Here are some questions people may need to ask a Hosting Company: -
General Notes: -
1. Check that you have a physical address where you are able to contact the supplier and if possible check it.
2. Ask to see a demo Control Panel and use this to check the Server Status. (Any non-Green could indicate problems.)
3. Use the demo Control Panel email system to email a message to both a web based email and a no web based email address, make sure they both arrive.
4. Use demo Control Panel to set up a SQL
database and test it with phpMyAdmin
(Web Interface for SQL), check for
speed as well.
5. Check any on-line support for speed and reaction.
6. Check any on-line Forums to see how problems are dealt with in speed and quality.
Email these questions to any possible Host Technical support.
Some questions may be repeated or written in a different way to see how well they cope with these.
Web
Master Law. Legal issues for Web Masters
See how long they take to answer and the type of answer they give you.:-
Do you support?
WAP, CRON Jobs, SSL, PERL,
PHP, JSP, SSI,
SQL, MySQL,
ASP,
Active Server Page, FLASH
Are you able to install PERL
modules as requested
Python 2.2 or better, XML
Do you have a secure certificate and SSL that I can use?
Minimum of SSL, 128-bit for securing Web content
FrontPage Server Extensions
Which Pre-Installed Unix Apps
Which Pre-Installed CGI Apps
Email: Sendmail server supporting SMTP, IMAP4, POP3
Do you allow Telenet, SSH, etc...
Do
yo support allow Mod Rewrite
How many shared users are they.
Bandwidth please do not state unlimited or "As much as you need"
Storage please do not state unlimited or "As much as you need"
FTP, anonymous FTP access
How many sub directories
e.g.
/cgi-bin
/data
/counters
In addition: -
How many top level domains
How many sub domains
e.g.
http://one.domainname.com
http://two.domainname.com
http://three.domainname.com
http://four.domainname.com
http://five.domainname.com
Parked Domains
CURL & GD (w/ JPG) support
Apache Handler Access
Do you allow MP3, Video, Video streaming, audio files, PDF and exe files for download by users.
Do you provide Content Management Systems
Which web statistics do you use?
Do you provide RAW log statistics files.
Which Control Panel do you use? (cPanel, Plesk, Helm)
Do you use RAID and Drive Mirroring support. If so what level type (Mirrored, striped etc...)
Hardware, RAM Disk size, Backbone
Are you Linux or
Windows
Is a Domain Name supplied, What extensions (.com, .co.uk etc)
Server Up Time (99%) ?
UPS Generators.
What levels of Security do you use.
Do you support Web Email
Number of emails allowed?
Do you support Email redirection
Do you support ImageMagickTM
Do you provide Shopping
Cart, Fantastico, Invasion Board, phpBB
CGI Wrapper
Where is your datacenter
Do you carry out Daily Backups.
Do you allow SSH
What type of Technical support do you provide. (Telephone, on-line, Forum, email). (Note not many provide programming or code support)
What is your Transfere to a different host policy.
The BoxTrapper (anti-spam
tool)
Password Protect Directories
Is there a minimum time contract/commitment?
How soon will my account be set up and ready for use?
Do I have access to update my site 24 hours a day?
Can you register a domain name for me? Can you set up domains other than .com .org .net .co.nz, .org.nz, and .net.nz?
Do you offer a money back guarantee?
Do you host Adult sites, warez sites or sites containing illegal material?
Is my site backed up and how often?
How fast are your connections?
What are your server specifications?
What types of payment do you accept?
How do I transfer my site to you?
What do Autoresponders do and are they included?
Technical Questions
I changed my Control Panel password and now I can't get in.
How do I get my email?
I want to get started right away, but my domain name hasn't transferred/isn't in the database yet. How do I do it?
What is the path to PERL?
Whats is the path to send mail?
Where should I put CGI scripts for my domain?
I uploaded my files, but I don't see my page?
Can I check the web mail without going through the Control panel?
Can I check my Stats without going through the Control panel?
Where is mogrify ?
Can I set up forwarder with out keeping a copy on the server ?
Account and Billing Questions
Can I upgrade my plan or features later?
How can I check/change my account information?
How do I cancel my account?
Apache Web server, HTTP 1.1 compliant
Messaging support for: mail accounts, aliases, message relaying and blocking
via RBL, file transfer limits, message forwarding and auto reply
Virtual hosting services: Name based & IP based
No software limits
OS Based on Red Hat* Linux as modified by Intel using Linux kernel 2.2.16.3
CGI support
Perl/PHP/ASP scripting
Online Quick Help
How about these:-
Redundant OC12, OC3, and DS3 Internet connectivity
Cisco routers and switches
Redundant power backup
24/7 data center monitoring
Independent Web Server with Root Level access
Complete control over server config files and logs
Multiple domain name virtual hosting capability
Complete control over SMTP, POP/IMAP, HTTP, FTP servers
Domain Name Registration
Unlimited E-mail forwarding, aliases and POP/IMAP mailboxes
Unlimited E-mail autoresponders
Full access to our CGI library
Complete control over your own CGI-BIN
FTP, SSH, telnet, Frontpage, Windows FileShare (Samba) access to your server
Microsoft Frontpage server extensions
Run your own RealServer: True RealAudio and RealVideo streaming
Cybercash, Miva, MySQL, PostgreSQL, mSQL, PHP, SSI,, PGP, SSL and more!
Agora Shopping Cart
The Interchange shopping cart
Other Shopping Carts
Advanced E-commerce Solutions
Web server with support for PHP version 4.0.6 or better.
Your php.ini should match the following requirements:
a. track_vars is enabled.
b. magic_quotes_gpc is enabled.
c. safe_mode is disabled
The web server must have support for MySQL database version 3.23 or better. You will need to have access to MySQL database, i.e. to know the MySQL server name, database name, username and password for MySQL access.
Your existing host will be able to confirm if these features are available.
Can you provide compatible UK based hosting if you require it.
Which web based statistics do you supply.
Which Languages are you able to display the Control panel in, e.g. English, Spanish, French, German, etc...
Do you provide any protection against
A Denial Of Service, (DoS), Distributed Denial Of Service, (DDoS). This is a attempt to send such a large amount of false traffic, (clicks to the website being attacked), that that websites response time is slowed for legitimate visitors or the website under attack keeps crashing because it can not cope with the number of requests for data, or the website goes beyond the bandwidth allowed by the server and the account for that website is suspended. The more common attacks use built-in features of the TCP/IP protocol to create exponential amounts of network traffic.
Other useful links
Top websites. Domains Top Address. Find or sell domain names. Want to sell a Domain Name? Want to make money from a unused domain name you own? Only pay on a sale. Need to find a domain name for your business? Search now!
QuidHosting. Hosting links. Host your website Find and compare Host offers.
File Names being saved in the incorrect case
HTTP Status Codes. FTP Status Codes. Website Error Codes. Domain Error Codes
Web Services UDDI, WSDL, SOAP.Apache open-source software and Apache Servers. Mod Rewrite.
Email software and Autoresponders
Online Payment, Shopping Carts, etc
Players and viewers/PDF file viewers. Messenger Services.
Web Master Tools and Utilities
Visualisation of how Search Engines and Keywords link together
Anti-Virus Software Tools & Utilities
Please Help support A Great Portal with a donation. If you find the Freeware, Programming, Webmaster tools or Hardware links useful.
Search Help for Compare Bargains.
A Computer Portal. Freeware, Shareware. Download software. Computer languages and Programming code. Including PERL Scripts and Java Scripts. Webmaster Tools. Internet Marketing, Website promotion. Hardware Help from BIOS to Windows and UNIX.
ฎ ฉ TM are owned by respective authors and websites. There may be a charge for some software.You may close this window after viewing. A Computer Portal. Site Map