Preparing to Host Your Website

1
Preparing to Host Your Website

• Objective 7.01

2
Internal vs. External Hosting

• Internal vs. External Web HostingThe first issue
  is whether to build a website and host it on your
  own server or to use an Internet Service Provider
  (ISP) with external web hosting.
• Internal Web Hosting Operating your own server
• Gives you complete control
• Takes a great deal of resources to operate and
  maintain one's own server
• Not recommended for a small business that is just
  getting started, particularly if one does not
  have a lot of technical experience and a budget
  to support hardware, software, and personnel
  necessary to maintain the site. 

3
Internal Continued

• Owning one's own server, would require more
  capital for startup because the following
  expenditures would be necessary
• Domain namemust acquire, register and implement
  your own domain name.
• Server(s)Purchase and maintain server(s) that
  provide optimum system speed. Processing speed
  continues to double almost yearly and server
  would have to be replaced/upgraded on a yearly
  basis.
• Backup server would have to be maintained because
  of possible malfunctions because down time can
  ruin an ebusiness.
• Other servers may be necessary for handing
  audio/video streaming, forms handling, or high
  volume of traffic.
• AccessAlthough the Internet has expanded
  exponentially in the past few years, fast server
  access is still not available in some locations.
  Therefore, companies that require T1 and greater
  access must pay a premium price for the service.
  Remember your customers will demand fast access
  for your site to be successful. Your site must
  be able to handle peek traffic or you will lose
  customers.

4
Internal Hosting

• SecurityThis is a big issues and growing.
  Customers are becoming more concerned and expect
  their information to be securely guarded.
  Specialized security software as well as
  technicians to maintain the site can pose an
  additional expense to your e-business.
• SoftwareA variety of server software ranging
  from basic server to streaming audio/video may be
  necessary for your eCommerce operations,
  depending on the product you market and methods
  you chose to promote and sell your products. In
  addition, production software is necessary to
  develop the site.
• MaintenanceSince access is critical for an
  eCommerce business, it must be operational at all
  times. Again, maintaining qualified technicians
  and consultants can add to the cost of
  maintaining ones own eCommerce site.

5
External Web Hosting

• Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide
  web hosting, which may be a part of your monthly
  fee.
• They can provide all the items that were
  discussed in Internal Hosting.
• Visitors will not know where your website is
  hosted they will only see your domain name in
  the Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
• Many ISPs offer website design services.
• ISPs have all the special application software
  you will need to sell products and manage the
  complex issues of payments, etc.
• If hackers break into the website they cannot get
  through to your internal computer because there
  is no permanent connection. The only connection
  comes if you develop web pages on your own
  computer and then occasionally load them up to
  the ISP host.

6
Web Server Software

• You will need special software development tools
  regardless of whether you host your website
  internally or externally.
• Web Page Creation Tools
• Develop by coding XHTML web pages.
• Authoring software such as DreamWeaver and
  FrontPage editors.
• Dedicated graphics editors create complex
  graphics. They can also optimize file size to
  limit download time. This is usually obtained by
  reducing the number of colors and other
  controllable elements in ways that minimize the
  loss of visual impact while greatly reducing
  download time.
• Java editors allow website creators to place
  sophisticated interactive elements in web pages.

7
Internal vs. External

• As you can see, there is a large range of choices
  to make in the decision of external vs internal
  hosting.
• You can own and operate all of the hardware and
  software necessary to launch and maintain your
  site or your can purchase services from companies
  that specialize in these operations.
• Your decision will depend on the amount of
  resources, expertise, and capital that is
  available for your venture and how much control
  you want to maintained over the website
  operations.
• Remember that your website is a living entity
  and must be constantly updated and maintained to
  continue to be successful and garner more and
  repeat visitors.