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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    41

    Large or small hosts?

    Is it possible to find out how many sites a particular host hosts? There are a few hosts I am looking at, but I want to make sure they will be around for awhile. Obviously, if they don't have many accounts, they can't survive is this business. I just want to do my research and come up with a credible host that will be here more than a few months.

  2. #2
    I have been looking for the same thing. But I dont know how to go about getting that specific info.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    U.S.A.
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    Just do a whois search on the domain and find out how long its been registered.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    England
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    493
    a whois search wont determin how many sites they host it will just determin how long they have been in business wich dosent mean that if they have been around a short time they have a small amount of clients!

    James
    James Chillman -UK Backup Limited
    www.ukbackup.com- Online Backup Offsite Backup, Backup Software

  5. #5
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    Jan 2003
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    U.S.A.
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    I did not state it would tell you the amount of clients but only how long the domain has been registered!!!
    Just do a whois search on the domain and find out how long its been registered.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Duluth MN
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    3,863
    www.webhosting.info is a good resource. But it can be inaccurate as it only tracks sites that have that domain in their DNS records. If a host has different DNS servers for different plans (resellers?) then chunks of sites wont appear.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    41
    Just an example. I was looking at Hostgator. I thought they were a large company, buy I found on some review site that they only hosted about 1100 sites. Is that considered a lot or not?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    U.S.A.
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    It all depends on how long they've been in buisness.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    645
    Well, there is no sure-perfect way, but a great way to tell can be looking into the following

    - do they have a discussion forum and how many members are on it

    - how sophisticated is their support center (ticket center, 800#?, redundant knowledgebase)

    - check how long the domain has been registered for

    - how sophisticated is their billing center (is it possible for clients to login to a secure area to update CC's?)

    Of course, there are other ways as well, but those are some good spots to look into

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Phoenix, Arizona
    Posts
    151
    I'd love to be able to determine this also.
    I have a new software I want web hosting companies to resell. Should would be a big help in targeting my sales efforts.

    Dan

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    U.S.A.
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    When ever you offer more for you customers the better your outcome will be!!!

    Its like a host offering the same price, been around for the same amount of time and the same service but one dosent offer fantastico. Which one are you going to go with???

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Phoenix, Arizona
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    151
    Originally posted by amish_geek
    webhosting is a good resource. But it can be inaccurate as it only tracks sites that have that domain in their DNS records. If a host has different DNS servers for different plans (resellers?) then chunks of sites wont appear.
    Fantastic site.
    Thanks! And thanks for the caveat.

    Dan

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    41
    Webhosting.info is a nice site, but it only lists the big guys. Most of the affordable hosts don't have 150,000 domains hosted.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Hot, hot Michigan...
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    3,506
    Originally posted by DanPhx
    Fantastic site.
    Thanks! And thanks for the caveat.

    Dan
    It's a huge caveat. Of each of the hosts that I know of the total amount of domains hosted, it was generally between 75-90% wrong (when you take the number webhositng.info claims and divide it by the number that the host actually has as users). I have yet to find a host that's accurately depicted by webhosting.info.

  15. #15

    Re: Large or small hosts?

    Originally posted by fergie
    Obviously, if they don't have many accounts, they can't survive is this business.
    Just because a hosting company has a small amount of clients does not mean they are going to go under tomorrow, or a even 4 months from now.

    As long as a person is dedicated and has the money, their hosting comnpany could thrive for years off end.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Phoenix, Arizona
    Posts
    151

    Re: Re: Large or small hosts?

    Originally posted by G2-Hosting
    Just because a hosting company has a small amount of clients does not mean they are going to go under tomorrow, or a even 4 months from now.

    As long as a person is dedicated and has the money, their hosting comnpany could thrive for years off end.
    I agree. Revenue and profit are very different things!

    Ask MCI... oh wait.. on second thought, don't ;-)


    Dan
    http://www.IwantFUI.com
    If you could host a new kind of content from your old-fashioned web servers
    and make new money from your customers and differentiate your business all at the same time... could you afford not to try? See the new site

  17. #17

    Re: Re: Re: Large or small hosts?

    Originally posted by DanPhx
    I agree. Revenue and profit are very different things!

    Ask MCI... oh wait.. on second thought, don't ;-)


    Dan
    I feel faint... Need Fresh Air... Someone actually agreed with me...


  18. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    7
    try whois.sc they say how many web sites are hosted by a domain.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Hot, hot Michigan...
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    3,506
    Originally posted by talian
    try whois.sc they say how many web sites are hosted by a domain.
    Which is also wrong.... Even worse than webhosting.info. It's about 99% wrong. No lie.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    7
    Originally posted by thedavid
    Which is also wrong.... Even worse than webhosting.info. It's about 99% wrong. No lie.
    Is it because the number of domains are wrong or it doesn't tell you how many sub domains or web users it has?

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Hot, hot Michigan...
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    3,506
    Domains. I don't know exactly how this one derives its numbers (appears to be pulled off of an IP address in some fashion).

    I know of internal information for a tier 1 that I used to work for - I plugged that in too. Wrong.

    Only point I make - these tools aren't really accurate predictors of an actual 'company size' nor number of domains hosted. At best, it's an educated guess they make, and they're often wrong.

  22. #22
    Greetings:

    Some things to keep in mind about the large providers --- telecommunication carriers, Verio, and the like:

    1. From our experience, telecommunication providers (XO and the like) who do hosting have lower quality technicians in terms of their training and ability to handle common hosting issues.

    We’ve seen case after case of a telecommunications hosting provider make a sale, transfer DNS, and not even alert their customer to get the files from their previous hosting provider first.

    2. Just because they are large, does not mean they have x times the support staff that a smaller host has available.

    While the number is probably higher today, I was pleasantly surprised that Verio’s dedicated server division had only three technicians in late 1998.

    3. Some large providers, like Verio for instance, are fed capital ($$$) from their parent company (NTT in the case of Verio). While that’s nice, it may mean that like Dell Hosting, the assets are one day sold. Which may or may not mean transition problems (aka down time et all).

    Thank you.
    ---
    Peter M. Abraham
    LinkedIn Profile

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    texas
    Posts
    1,333
    Also keep in mind domains hosted and the number of clients is an entirely different number. We host 15,000+ sites however we only have a few thousand paying clients.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Phoenix, Arizona
    Posts
    151
    Originally posted by hostgator.com
    Also keep in mind domains hosted and the number of clients is an entirely different number. We host 15,000+ sites however we only have a few thousand paying clients.
    That's a very good point!
    I hadn't thought of that.

    Dan
    http://www.IwantFUI.com
    If you could host a new kind of content from your old-fashioned web servers
    and make new money from your customers and differentiate your business all at the same time... could you afford not to try? See the new site

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Chalfont, Pa
    Posts
    1
    Originally posted by hostgator.com
    Also keep in mind domains hosted and the number of clients is an entirely different number. We host 15,000+ sites however we only have a few thousand paying clients.
    ummm, a few thousand and one
    Been a long week with multiple sites that I had with another reseller account suddenly down for the past four days, including emails. I spent my days researching and looking for a new "place". IMHO, seems that it is easier to do a google search on any hosting / reseller name and see what kind of links, are where the links are, to give one a perspective on that hosting / reseller. Not exactly a good science, perhaps, but the fact that "hostgator" didn't show too many times negatively was a consideration for me. Affordability is what the clients want, well actually they want "everything" for "nothing", but finding a happy mix between the small guys cost and the big boys stability is difficult. And then the big boys seem to have bigger troubles. Worldcom was "fun". And talk about layers of layers of people to weed through in order to get a wrong righted. Ugh!
    Given a choose, for those of us that cringe when some says "NIC card"... I think someone that is on the smaller side that has been around awhile might be a safer bet until you can get your own OC3 line into the house...
    --ron

    ps. I hate being an "old" guy with a "newbie" status. Anyway I can "buy" a higher posting number? Hahaha..

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