WDTalk

In web hosting, a marketing rage in the past few years has been offers of unlimited space and bandwidth. The only thing I can think of offhand that is really unlimited – is time. What kind of servers are these sites being hosted on anyway? What’s the largest hard drive physically available? If I wanted bandwidth at 1129 Tbps, would that be possible?

There are real physical limits on bandwidth and space.

The bandwidth available to data centers in the Midwest is different than the bandwidth offered, for example, in NY, Dallas, LA and Chicago. Data centers have to pay upstream providers for the bandwidth they offer to their clients. Some upstream providers with varying latency on their network price out lower or higher than others. Data centers routinely offer a blend of 3, 4 or more providers through BGP (Border Gateway Protocol), but can offer a preferred network with failover to a blended network – significantly reducing the end client’s bandwidth cost.

Are unlimited plans at $3.99/Month realistic?

In one word – NO. I’ve yet to find one offer of unlimited space and bandwidth at any price that doesn’t have a corresponding TOS and AUP that addresses the specific bandwidth and space allowable. So why do so many hosts offer these packages? It’s all about perception of value – to the unsuspecting general public. The offer sounds fantastic, until you buy into the plan and get canceled by that provider for violating some clause of their TOS. I read threads every day of the week posted in forums on the Internet by unsuspecting clients – wondering why their account was canceled by host xxx?

Compare this to your own business.

Do you find that managing your prospects expectations works out best? That ‘never needs sharpening’ knife isn’t really going to last forever, is it? Here’s a simple question to ask any provider that offers unlimited space on their webserver. How large is the hard drive that I’ll be hosted on?  Unlimited? Not by a long shot!

VPS is an acronym for Virual Private Server. VPS plans in the webhosting industry fall between shared and dedicated hosting, both in capability and price.

A VPS is a single physical server logically divided – into multiple virtual private systems. The physical server’s resources (CPU & RAM) are shared between its VPS accounts, with each having its own allotment, operated independently from the others. This separation allows each VPS on that server to run it’s own operating system, scripts or software (with some limitations) without effecting other virtual servers on the same physical server. It offers enhanced security over shared plans, as compromising the Operating System on a Shared Hosting Server impacts every website on that server.

With a VPS, you have – root level access to your server, allowing you to install/uninstall software, create accounts, set permissions, etc., much like as on a dedicated server, except at a lower cost. A VPS does require a different skill set, beyond shared hosting. As a VPS system administrator, mistakes can be made leading to security vulnerabilites. Permissions need to be set, files need to be managed and patches need to be run.

Narrowing your short list of VPS hosts

In the webhosting industry, there are a pletora of teenage and college level entreneurers advertising VPS plans to the general public via very slick websites and advertisements on hosting forums. Some of them run top notch businesses, but many are fly-by-night operations offering no redundancy and limited support, so how do you decipher which to entrust with your mission critical data?

Some questons to ask

1. How long have they been in business? How does that relate to how long you’ve been in business, and the value of your data to your business? Whether you’re an established business with 2 or 150 clients, would you entrust your data to a host that just registered their domain name two months ago and claims to have millions of clients?

2. How many employees do they have on staff? What are their certifications? How long have they been in the industry (on average)? Here again, there are hosts operated by one or two partners sharing responsibilites for marketing, sales, customer support, server management, etc. Do they offer phone support 24/7/365 or are you forced to wait for an answer between 9AM – 5PM, or between classes? Or do they only answer questions via a ticket system or email?

3. Are they offering unrealistic (unlimited) bandwidth and storage at ridiculously low prices? This is a clue that their marketing strategy doesn’t match well with their Terms of Service. Too frequently, those unlimited bandwidth sales pitches are attached to restrictive clauses in their TOS. The result of exceeding their projected allotment of bandwidth or storage for each VPS plan is that you’re frequently asked to upgrade your services or you’re terminated for violating their TOS. Could you afford to have your VPS terminated? On a side note, make sure your data is remotely backed up as part of a disaster recovery and business continuity plan. If your VPS service is terminated, very often your data is no longer accessible from that host. Terminated space on their physical server is frequently deleted and resold the same day.

4. Do they have references listed on their website? If so, call them!! Ask them questions. If not, ask the host for a list of references, then call them!!

5. Do they offer upgrade plans? What happens when your business grows beyond a host’s ability to support your operations?

When selecting a VPS host, use due diigence. Research the hosts on your short list. Read reviews of each on hosting forums or Google searches. And pick up the phone to call their references.

Query for referrals

Call them. Ask how they feel about the service – billing, sales support, uptime versus downtime, response time to issues and general competency of their support staff. Then do some research on the Internet about the company itself.

Security

Do they have physical security? Security cameras? Hand scanners? Card based access? Do they log visits? Do they keep updated access lists? Do they require advance notice to enter restricted space?

Backbone

Do they offer BGP bandwidth? Do they offer cross-connects? Do they offer low cost Cogent bandwidth, and does that failover? Do they monitor their bandwidth with certified technicians? Do they offer insight into their infrastructure – switching and network equipment? What is their history of up uptime and downtime?

Infrastructure Redundancy

Do they have redundant UPS / Electric Grids / Diesel Fuel Generators / Cooling Systems? Do they routinely test their generators? Do they operate more than one datacenter? If so, are they all fiber connected? Is there redundancy across multiple datacenters?

Quality of the data center itself

What equipment do they use – cabinets, racks, cooling systems, fire suppression systems, (smoke fire moisture) alarms? Is their data center organized – are their cable runs clean?

I asked this question of a member of a web hosting forum who asked for assistance from other members – for their recommendations. He had narrowed his list down to two Hosts over a couple months span of time. Then today he eliminated them because their customer service department had not responded quickly enough to his request for information.

So, here is what is important to him. See if this parallels your criteria/requirements.

·         Connection speed

·         Competitive pricing

·         Competent and reliable technical support

·         Pays for what he uses and not for what he doesn’t use

·         Doesn’t want his websites badly affected by other websites on the same shared hosting

·         Honest/ethical business practices

What is NOT important to him are ….

·         Testimonials on their website

·         “Unlimited” advertising on their website when there really is a limit.

My take

I suspect that pricing gets an awful lot of prospects in the door, but great customer support keeps them there.  Prospects normally allot limited time and resources to research a prospective host and those hosts all put their best foot forward to sell you (or oversell you). Once you’re there and experience issues, how those issues are resolved weighs heavily on whether you stay with that host.

I would disagree that testimonials carry no weight for prospects. If ABC Company hosts with DEF Company on your short list, and ABC Company is globally recognized, wouldn’t that sway your research? 

Recognize advertising for what it is. Hosts have a very small window to attract your attention. I’d encourage you to pick up your phone, talk to 2 or 3 hosts and explain your requirements. You’d be surprised how many hosts will customize solutions for you.

Uptime versus Downtime (SLA)

Uptime is a calculation of the amount of time a host is online, available, and functioning during a given time period. Conversely, downtime is a calculation of the amount of time a host (your server) is unavailable during a given time period.

Estimate your downtime over the course of one year:

99.9%: Uptime guarantee – Down – 8 hours 46 minutes

99.5%: Uptime guarantee – Down – 43 hours 50 minutes

99.0%: Uptime guarantee – Down – 87 hours 39 minutes

98.0%: Uptime guarantee – Down – 175 hours 19 minutes