Saturday 16 June 2012

The web hosting with php

The Web Hosting With PHP

Whether you are not satisfied with your current web hosting with php company or you have discovered one that offers better deals, changing your hosting provider is a viable option. Switching to a new web host is a simple process. It is recommended that you keep your existing account until you have completed the transition steps. Here are step-by-step instructions to guide you through the process of changing web hosting companies for your site.

About good web hosting with php

Find a web host that meets your requirements. Check out the amount of disk space and bandwidth provided. Make sure that your new host offers the tools and software you need. A good way to start your research on a company is by reading customer reviews. Choose a hosting provider that offers room for expansion if your business grows. Sign up for an account and choose a plan that suits your needs.

Copy all of the files and scripts from the current hosting provider to your hard drive. It is advisable to manually transfer your website. Take the time to record important information that you will use when making the transfer. This includes software, email accounts, security settings, and configuration details. Get your SSL certificate and key if you have one. Your files should be downloaded in the same structure in which you want to upload them later. Some scripts won't work until the DNS is pointed to the new hosting company.

Log in to your domain management control panel and change your DNS information. If your current web host is also your domain name registrar, this will be very simple. It is important that you have the DNS pointing to the new server as soon as possible. It will take about 24-72 hours for the process to be completed.

Try to schedule the transfer at a time where there's least traffic. Start by creating custom error pages on the new host server. Let your website visitors know about the move. By giving them prior warning, you can ease the transition. Configure your existing email accounts on the new sever. Transfer your existing website via FTP to the new server. Test everything to make sure it all works. Set up all the extra features and let your site run for a few days. Once your new web hosting with php plan has been activated and your website is up and running, cancel your old hosting plan. Make sure you have retrieved all your data from your old account.

When buying a web hosting service, before you get down to its detailed hosting features and functions, get an idea about its server's up-time first. This is the most critical component that determines the life and death of your small business websites. If you focus too much effort in sourcing for a company with good features and functions you need without considering its up-time, then you're putting your online business at risk. When your small business website goes down without warning, your visitors will directly receive a bad experience up front. Doing business online is particularly sensitive because your business opening hours depends solely on how reliable the hosting server is. If the company buys in robust servers to house your websites, then your websites are live 24 hours a day during most of the times in a year. I said "most of the times" because no matter how reliable a server is, the hosting provider will need to upgrade the software or hardware from time to time and then reboot the server to effect the changes. As such, during this reboot, your small business website may not operate normally or may get shut down completely for minutes to hours. But that's normal. If however, your website goes down few hours, several times a month, then that shows how crappy the web hosting service is because they provide unreliable server for hosting your websites.

So, how do you identify a good hosting up-time? They'll specify on their websites 99.8% or 99.9%. This usually refers to their server up-time. Some state 100%, but this refers to network up-time, which is simply a gimmick to attract customers. In other words, they don't dare to showcase their server up-time of 99.7% or below, that's why they use network up-time. Server up-time plays a direct significant role in how well your small business stays "open" on the web. If the server crashes, your website could go down. But a network will rarely go down because it comprises hundreds of computers, peripherals and other hardware, which explains why virtually all web hosting companies can claim a 100% network up-time. That's why 100% up-time doesn't provide much value to customers. Of course, if they claim their servers support 100% up-time, then this company is likely a crook. Another way to identify which web hosts provide reliable server up-time is via forums or social networks. Lastly will be your personal test drive on the web host and see if it really lives up to its reputation. Buy its monthly plan first for test drive, then proceed to its yearly plan if it does what it promises.
This article is about the web hosting with php.