Virtual Hosting Options - Part II
Allotted Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of traffic and content your site will deliver. When a visitor requests a page, you site will return your page along with graphics. This is bandwidth. A good analogy for bandwidth is that bandwidth is like water in a pipe. The amount of water flowing from a pipe is like bandwidth.

NOTE: There is a point I would like to make before we continue with this section. Some hosting providers offer "Unlimited Bandwidth". If this is the case, ask them for their definition of this phrase. If they answer "Unlimited Bandwidth is Unlimited Hits", this is not true unlimited bandwidth. Hits are actual request for content (pages, graphics, files, etc.) from your site, not actual content. It is the request for content, or bandwidth.

"You have access to Unlimited Bandwidth", is not true unlimited bandwidth either. You have the ability to use as much bandwidth as you need, but there is a set amount allotted to your site. Any additional bandwidth will come at a price.

Just because you have a site on the web, does not mean you will have a lot of traffic. You need to advertise or promote your site to increase traffic.

Here is a formula to calculate an estimate on the amount of bandwidth you will need:

Number of pages X .05 MB X Number of Visitors/Month = Total Bandwidth/Month

Now this formula is based on the notion that each visitor will visit all your page once. That is not likely to be the case, but the formula should work. Some visitors may view 1/3 of your site, while others may view your site twice. It all averages out.

Monthly and Yearly Fee
Figure out how much you want to spend per month. Some hosting providers will discount your monthly rate if you pay annually. You should look for a company with some type of "Money Back Guarantee". Most reputable companies will offer this incentive to it's customers. If they provide great service, you will not want to leave.

Most providers charge a setup fee, usually the equivalent of the first month. If you are transferring a domain site, ask if they will waive the setup fee. Most will!

CGI Script Support
A CGI script is a program, mostly written in C or Perl, which will work with other programs and your web page. HTML is static. CGI scripts give HTML the ability to interact with the visitor. An example of a CGI script would be one that takes information from a page, completed by a visitor, and inputs that information in a database. Shopping cart systems are run by CGI scripts.

Most hosting companies offer popular pre-installed scripts like, MailForm, Counters, etc. If you have your own script, check with your potential host and make sure they allow it. Some do, some do not. Some providers will not let you install your own CGI scripts. If you have an error in your script, you could lockup the entire server. This could affect hundreds of sites on that server.

Sub-domains
A example of a sub-domain is name.yoursite.com. name is a sub-domain of yoursite.com. This is useful if you want to subdivide your site into many subsections, say support.yoursite.com, sales.yoursite.com, etc.

Dedicated IP Address
An IP address is a unique identification number assigned to your web site/space, given to you by your provider. Remember back in the section of "How Domains Work", when a visitor types your address in their browser, it is queried in domain name database (operator), then directed to your hosting providers DNS server (phone number). Then the DNS server directs it to your site, or IP Address (extension).

Some hosting companies do not provide you with your own IP address. This is due to a shortage of IP address on the Internet. There is only a set number of IPs available, and they are running out quickly. Not having an IP address is not a bad thing, unless you expect visitors to your site which still use older browses (e.g. Netscape 1.0). They will not be able to see your site! This will not effect current browsers that support HTML 4.0 like IE and Netscape 3.0 and up. Most of the World uses current version browsers, but some smaller countries still use Netscape 1.0.