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| Windows Hosting |
There is
virtually no one who has a business of some kind who does not have a website of
their own. Most of them may have the website designed by a professional
designer. Web hosting services may
be provided by a vendor. It may be a shared hosting or if the company is a big
one, it could be dedicated hosting.
With most
internet applications being linked to the windows system, if you didn’t want
compatibility issues, it is better to stick to windows hosting. Cheaper hosting is provided by Linux hosting but this is rarer and
there could be regular problems cropping up with regard to compatibility unless
you are proficient in software.
Hosting services are a little like taking a
part of a house on rent. There could be several problems cropping up like
bandwidth, speed, security etc. For those who do all their work through the
computer these glitches are so major, they may think of hosting their own
website.
The first
investment you have to make will come in the form of a dedicated computer, for
the purpose of hosting. This computer will not be available for any other use
and will have to be up and running round the clock. If the computer shuts down
for some reason, the site will go off line.
Since you will
have to give up the use of your computer, make sure you remove everything
stored in it of use or value to you. For the purpose of hosting, a laptop is
not compatible as it cannot be kept running all the time.
Once that is
done you will have to install a web server application like Apache for example.
You will at this stage have to complete the web server application. The
contents of your website along with the images will have to be copied in the
website files folder. This has to be done at the time of the server application
installation. The next step is routing the server for which you will have to
configure the port 80. As the last step the IP address will need to go into the
browser that is close to a URL and your site will come up.
There are
several pros and cons to be considered in hosting your own web server. You have
to realize that you are responsible for all that goes right and those that go
wrong too. There are no monthly fees to be paid nor is there any possibility of
any incompetence too. Since this is a dedicated server, there is no need to
share it with anyone. When it comes to content, websites, storage, content and
bandwidth, there is no limit.
Waiting for
someone to troubleshoot and solve problems is a thing of the past. You have
complete control over your server. On the flip-side, the whole process of
setting up your own server and running it can ne exhausting job as there is no
end to it. If faced with software or hardware problems, there is no support
team and when the server goes off, the website will disappear from the face of
the web.
