Companies that are looking to have their applications hosted by a Web hosting service provider can find themselves getting quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of technology choices and hosting options that are available. While each company’s needs are different, in general there are a few considerations that business owners need to keep in mind when choosing a Web host.
• Disk space and network bandwidth
The amount of Web space and the network bandwidth that is available to a Web site are both very important technological considerations when choosing a Web host. Often, hosting providers advertise the availability of ‘unlimited’ bandwidth and disk space for customers. However, it pays to check and understand all the terms and conditions that are attached to such offers. Sometimes, hosting companies that tout unlimited network bandwidth, end up charging for network traffic once it crosses a certain threshold. So, high traffic Web site owners in particular, need to understand exactly what the hosting provider means when they talk about unlimited bandwidth availability. The same holds true for disk space as well. It’s important for companies to also realize, that they may not always need unlimited bandwidth and disk space. In many cases, small Web sites seldom need more than 3GB to 5GB of bandwidth per month. So it may actually be cheaper for such companies to go with a hosting provider or service plan that caps bandwidth usage at a certain level rather than going with an unlimited usage plan.
• Scalability and Reliability
The term ‘scalability’ refers to the ability of a hardware platform or network infrastructure to accommodate increased workloads and performance demands without major problems. Generally speaking, the more scalable a system is, the more headroom it has to handle sudden workload increases. The scalability of a hosting provider’s infrastructure is an important consideration, especially for fast-growing businesses and for companies that experience seasonal spikes in demand for their products. Retailers for instance, often need increased processing capacity around holidays and at the beginning and end of certain seasons when business tends to spike sharply. Companies need to make sure their hosting providers have the scalability, the processing capacity and network performance needed to meet their needs at all times. If necessary, they should consider going with a dedicated server hosting model, in which all of their applications are hosted on separate, dedicated servers rather than in a shared environment.
• Availability
Server and network up time are crucial considerations. A hosting provider needs to be able to guarantee near-continuous and uninterrupted availability of their services. At the very minimum, a hosting provider needs to be able to guarantee at least 99% service availability. While that might seem like a lot, in reality even 1% of downtime equals close to 88 hours in a year, or about 7 hours a month when services are going to be interrupted. So companies that cannot afford this sort of downtime really should be looking at hosting providers who are capable of guaranteeing 99.5% uptime or higher. Companies need to ensure that their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with the hosting provider clearly articulate their up time requirements and provides for financial penalties in case those requirements are not met.
• Service and support
A hosting provider with the best network infrastructure and pricing plan is of little use if it doesn’t also provide adequate service and support. Before choosing a hosting provider therefore, it is vital for companies to check what kind of customer support infrastructure the provider has and how quickly it is able to respond to a crisis. Sometimes, the hosting provider may have outsourced customer service and support functions to a third-party. Often, the third-party that is providing the support services may be located out of state or even out of country. Service level agreements need to clearly spell out service and support expectations and the penalties for failing to live up to those expectations.
• Compliance
Companies in certain industries, such as financial services and health care, are required to adhere to specific rules and regulations pertaining to the manner in which any customer data they own, is accessed, shared and secured. Such companies need to ensure that their Web hosting provider is following industry standards and best practices for managing and protecting customer applications and data. One way to check if a hosting provider is following good practices is to see if it has obtained any quality certifications. A hosting company that has been certified as a Microsoft partner or as a Cisco partner for instance, is likely to have better businesses processes and technology standards compared to a hosting provider that has no quality certifications. Businesses that are especially concerned about the quality of their hosting provider should consider looking for vendors that have attained quality certifications such as Carnegie-Mellon’s CMM, ISO 9001, ISO 27002 and BS 25999. Such certifications indicate that the hosting provider has very mature and reliable business processes and is following the highest-possible technology standards. As part of the compliance verification process, businesses need to have a clear idea of where exactly their Web applications are going to be hosted. This is especially important for companies in some industries that are restricted by law from having their data hosted on servers outside the geographic borders of the U.S.
• Administrative control
Companies that choose to have their Web applications hosted by a service provider still need to be able to administer and manage those applications. At a very minimum, their Web hosting provider should allow them to manage user accounts, passwords and access control functions. Businesses that want a greater degree of control need to look for providers who will let them maintain and upgrade their applications. They might want to consider Web hosting providers who are willing to collect application and transaction logs on their behalf. Business continuity and disaster recovery
• Business continuity and disaster recoverability
Service disruptions and accidents can happen to a hosting provider no matter how well-run the business is, and no matter what safety precautions it might have previously taken. What’s really crucial though is the provider’s ability to recover from an unexpected disruption. When signing up a hosting provider it’s important to find out what kind of business continuity and disaster recoverability processes the company has, and how soon it is capable of restoring service after a catastrophic failure.
• Pricing
In general, price should not be the primary consideration when choosing a Web hosting provider. In many instances, the least inexpensive hosting providers are often also the most unreliable ones. At the same time, the more expensive providers may sometimes offer capabilities and features that may not always be necessary for smaller and medium-sized companies. In choosing a Web hosting provider, it is therefore important to begin with a list of requirements first rather than price.
