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One of the first decisions you must make in building
your web site is: Where should you host your web site?
The answer to that question depends a lot on the type
of site you have. There is a wide range of hosting options
and pricing options as well.
Free Web Site Hosting
If you are building a very simple site, such as a personal
home page, or a small informational site, you should
consider using one of the many free Internet web hosting
sites. These sites provide simple tools to help you
build your site. Your site is hosted alongside thousands
(possibly millions) of other sites. Of course, "free"
almost always comes with a catch- in this case, most
of these free hosting sites will place banner ads or
pop-ups on your page. Some of the more popular free
hosting sites include: www.freeservers.com,
www.homestead.com,
www.geocities.com,
www.tripod.com,
www.angelfire.com.
Shared Server Web Hosting
If you have a business on the Internet, or are doing
business on the web, you probably need a more flexible
solution. One option is going with a web site hosting
company. There are a huge number of hosting companies
with a variety of plans based on the complexity and
bandwidth used by your site. The cheapest option is
getting your site hosted on a shared server in which
many sites are placed on the same web server. This option
usually costs from $15 to $75 per month. You will be
able to choose options that might include the option
for CGI programs, Java Servlets, database software,
electronic payment software, more storage space, more
bandwidth, secure servers, shopping cart software, and
more. This is a good solution if you don't want to manage
your own server.
Dedicated Server Hosting and Co-location
The next step up in hosting is dedicated server hosting.
With a dedicated server, the hosting company provides
a server that is used only by your site. You share networking
bandwidth with other servers at their site though. Finally,
for those that want full control over their server,
there is server co-location. In server co-location,
you provide your own server and place it on the premises
of the hosting company, making use of their bandwidth
and facilities. The software and operating system environment
are fully under your control, giving you total control
over your server and site. Both of these options typically
cost from $100 to $500 per month, depending on the ISP.
Hosting Your Own Site
The final alternative is to host your own web site.
This is relatively easy to do if you have a technical
staff, office space, and networking bandwidth. A business
DSL line or T1 line should be sufficient for all but
the most demanding web sites. Managing your own web
site and servers means that you are responsible for
handling server problems, power outages, doing backups,
and tracking down networking problems. This solution
also tends to be the most expensive one. Buying the
networking bandwidth will cost from $200 to $1000 per
month. In addition, server costs and system administration
costs must also be added in to the price
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