A Change in Paradigm: Dedicated Server

Written by Richard Lowe


Continued from page 1

Log file issues - Log files are very important to any true webmaster. They are useful for finding errors, gauging traffic and determiningrepparttar success of promotions and articles. Yet so far all ofrepparttar 134446 shared hosts gave me incredible grief about log files. They seemed to want to initialize them at odd intervals (unpredictable), didn't allow easy access, allowed too easy (unsecured) access and generally made it difficult.

Okay, given all of that, it was time to make a change. Not just a change to another host, but a change in paradigm.

I had tried free hosts (three of them) before deciding they were not at all suitable for anything except a small hobby web site. I moved up to paid shared hosts and for a while was happy. I moved, then moved again, then again. The hosts were all fine for a while, then starting having trouble.

Shared hosting was not doing what I needed. The straw that brokerepparttar 134447 camels back was a question of bandwidth. Internet Tips and Secrets was exceeding 50gb a month (almost four million hits and three quarters of a million page views). Wow.

I could not find a shared host that offered a package of a full gigabyte of disk and upwards of 50gb a month. Not a single one after looking at over a hundred different packages.

I had a real problem. You see, go overrepparttar 134448 monthly bandwidth charge and you get smacked with huge overcharges. Forrepparttar 134449 web host I had atrepparttar 134450 time,repparttar 134451 charges were $6 per gigabyte. This would make my hosting bill very large indeed.

Thus I began looking for a dedicated hosting service. I quickly found a company and purchased a single month.

Here's what I got. A web server all to myself. I could define as many as 250 different web sites onrepparttar 134452 server, and I had complete control ofrepparttar 134453 DNS. I had root access torepparttar 134454 server (meaning I was more or less god onrepparttar 134455 box) and could literally do anything I wanted. I could install anything, do anything and control or not control everything.

I had 9gb of disk space. Best of all,repparttar 134456 service provided a whooping 400gb of bandwidth usage per month. The server was extremely fast for my needs. All for around $200/month plus a setup fee.

The downside (there is always a downside, isn't there)? The price was a little steep, but a predictable $200 a month is far superior to a surprise $500 or even $100 hosting charge. They also didn't provide any real autoresponders (but I solved that by purchasing a package) or web based email. Their support is also very basic - they have a 24 hour help desk which is friendly and competent, but they do not appear to be technical heavyweights.

Thus I have now, after a week of hard work, begun a new adventure - a dedicated web server forrepparttar 134457 16 sites that my wife and I own. So far,repparttar 134458 experience is far superior torepparttar 134459 shared hosting nightmares that I've been facing.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.


Changing Web Hosts

Written by Richard Lowe


Continued from page 1

Make sure you register your domain elsewhere - The first time I registered a domain name, it seemed so convenient to just use my web hosts domain registration service. What I didn't know is they becamerepparttar registrar, and it was a nightmare gettingrepparttar 134445 domain transferred to a different one. By registeringrepparttar 134446 domain at a different company, you will most likely get a better price, and you will gain independence from your web host.

Scope out a few hosts in advance - Even if you are completely happy with your current web host, at least take a few minutes and have a few names ready just in case. This way if you are forced to move, you have a pretty good idea of where.

Moving To A Different Host

If you are lucky, you get to makerepparttar 134447 choice about moving. In that case, you can simply upload your new site, get it all working, then transferrepparttar 134448 domain and cancelrepparttar 134449 old site. This gives you a large amount of control, because you don't have to transferrepparttar 134450 domain and cancel until you are happy withrepparttar 134451 new host.

If for some reason your web host has cut off access to your site, then you have to move fast. This is whererepparttar 134452 monitoring services come in handy - you know immediately when your site fails.

These arerepparttar 134453 steps that I follow when I change hosts.

1) Determine that a change is necessary. Ideally you arerepparttar 134454 one making this determination. Of course, if your web host decides for you, then you have to performrepparttar 134455 rest of these steps very quickly because you are down.

2) Find a new hosting company. Read all ofrepparttar 134456 information onrepparttar 134457 internet that I can find. I also learned somethingrepparttar 134458 hard way - checkrepparttar 134459 hosting companies own forums for customer complaints. There were several times that I would have avoided trouble had I followed this advice.

3) Reviewrepparttar 134460 features ofrepparttar 134461 hosting company to be sure they offer what you need. If you have any questions, be sure and send an email off to their sales department.

4) If you need a storefront, shopping cart and/or merchant status, be sure you resolve any issues you may have before laying out any money.

5) Sign up forrepparttar 134462 hosting company withrepparttar 134463 right size package, butrepparttar 134464 minimum amount of time (one to three months). This gives you some time to check them out without laying out too much money up front.

6) Oncerepparttar 134465 site is active, start uploading files.

7) Modify any scripts as necessary. Test all of them to be sure they work.

8) Upload any autoresponders and set up your email forwarding as desired.

9) Create any subdomains, if you use this feature.

10) Of course, set up any databases. If your other site is still active, then just loadrepparttar 134466 databases onrepparttar 134467 new site with data fromrepparttar 134468 most recent backup - you just wantrepparttar 134469 data for testing purposes. If it's not active, then loadrepparttar 134470 databases withrepparttar 134471 most recent values you have.

11) Set up your storefront, merchant services and credit card processing, if necessary. Test as thoroughly as you can.

12) Once everything works and is tested, transferrepparttar 134472 domain torepparttar 134473 new host.

13) If you haverepparttar 134474 option, freeze your databases onrepparttar 134475 old site about 12 hours after transferringrepparttar 134476 domain. Disable all activity torepparttar 134477 old databases, then copy torepparttar 134478 new site.

14) Oncerepparttar 134479 domain transfers (usually a day or two) test thoroughly again. Unfreezerepparttar 134480 databases as soon as you can.

15) Once everything works, cancelrepparttar 134481 old account.

16) Depending uponrepparttar 134482 circumstances ofrepparttar 134483 move, demand a partial or full refund. It does not matter whatrepparttar 134484 hosting companies policies are - presumably you moved because they were not fulfilling their contract. This means they are in breach of contract, so demand your money back.

17) If they will not give it back (and they probably won't), check with your credit card company to see what your options are - if you've paid within 60 days via credit card, you may be able to getrepparttar 134485 credit card company to get your money back for you. This is where your monitoring logs come in very handy (assuming downtime or response time wasrepparttar 134486 reason you left) - you can prove your case using third party data.

18) Whyrepparttar 134487 focus on getting a refund? Becauserepparttar 134488 hosting company did not provide contracted services - and no one should be rewarded for failure to fulfill their contract. The only real weapon you have is your money. Demand a refund.

19) Once you've moved, be sure and practicerepparttar 134489 maintenance steps mentioned earlier in this article. You may have to move your site again, and you want to be prepared.

So basically, moving to a new host is always a traumatic, time consuming event. You should take pains to be prepared so thatrepparttar 134490 trauma is reduced in duration and loss.



Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.


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