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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    66

    I am new to this hosting.. help me?

    Hi,

    Well maybe the subject title says most of it.

    Basically, I have never hosted a website in my life

    We are setting up a website for a society at university.. and well I am the computer geek (shows how much the others know ) so I am looking around trying to find prices etc..

    Basically, too much confusion.

    To cut it down.. these are my questions:

    1. How do I knwo something is going to be reliable and not dissapear on me after a week or something? or not work 50% of the time?

    2. Is it possible to find cheaper (ok i expect to pay something but we do have a limited budget) and relialbe hosts?

    3. I am in Australia? Am I better off getting an Australian host or not?

    4. What do i look out for in getting a host?

    5. I would prefer paying yearly.. though monthly isn't the worst of things.. and I need to make sure the company is good.. coz if we lose our money im dead meat

    6. What kidn of services can I expect for $100AU ($50US approx) to $200AU ($100US) a year?

    Thanks heaps..

    I am getting loster by the second Most of the talk about dedicated etc is going over my head

    Thankyou in advance..

    Salsabil


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    United kingdom
    Posts
    1,003
    Let me start by welcoming you to the WHT community, you've definitely come to the right place to ask about hosting a website, as the thousands of people here are either web hosts or webmasters and other people like you who are new to web hosting.

    1. How do I knwo something is going to be reliable and not dissapear on me after a week or something? or not work 50% of the time?
    The basic answer is that you don't, it's like trial and improvement. But if you pay slightly more for your web hosting account, you usually get a lot more in terms of your website working all the time. But if you go with the cheaper web hosting companies, that don't charge enough to support themselves for the future, you'll be finding yourself back here looking for another company.

    2. Is it possible to find cheaper (ok i expect to pay something but we do have a limited budget) and relialbe hosts?
    Yes, there are hosts that have really good low prices and still provide a reliable service to their customers.

    3. I am in Australia? Am I better off getting an Australian host or not?
    No, it won't make a difference if you go with a hosting company in the US or Europe. Your website will most likely be on a server (a computer) in the USA.

    4. What do i look out for in getting a host?
    I'll let others answer this one for obvious reasons.

    5. I would prefer paying yearly.. though monthly isn't the worst of things.. and I need to make sure the company is good.. coz if we lose our money im dead meat
    A lot of the realy low cost hosts will allow yearly payments, but the upper market web hosting companies will prefer to do monthly payments. But if you contact the company, they sometimes will work out a special deal for you, to take a yearly payment.

    6. What kidn of services can I expect for $100AU ($50US approx) to $200AU ($100US) a year?
    If this is your budget, you could try to post in the Web Hosting Request forum to see what hosts can offer you.

    I hope the information above will help you in finding a good web host. Other things to consider is the amount of bandwidth you'll need and the disk space amount. If it's a small website, just for a few hundred people to view a day, then you most likely will not require any more than 1GB of bandwidth per month.

    Alan
    Alan Ho
    Former Systems Administrator

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,783
    I will also add use the search button at top once you make a short list of host. In my opinion it is best to look more at how many negative post they have or lack there of.

    It is also a good idea to find out how long they have been in business.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    66
    Hello again

    Thanks heaps for the help both of you

    I been looking around in the forum and some of it has been very useful

    But my brain is now clogged up with hosting lol

    I have a question about resellers? What are they?

    Thanks again


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
    Posts
    3,690
    Hi,
    Reseller accounts are for those that are interested in reselling the hosting plans for a profit.
    You basically purchase a reseller plan from the host.....then add your additional plans at a discount price, and "resell" to your own clients. You then handle all the billing, support, etc. for those clients.
    HostCaters.com - Quality Web Hosting - Under A Gig! - Since 1999

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    66
    Hi,

    I think one of the big problems im having is deciding in terms of bandwidth/space...

    If I have streaming audio..or audio files for them to download.. does that increase my bandwith by alot?

    Thanks in advance

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    1,745
    Salsabil,

    If you only need a website for a University society (I assume non-profit) then why not try your University for hosting?

    The University I attend in Sydney provides me (and all students) with 100mb of web space that can be used for anything as long as it is of a non-commercial nature, doesn't violate University policies and isn't illegal. Content is uploaded by FTP (or via a folder in the home directory).

    The sites are located on Solaris servers in their datacentre which is connected to the Internet with a lot of bandwidth. The sites respond extremely quickly from here on dialup, and instantly on campus (naturally!).

    The University you attend may offer something similar - it might be worth looking into.

    --Shaun
    Shaun Ewing
    shaun.net

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    66
    Hi,

    That was the original one..

    We had hosting through some compsoc society at uni... but our website had been left to do nothing.. Anyways...

    The server for that got hacked into it.. I went and spoke to them about getting oru website up..and the computer tech guy said that they aren't going to be putting that server up..

    Anywyas I went and spoke to SRC (Student Rep Council) who takes care of allthe clubs and societies.. and tey told me i could do it under them.. but the problem is we want to update very regularly etc.. and the president of SRC said for me to email him with the html stuff etc and he wouuld update for us.

    And well that is just not going to work for our site.. so we thought we'll just get a domain and some web hosting and do it ourselves..

    Hope that explains

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    1,745
    That sounds quite inconvenient.

    If you only expect to start off small, then you won't need a great deal of space. I think most (all?) web hosts will let you order more space and data transfer/bandwidth when you are approaching the allocation so no drama there.

    If you do have audio/video clips for people to download, this has the potential to increase your bandwidth usage significantly. I would recommend being careful with this.

    Try posting something in the Requests board detailing exactly what you are looking for. That way hosts can respond with offers to suit your needs and budget.

    --Shaun
    Shaun Ewing
    shaun.net

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    66
    Heya everyone,

    I just wanted to say thankyou to everyone for providing help

    This forum has really helped me alot and cut down my work in working out a reliable host probably by many hours

    Thankyou very much )

    And all the best

    ~Salsabil~

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    9
    hey salsabil. Can I ask what university you go to? I am currently in a similiar situation to you in that I am looking for a webhost as well. The account that is made available to us for Society based web hosting does not necessarily allow me the features I want, to be able to run some of the stuff I need to.

    You can PM me the response if you like.
    Last edited by m1sh1; 08-07-2002 at 04:59 PM.

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