Business Hosting
Business Hosting
Business rely on their websites to bring them trade and customers. If a business’s website experiences any sort of downtime, the business itself could be affected since it could lead to lost revenue and customers could lose their trust in the business, if the business for example is a web hosting business. It is because of this that a market for so called ‘business hosting’ has sprung up within the web hosting industry. Most business hosting packages offer a high amount of uptime which should suit most businesses needs, as well as extras which are more suited towards businesses rather than individuals.
Most of the web hosting companies are taking advantage of the latest advances in web hosting technology to provide corporate clients with the peace of mind that they will receive 100% uptime on their business website hosting package. If a business’s revenue was to suffer due to its website being down, then the losses made will probably be greater than the cost of a business website hosting package that is able to guarantee 100% uptime; this is the main reason for many businesses moving over to business hosting since they would rather pay the extra expense that comes with business hosting rather than have to face losses of a higher value because their website went down on a standard website hosting package.
Although in the past the main solution for businesses that need a high amount of uptime was a dedicated server, many small businesses and new start-ups that needed a reliable web hosting service were unable to afford a dedicated server. However, the average cost of a standard business website hosting package is just a bit more than that of a standard website hosting package and about the same as a reasonable specification VPS; this means that reliable business hosting is now within the reach of both small businesses and start-ups that need a reliable service.
Most business web hosting packages act in the same way as a standard web hosting package does, in the way that you are given a reliable and common control panel to administrate your website with and are able to access a 24×7 support team in most cases. On Windows business hosting for example, you are provided with access to a Plesk control panel account so that you can control your business hosting account in the same way you would control a Windows hosting account. On Linux you are given access to a cPanel account to administrate and manage your business hosting account just like you would with a standard Linux hosting account.
One thing you should be cautious of when looking for a business hosting package is the technology that each web host uses to provide 100% uptime. You should also read the terms and conditions, since in most cases there will be something in the small print saying that the host isn’t able to truly achieve 100% guaranteed uptime. Sometimes a web host may be using old and outdated technology and techniques which may not be able to provide 100% guaranteed uptime. At the end of the day, it is exactly 100% uptime you want for your business website, no less.
One of the most reliable techniques at the current time used by many webhosts, include eUKhost, to provide business customers with 100% uptime is the technique of having a backup server available for immediate deployment for each business hosting server. The data on the main server and the ‘slave’ server is always in sync, meaning that if the main server was to go down, the slave server would automatically come into play with all the data of the main server in tact. Both servers will also share the same IP addresses, meaning that if the main server goes down all the IP addresses assigned to it will be automatically picked up by the slave server. So, in practise if the main server was to go down, you as the business customer wouldn’t know since all the data is kept in sync between the main server and the slave server.
Most web hosts are normally generous with the amount of bandwidth and disk space that they assigned to each business hosting account, meaning that you as the business customer can upload a large website to host from your business website hosting accounts. The main reason for this is that web hosts try to limit the amount of users they have on one business hosting server to below 10, so that the integrity of the server can be assured and to ensure that the use of resources doesn’t go spiraling out of control.
Most business hosting servers are built to a high specification and contain the best hardware around, so that if any downtime does occur, the hardware of the server itself is most likely not to be at fault. Web hosts also try to ensure that the server software itself is always up to date so that if any loopholes are found in older versions, the software on the business hosting server can’t be compromised so that malicious hackers can gain access to the server.
Web hosts will also ask for some sort of identification to ensure that you are a valid person who is purchasing business hosting, proof of your business may also be required in some situations since web hosts only want to allow genuine businesses on their business hosting servers, and not individuals who are after reliable hosting. Types of identification that might be requested include a passport, driving license or other type of official government issued identification.
So, in conclusion if you are a business that requires a reliable hosting package because you rely on your website for your trade, you should try out a business hosting package so that you can be ensured 100% uptime. If you are an individual who wants to be guaranteed a high amount of uptime, you should try either a VPS or dedicated server since in most cases, a web host won’t let you purchase a business hosting plan from them.
