Finding the Right cPanel Web Hosting

[NewsDesk]

By Aric Pedersen - www.netenberg.com

If you don't already have a web host that offers cPanel, then the first order of business will be to locate one. There are probably tens of thousands of web hosts that offer cPanel to their clients. This article briefs you on how do you go about finding the one that is right for you.

Types of Web Hosting
There are several different kinds of web hosting options, and it is important to understand the difference between them before you begin looking for a host.

The most common type of web hosting (and generally the cheapest) is Shared Hosting. Shared Hosting means that there are many websites hosted on a single web server. A web server is a special computer that handles storing and displaying websites. For most people who are looking to host a website for the first time or those who are concerned about the cost, shared hosting is the best choice. Since many websites are served from a single machine, the costs are generally lower than other hosting options. Costs vary from 0 to 40 USD per month on average.

However, shared hosting does have some drawbacks. The more sites a web server hosts, the more likely it is that your website may react sluggishly, since there are many demands on the web server. If you decide to purchase a shared web hosting account, you should ask your host what kind of hardware they host accounts on. Faster machines with more RAM are preferable. For example, a Dual Xeon CPU server with 2 GB of RAM will generally perform better than an old single Celeron CPU server with 512 MB of RAM. Just as important as knowing the server hardware, is getting a sense of how many shared hosting accounts your host will put on a server before considering it full?the fewer, the better.

The next type of web hosting is often referred to as Reseller Hosting. This is similar to shared hosting, except that you are allowed to resell shared hosting accounts to others. Reseller hosting allows you to start your own web hosting business. The average cost of a reseller hosting plan tends to fall between 20 and 60 USD a month. For those people who want to start a web hosting business but who do not have money for a VPS or dedicated server, reseller hosting is a good choice. The drawback is that like shared hosting, there may be many reseller hosting accounts on a server, each with many resold accounts. Knowing more about what kind of web server you will be hosted on is important.

On servers that contain resellers, the actual number of shared hosting accounts may vary widely, depending on how many accounts each reseller has. Many hosts do not require that you actually resell accounts if you buy a reseller plan. If so, then it is a good step-up from standard shared hosting since you can typically host many domains under a single reseller account with no extra fees involved. In addition, you get more control over the domains you manage in a reseller plan.

Some hosts will also offer VPS/VDS hosting and perhaps even Dedicated Servers. VPS (Virtual Private Server) and VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) hosting are different names for the same type of hosting accounts. Such accounts use special software to take a single physical web server and divide it into two or more separate virtual web servers. Each virtual server acts as if it is a completely separate machine. Each virtual machine gets a guaranteed amount of the physical server resources including use of the CPU and disk space. VPS/VDS accounts have many of the advantages of dedicated servers without the higher cost. A VPS/VDS account may cost from 30 to 120 USD a month on average.
If you purchase a dedicated server, you receive an entire web server with no other accounts on it. Most of the time dedicated servers also permit you system administrator access (which allows you complete control over the server). Dedicated servers on an average costs between 100 and 500 USD a month.

Hunting for Hosting
Now that you understand the difference between the various sorts of hosting you can purchase, you're ready to start looking for a host for your website. There are many different places you can look for information about hosting companies and hosting plans. Of course, you can visit Google (http://google.com/) and search for cPanel hosting to find some web hosts, but just because a host appears near the top of the search results does not mean that it will be the best host for your needs. Finding the right host requires a good deal of research and perhaps even a bit of luck. There are so many web hosts that it is impossible to compare them all.

If you are looking for an answer to a particular question you should always try to use the search feature first before posting, since your question may have already been answered. If you find a web host with a plan that looks interesting, do a search and see what others think of that host. If you find a web host with a very cheap plan but you find that there are a lot of negative comments about it, then you might want to consider finding another host.

The Quest for Features
Many hosts offer a plethora of features with their hosting plans and it can be quite confusing to figure out what you really need. Here are some of the most important features you should look for in any web hosting plan:

• Disk Space: This is a measure of how much stuff you can store on the server. Disk space is measured in either computer megabytes, (1 MB = 1,024 KB) or metric standard gigabytes, (1 GB = 1,000 MB). If you are unsure how disk space is measured, you should ask the host. How much space you actually need depends on what you plan to do with your website. If your site is going to be just a few static web pages that won't change often, then you could probably do with as little as 20 MB of disk space. If you plan on creating an online photo gallery, expect to need a lot more disk space, several GB, typically (pictures and media files tend to take up a lot of space). Generally most people seem to think they need far more disk space than they really do. The key is to get a bit more than you think you will use right now, but not too much more. When in doubt, assume you will use less disk space than you think you need.
• Bandwidth: Bandwidth is a measure of how much data is transferred to or from your hosting account. Typically this is measured in computer gigabytes. Again, if you are unsure about how your host measures bandwidth, be sure to ask. Bandwidth includes any and all traffic coming to or from the server for your domain including web pages, FTP transfers, e-mail, and so on. Bandwidth on most cPanel servers is measured from the beginning of one calendar month to the beginning of the next. Bandwidth is typically reset some time on the first of every month. People tend to use more bandwidth than they think they need, so getting more is always a good thing. Many hosting companies make obtaining extra bandwidth rather expensive (sometimes as much as $5 per extra GB over the standard plan amount), so generally it is better to upgrade to the next higher hosting plan rather than pay for extra bandwidth every month.
• MySQL Databases: Databases are used to store information. Even though you may never have used a database before, you will need at least one for web hosting. The reason for this is that many web-based programs (typically called scripts) use a database to store data that gets accessed regularly. For example, many forums and photo gallery scripts require the use of a database. While you can often get away with just one if your needs are modest, you should ideally look for plans with unlimited databases so you can feel free to use as many as you need. Keep in mind that data stored in databases typically counts against your disk space usage, so while you may be able to create as many databases as you want, you still cannot go over the total disk space assigned to your hosting plan.
• PHP: PHP is a programming language that a lot of web-based scripts use. Make sure any host you choose offers at least PHP 4.4.1 or later.

This article has been extracted from the book, "cPanel: User Guide and Tutorial". Get the most from cPanel with this easy to follow guide

For further details please visit www.packtpub.com/cPanel/book.

About The Author
Aric Pedersen has been using cPanel on a daily basis for over 6 years both as an end user for his own websites and as a systems administrator. He currently works as a systems administrator for several hosting companies and also for www.netenberg.com, the creators of Fantastico Deluxe (a popular script auto-installer for cPanel). Aric has been providing companies and end users with web hosting and related documentation for several years.