services your move will be hassel free.

Can someone please tell me WHAT EXACTLY a dedicated server is? I just thought it was that you sign up for a hosting plan on a server that isn't shared with others, but then I am weeding through past threads in this forum and reading stuff about raq3's (whatever that is) and other stuff and I am totally confused!!!

Don't you just sign up for a dedicated hosting plan like you would with a regular web host? It works the same right? Or am I totally off base??? Do I need to understand more of this hosting mumbo jumbo before I go with a dedicated server or does it take the same brain power as using a regular host??? What is the range for monthly fees???

Thanks for clearing up my confusion!

Carolyn

P.S. If I find out that dedicated servers are too expensive for me, then where do I turn??? Would I then just go with a shared server and pay for extra bandwidth???

Most hosts will allow you to upgrade at any time and have many packages.

Make sure that your hosts support mod_rewrite and .htaccess files so you will be able to protect your images from being hot linked, not all hosts support this. This is very important for your site.

RaQ are weak servers with security holes and are very hard to upgrade (if you telnet into it, you void your warranty). You will not be able to install mod_rewrite.

A dedicated server is a machine that you do not share with anyone, this is usually used by sites that require a large amount of resources. A RaQ is a computer that is decided to server only as a web server, not a good choice in my opinion. Installing the software on a dedicated server require considerable knowledge, while RaQ is just point and click.

Unlike the others, I do not think you need a dedicated server at all! A dedicated server is needed when you have a huge web site that uses a lot of resources (over %30 CPU and over 100 GB a month).

You can get 40 GB of transfer a month and 200 MB of space for less then $30 at some good hosting companies.

energy, thanks for clearing up my confusion. I wanted someone to tell me I didn't need a dedicated server so I can just stick with what I know. Further up the page in this thread I described what my site will be like. Do you really think I need 40GB of transfer a mo.? Or could I get away with less??? Also about the disk space, I will be giving away web graphics, which will range anywhere from 4kb to 20kb. If I have let's say about 60 pages and each page is about 40k, would I need 200MB or are you just suggesting to get 200mb for future growth?


Thanks again,
Carolyn

I do not think you'll need 40 gb of transfer or 200 mb of space.
I was just saying that even so much will cost you so little.

Start with a smaller plan, something like 30 mb and 5 GB of transfer and make sure your host will allow you to upgrade when the need comes.
(be careful not to sign-up to the hosts that will charge you something like $10 for each extra GB)

Somehow, two people snuck in a couple of posts inbetween mine, and yours, heh. You surely don't need a dedicated server. Not even close.

What you need to do is add up the initial amount you'll need, plus some room to spare (of course), and be sure you are looking at hosts that have a decent base amount of transfer included, and reasonable charges to upgrade plans without a fee (both for space and transfer).

Onto the recommendations...

Hi Carolyn,
I wondered if you have a website online at the moment?
<<ADMIN EDIT>>
Its refreshing to see that you are doing some research on hosting :D
Happy Holidays!
<<EDIT>>

Carolyn, using your figures, it seems you would probably use around 5 Gig a month in bandwidth. I seriously doubt you would use this much in the beginning though, but to be safe, think big. disk space wise, a 200-300 Megs should be plenty for your type of site. You can get an account with these specifications around $20-$25.

Dedicated servers need knowledge on your part to be able to maintain it up and running. It's probably several months away (if your site gets real popular that quick). Many hosts can provide you with a managed dedicated server where they worry about the technical issues for a small monthly fee, or you can hire an admin on part time basis to take care of it. Anyway, concentrate on the shared account for now and leave the dedicated for later :)

good luck with your project

Carolyn, no, you dunt need a dedicated server. I dun understand why people, keep recommending them for anything. hmm.. anyways... like the others have said, you should be fine with a good spacious virtual account. You should look for a host, who charges not to much for extra bandwidth. Tera-byte for example, charges about 3$/gb over the package limit. There support is great to.

People are just too excited because the price gap between a shared account and a dedicated server is getting narrower.

It's me Carolyn - the original poster. Thanks for all your replies. Martie - Happy Holidays to you too! I currently don't have a site online. I've had small sites before, on free hosts, then one on digitalspace.net, who only charge like 2 or 4 bucks a mo. or something like that. But this time, I'm thinking seriously and want a GOOD host!

Kunal - I have narrowed my choice down to about 3 or 4 hosts. Tera-Byte is included so I'm glad you suggested it. (The others are olm.com, hostrocket and possibly hostmatters) The only thing that I found there that makes me feel alittle uneasy is their something in thier fine print. paraphrased - "Sites which place an unreasonable load on server due to excessive scripts, etc. will be suspended and we will ask owner to reduce site load or move to a dedicated server." I know their plans offer tons of GB transfer per month, so it's really not a concern now, I'm just thinking about the future. If for some great stroke of luck, my sites traffic explodes, does that saying mean that if I exceed the bandwidth, they'll just shut me down? I'm gonna email each host with a general set of questions, which includes a question about this, so I'll see what they say.

Energy replied earlier that "Make sure that your hosts support mod_rewrite and .htaccess files so you will be able to protect your images from being hot linked, not all hosts support this. This is very important for your site." I have NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL as to what that means but I know it has something to with protecting my images or something or maybe protecting my bandwidth??? First of all, could someone in "dummy terms" explain this to me. Second of all, how do I know if these hosts mentioned above, support this? If they don't which good hosts do?

Also, I need a host that will support .zip, .exe. Do all hosts support .jpeg? (I feel dumb asking that last question)

Lastly, Does anyone have a suggestion of which host to pick among the 4 I've listed above? Here's what is most important to me.

1) Alot of disk space
2) Alot of bandwidth
3) whatever that hot-link thing I talked about above is.
4) Anony. FTP
5) If I unkowingly exceed my bandwidth/ disk space, I want my host to NOT shut me down. I want them to let me know and give me a way to easily upgrade smoothly to more band/space while my site still remains working "right" online.
6) Security - I don't understand anything about protecting my site from hackers, but I just know I want to. (btw, what feature do I look for for that?)
8) GREAT service
7) Cheap price...duh!

Those are the MAIN things, but I am looking for the obvious other things, email, cgi, control panel, etc.

If anyone knows of any other hosts I am missing, let me know. Also, I would love ANY input on all of my questions! I am planning to send my set of questions out to my hosts soon, but I REALLY want to hear from all of you first about what you think. I also NEED to know about that hot link thing. PLEASE HELP WITH ALL OF MY QUESTIONS!!!!

You are all soooo great and helpful! I am so happy I found this board. I would be lost without it!


Carolyn


P.S. Sorry this is so long! I'm just trying to save myself a headache in the future!

But this time, I'm thinking seriously and want a GOOD host!

Good to hear that :)

I'm gonna email each host with a general set of questions, which includes a question about this, so I'll see what they say.

This is a very very good idea. Make sure to ask them the cost of extra bandwidth. This is something very important for you, since your site will use a lot of it, once popular :).

Energy replied earlier that "Make sure that your hosts support mod_rewrite and .htaccess files so you will be able to protect your images from being hot linked, not all hosts support this. This is very important for your site." I have NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL as to what that means but I know it has something to with protecting my images or something or maybe protecting my bandwidth??? First of all, could someone in "dummy terms" explain this to me. Second of all, how do I know if these hosts mentioned above, support this? If they don't which good hosts do?

Mod_perl, is a set of modules, or small programs, which speed up the running of your perl scripts. Mod_perl also reduces the processor usage, for executing scripts. Basically, it something, that will keep your host and you very happy :) Like Energy, said, it will make sure no-one links to your website images, on there website. So inturn this will reduce your bandwidth usage.

Also, I need a host that will support .zip, .exe. Do all hosts support .jpeg? (I feel dumb asking that last question)

When you email the hosts you have identified, ask them wether they allow zip and exe files. I would suggest you zip the exe files too.

Most hosts support jpeg files. I havent heard of any who do not support it. I may be wrong though.

Lastly, Does anyone have a suggestion of which host to pick among the 4 I've listed above? Here's what is most important to me.

All the hosts you have picked have excellent support and pricing. I have heard nothing but good things about all. Tera-byte has the cheapest bandwidth cost though. I think its 3$/gb while the others are around 5$/gb.

Basically, it comes down to personal preference :)

Energy replied earlier that -

"Make sure that your hosts support mod_rewrite and .htaccess files so youwill be able to protect your images from being hot linked, not all hosts support this. This is very importantfor your site." I have NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL as to what that means but I know it has something to withprotecting my images or something or maybe protecting my bandwidth??? First of all, could someone in"dummy terms" explain this to me. Second of all, how do I know if these hosts mentioned above, supportthis? If they don't which good hosts do?

Then Kunal replied -

Mod_perl, is a set of modules, or small programs, which speed up the running of your perl scripts. Mod_perlalso reduces the processor usage, for executing scripts. Basically, it something, that will keep your host andyou very happy Like Energy, said, it will make sure no-one links to your website images, on there website. So inturn this will reduce your bandwidth usage.


OK... let me first say hi to Kunal and everyone else and I apologize in advance for what I am about to say. BUT....I still don't really understand what you're talking about. I have the feeling you are talking about something CGI related. I hate to say this, but as I type this, I am gritting my teeth... I DON'T KNOW CGI!!!!!!! AAGGGHHHH!!! Can you believe that?? Am I the only one here??? After admitting that, I'm hoping the Mod_perl thing above has something to do with CGI, or I'm just bringing this up for nothing. If it does and since I don't understand it, but still want to do whatever that is to reduce my bandwdth and make sure no one links to my website images, WHAT DO I DO NOW??? Where do I turn for help and guidance??? Is there a place on the web that explains to dummies what you need to do to inorder to make sure no-one links to your web site images and to reduce your bandwidth??? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carolyn

in all my confusion, please clear something up.

what feature in the large lists of the host features do I look for when dealing with all this... do I look for the word Mod_Perl? Or CGI? Or what?

Carolyn

Carolyn, relax :) Its ok to not know something :)

Yes Mod_perl and Mod_cgi, mod_anything is the same thing. :) the stuff after the mod_ is the module name. Dun worry abt it :). All you need to ask your host is wether they have "Mod_perl" installed. Thats it. And yes, it has to do with your cgi programs.

To learn more about Mod_perl, check out devshed.com or webmonkey.com Both are excellent resources.

Hope this helps a lil bit.

kunal - thanks soooo much. Your short little post made me so happy! That's all I wanted to hear. Now I know what to ask them. Do you know off hand if OLM, Tera-Byte or Below10Host has Mod_Perl installed? If you don't know or don't feel like answering me (again) don't sweat it, I'll just ask them will all my other questions.

Thanks again.
Carolyn

Note: You can also ask, *if* they will install it (if it isn't already on the server).

What I suggest to you (and this is going to get technical, so stay with me), is to take out... a piece of paper. That's right, a piece of paper.

Write down the features you are looking for (commonly, disk space, transfer amounts, cost of addl. transfer, and other features down the side), and then check out the hosts you are interested in and write the plans down in columns so you can compare them easily.

It can get confusing.

Actually, I dunno wether they have it installed or not. Never looked into it myself. It would be a good idea to ask them :) And like chicken said, ask them if they would install it for you.

Let us know, who you go with and why :)

thanks guys for the advice, but I'm way ahead of you. I have each host on a seperate piece of paper listing everything they offer. Also, a piece of paper with comments that you guys make about each host. The other day when I started all of this, I found a great site hosthelp.com, and took so many notes from that. I spent hours there learning so much. I've been jotting all kinds of things down for like 3 days now. I'm up to my ears with papers all around me on my computer desk! I should by stock in a paper compnay! LOL I get really organized like this with stuff. There's no way I could ever decide without writing things down and getting organzied. I'm on a mission...to find the best host! I just don't want headaches that I've heard from other people, so I'm being a good girl and doing my research beforehand.

I'll definitely let you guys know who I pick. I'm off to do a bit more research and then to email each host. I do have a couple different kind of questions for you guys but I'm saving them for after I pick my host. (Those questions already have their own piece of paper!) I crack myself up!

You guys are great and I'll talk to you soon!

:wavey:
Carolyn

I think you guys are very confused.
Mod_perl is used to speed up the running of perl scripts, many hosts have it installed but it can cause problems with your scripts if they are not %100 perfect.

Mod_rewrite is an amazing little module for Apache which allows you to redirect users and change URLs. What it will allow you to do is check which site the image request is coming from and based on that decide if to show "this image has been stolen from" or the image itself.

More on using mod_rewrite is here: http://www.bignosebird.com/apache/a16.shtml

One last note: mod_perl and mod_cgi are different things, but we will not get into it now.

Originally posted by energy
One last note: mod_perl and mod_cgi are different things, but we will not get into it now.

Eeeeeeeks.. whats the difference?

Info is taken from the apache home page (apache.org)

mod_cgi
Any file that has the mime type application/x-httpd-cgi or handler cgi-script (Apache 1.1 or later) will be treated as a CGI script, and run by the server, with its output being returned to the client. Files acquire this type either by having a name containing an extension defined by the AddType directive, or by being in a ScriptAlias directory. Files that are not in a ScriptAlias directory, but which are of type application/x-httpd-cgi by virtue of an AddType directive, will still not be executed by the server unless Options ExecCGI is enabled.

http://perl.apache.org/
mod_perl
With mod_perl it is possible to write Apache modules entirely in Perl. In addition, the persistent interpreter embedded in the server avoids the overhead of starting an external interpreter and the penalty of Perl start-up time.

Basicly it keeps perl scripts running all the time so there will not be resources wasted when forking a process. That may cause problems if the script is not written properly and does not reset the variables.I do not think you need it if you get less then 10000 cgi requests a day.

Oooops. I did screw up, but not totally :) Sorry about that.

Hi there

I would like you to email the webmaster of http://www.freewebtemplates.com he has like alot of graphics, they are all free web templates. He may have a host that you would like, now I am not ditching those other companies that people have said, but why not get an answer from a person that do it.

i believe his email addy is webmaster@freewebtemplates.com
Tell him Chris told ya to ask, His name is Donni.

See if that doesnt help you out a little.
I wish you the best at WHT

Chris Dildy

I am leaning now towards HostRocket. What do you guys think??? I just took your advice and emailed about 10 different webmasters of graphic site to get their take on things. So, I really won't be making my decision till after I here from them and discuss it with them all.

What about HostRocket??? The reason I am thinking about them now is that I saw listed right on their feature page, "Free Perl Module Installations." Sounds like what we were talking about!

Carolyn

Hostrocket does not look bad.

There are apache modules and perl modules and many others.
What we were talking about are apache modules
it's more then likely that you will not need perl module installation.

I have a tiny dilemma to add to the mix. I've pretty much decided that I'm still undecided! LOL Just because I want to talk to other webmasters involved with heavy-graphic sites first.

ANYWAY, MY POINT...

I have a great domain name in mind for my site. Should I wait until I decide on a host to register it, and hope that no one claims it in the mean time, or should I register it now and then transfer it to my host. Do most hosts transfer domains? Is it a pain to transfer?

Also, where is a good place to get a cheap domain if I decide to register before I pick a host?

Lastly, what order do all of you do things in? Do you design your entire site, THEN, find a host and sign up? (I guess people would do it this way to save money on mo. fees during the time of design) OR do you find a good host first and then design your pages so you can test them on the internet and see what they look like??? The reason I am asking all this is because I haven't even designed my site yet! Is it crazy to sign up for hosting now, just so I can see the pages that I create in a browser???

Thanks, *AGAIN*
Carolyn

Are you saying I should look for a host with Apache modules?

Register the domain!!!

(Another area open for debate, heh). People seem to like:
gkg.net
000domains.com
etc....

Easy to change nameserver info to your new host.

Listen to the Chicken!!!
Is http://www.000domains.com down or something, because i sure can't access their site today or yesterday.
I would definitly have an idea for the site i was building and pretty much have about 70% of it already done.

Try and access 000domains now, Chris - they have an explanation (cold weather!) on their front page.

I'm so happy! 3 webmasters of graphics sites replied to me already. They all recommended the host that they use of course. One recommended pair.com, another webhosting.com, another superb. Any thought on these hosts?

I'll definitely get the domain too.

Carolyn

Carolyn, did you ever get a reply to the 3 hosts you mentioned on 12/29? Im considering Pair.com as well.... valueweb.com also...

BK

Originally posted by BC
Try and access 000domains now, Chris - they have an explanation (cold weather!) on their front page.

yeah, blame it on the cold weather..nice excuse! as far as i know, computers are in doors and weather shouldnt affect fiber optic... :)