Website Hosting
An important part of protecting a website against many forms of attack is the care with which you arrange for its hosting. Once the decision is made to create a website and the site is designed, a web hosting solution is needed. Web hosting refers to the placement of a website on a web server, making it available to the web. Web hosting companies provide storage, connectivity, security, access protocols, and other services necessary to serve files for a website.
Web hosting, both free and paid, is available from many different companies. Additionally, it is possible to outsource the placement of hosting services or provide that service internally within the network. Web hosting is essentially the placement of your website on the internet through a server.
External Web Hosting
Thousands of companies offer web hosting services. The cost varies by a company’s needs. For example, hosting companies offer both dedicated and shared hosting services. Dedicated means a dedicated server is used to provide hosting services; shared has multiple companies using the same web server. Naturally, a dedicated web server is much more costly than a shared server.
All web hosting providers offer packages that provide hosting services:
Disk storage space
Available bandwidth
Technical support
Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) email accounts
Email forwarding
Email auto-responders
Email aliases
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access
Password protection
When creating an e-commerce site, choosing the right web hosting company and package features is critical. Among the many factors to consider are the following:
Disk space and bandwidth—If you have a large site that generates significant monthly traffic, you need a hosting plan that matches your space and bandwidth needs. Hosting companies charge extra if your bandwidth and space requirements are exceeded.
Flexibility—Some hosting companies are rigid in their packages, while others are flexible and adjust to changing business needs.
Technology—Larger hosting companies have the financial resources to purchase the latest software and hardware to provide cutting-edge services. Choosing a hosting company that has the technology and expertise is worthwhile.
Pricing—Prices of web hosting companies vary greatly, but more expensive companies are not necessarily better. It is important to take the time to research different pricing options.
Guaranteed uptime—In choosing a web hosting company, it is critical to consider policies around uptime and backups. Guaranteed backup refers to the mechanism a company has in place for continuation of service in the event of hardware or software failure. Many web hosting companies list their approach to uptime and the steps they take to ensure that websites are available.
Backups—Consider what the hosting company offers in terms of backups, frequency, and storage of backups. Does it offer offsite backup storage? It is critical to know where and how backups are used and stored.
Security—Your website is operational 24/7, so you must know what steps and procedures are in place to ensure its security against internal and external attacks. This includes protocol usage and logical and physical security measures.
Dynamic service—A web hosting company should adapt as new technologies are introduced.
Support—Most companies want a hosting company that offers quality customer support. This includes frequently asked questions (FAQ), email, phone, and forum support.
You can avoid the inconvenience of changing hosting companies if you take the time to research and choose the right one initially. Additional hassles may arise if the hosting company allows you less flexibility and control than you would have with an internally hosted website. A well-thought-out service-level agreement (SLA) can help ensure that any problems are handled as if the infrastructure were controlled internally.
Internal Web Hosting
Internal web hosting refers to maintaining your own web server and not outsourcing to an external company. There are some advantages to this approach. First, it allows you complete flexibility in terms of website modifications. It allows administrators to manage their own security, backups, and uptime. It takes away reliance on an external company and shifts it in-house.
If a company website is mission critical, that is, downtime has a serious impact on business functioning, internal hosting has a few snags. Ensuring increasingly high levels of uptime is difficult to achieve, requiring redundant hardware and expertise to manage that hardware. Many companies start out hosting their own site to save costs but, once the company grows, shift to external hosting.
If you choose internal hosting, there are many elements you need to host your site:
Web server with redundant drives and hardware to ensure uptime
High-speed internet connection to handle bandwidth requirements
Adequate disk storage to hold the site
Physical and logical security measures including locked doors and protocols
Available IT personnel who can manage the programming, maintenance, and security of the site
Strong backup procedures including considerations for offsite backup storage
Many smaller companies do not have the technology infrastructure and personnel to adequately manage their own web server. However, for some, the benefits of internal hosting outweigh the costs and hassles of external hosting.
Whois (Private or Public)
If you have a website, you are likely familiar with the need for a domain name such as www.google.com or www.mybusiness.com . When you sign up for a domain, whether it is a .org, .com, .edu, or any of the other domain suffixes available, you use an authorized domain registrar.
The governing body for all domain names is called the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Its web address is http://www.icann.org. ICANN keeps a record of every domain name, who owns it, and how and where it is being used. This is often referred to as Whois data because you can search for a domain owner and contact information from the ICANN registration records.
A Whois search can return a lot of information. It may reveal the domain owner’s home address, work address, phone, email address, and more. You can also find information on how long an individual or company has owned the domain.
Whois is not without problems. When it was first available, people used it as a way to find email addresses for spamming purposes and to find new startups even before their websites were live. For these and other reasons, registrars started to offer private settings.
Private Whois settings provide more protection of personal data. Often, just the information from the hosting company is provided. However, authorities such as police can request your registrant information, private or not.
The choice of using private settings or public Whois information depends on whether you want personal contact information released. In some cases, it is good to allow people to see your information to be able to contact you. However, you should use private settings if you do not want personal information to be exposed.