Should I be considering shared hosting?
Should I be considering shared hosting?
Shared hosting services are the cheapest available, and most base packages that are old by a majority of web hosting providers are in fact shared web hosting packages. Shared hosting services are normally cheap, meaning that a good deal which suits your needs can be picked up at a price which also suits your needs; however, you must also take note that some web hosting providers do ‘oversell‘ their services meaning that they are selling off more than they have. Shared hosting services are normally designed for the hosting of one website in most cases, although web hosting companies do provide you with the facilities to host multiple domains if needed; however, if you wish to host a large number of domains and websites under separate accounts then you can consider using a higher up reseller web hosting account. Shared hosting can be used by anyone since web hosting providers allow you to manage your website hosting account in many different ways, and one of these ways is likely to suit your style of management. Since you don’t have to pay much to use a shared web hosting package, you shouldn’t expect server reliability to be great, although you can probably rely on the help of a dedicated support team as needed.
In order to know whether you should be considering shared web hosting services or not, you need to evaluate your requirements so that you are able to be sure of what you need excactly – although this may not seem much, it can certainly help you get a better deal in terms of what you pay for your web hosting service. If you feel that shared web hosting is for you, then it is important that you take into account several different considerations since they could affect your decision. Although considering the features of shared hosting may sway your overall decision, it may benefit you in the long term if you choose to go with another form of web hosting. Such considerations that you may have to make in relation to shared hosting may include:
- disk space – shared hosting accounts generally come with low amounts of disk space since web hosting companies want to try and fit as many shared hosting accounts onto one server as possible – if you feel that low amounts of disk space aren’t what you need, and that you need large amounts then you may have to consider server hosting
- bandwidth - the amount of bandwidth that you will require is dependent on how many visitors you receive to your website, although it can also be affected by how ‘image heavy’ your website is – shared hosting packages come with more than enough bandwidth to cover the needs of most website administrators
- reliability – shared web hosting servers are more prone to security attacks than any other form of web hosting, which means that server reliability won’t always be the best – however, if you do choose to use a web hosting provider that is able to offer web hosting servers that have been properly secured then you are unlikely to face any problems – its just up to you to ensure that your scripts and websites are also secure.
Bandwidth and disk space are resources which are generally supplied with any web hosting account that is sold, however, you should ensure that the package you are purchasing comes with sensible amounts of both and not ‘unlimited amounts‘. Although ‘unlimited’ web hosting may be very tempting and cheaper for you, the server reliability will be even less because the web hosting provider that you have chosen to use is selling off resources that they don’t have.
Central to most people’s decision on shared web hosting is whether or not they’ll be able to use the programs that they need, and whether important scripting languages that are used by many will be supported. Some web hosting providers choose not to support certain server side components and scripting languages for shared web hosting services since they want to aim such packages at people with low level technical knowledge and may not need to use such features. If important features are missing then you will most likely choose to use a web hosting provider that is able to offer you more in a shared hosting package, although it is of course dependent on your requirements. Although the features that aren’t offered by web hosts may differ, a majority tend not to offer important features such as:
- PHP – this is an important since many programmers use it to build their websites and web based applications, although some web hosting providers choose not to offer it since it is seen as a feature that will only be needed by advance users who are more likely to go with reseller hosting or a form of server hosting
- MySQL – MySQL databases are normally used in conjunction with PHP websites and scripts, and since some web hosts don’t allow the use of PHP on shared hosting services, you will find that MySQL databases have also been disabled by the same web hosting providers – however, this means that your web hosting account is likely to be cheaper because of it
- low amounts of disk space – since some web hosting providers see shared hosting as a starting point, they only provide their web hosting accounts with low amounts of bandwidth so that they don’t end up provisioning accounts with large amounts of disk space that are unlikely to be ever used up in full.
In some cases you may find that you require PHP and MySQL with your web hosting package in order to allow your website to function correctly. However, if you only want to use of shared web hosting accounts for testing then you will find that low amounts of disk space are more than enough for you; this will also allow you to find a cheaper web hosting package if you only need one which has low amounts of disk space and important features that you don’t need disabled.
Unlike higher level forms of web hosting, your web hosting provider are responsible for the management and security of their shared hosting servers. The only thing that you have to worry about is the security of your own scripts and web pages as well as the management of your own web hosting account. This normally means that your overall web hosting account however is fully managed, allowing you to carry on with more important tasks whilst your web hosting account is managed by your web hosting provider’s support team – this also means that you can contact them regarding any queries you may have about your shared web hosting account. Fully managed shared hosting packages can come with many advantages such as:
- less downtime – if there is a support team always available to take care of any server problems then there is going to be less downtime since your web hosting provider will be able to respond to any server problems immediately, meaning that there will be less time that the server will be down – however, it is dependent on the problem
- quicker response to any queries – if you have queries regarding your web hosting account, then you are guaranteed that a member of staff will be able to reply to your question within a given period – this means that you can ask quesitons day or night and be guaranteed that you can get the answer that you need
- secure servers – fully managed shared hosting servers are likely to be more secure, meaning that you can be safe in the knowledge that all the data which you have stored in your web hosting account is in the safest of web hosting environments, and that the server on which you are hosted is very unlikely to be hacked or compromised in any way.
Although full support is unlikely to influence your decision on shared hosting, it clearly shows that if you have no idea on how to manage a website hosting account that shared web hosting may be for you since it will allow you to call on your web hosting provider’s support team as needed. Shared hosting with fully support does ensure that you are able to receive support for any issues you may be having, but unless the support team is available 24×7 then you may find that it isn’t everything that it is cracked up to be.
If you feel that you don’t need the high resources that are provided with other forms of web hosting then you should be considering shared web hosting, but if you are after a scalable hosting solution which will help your website expand rapidly then you should be considering higher end web hosting services. Shared hosting services do tend to come with low amounts of disk space, although when it comes down to it you don’t need that much unless you are going to be hosting an image heavy website. You may also find that certain features are disabled, but such measures are unlikely to affect you.
