Comments on: A Host for Your Site: Look at the Hard Numbers http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/ Rebooting the workforce Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:53:31 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: IXcoupon http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288932 IXcoupon Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:27:37 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288932 Receive $99 dollars cash back when you sign up for webhosting through the top rated web host on the internet, IXWebHosting.com! This is an exclusive online rebate only and is now available as a quick pay rebate via PayPal! Visit http://www.IXCoupon.com today! Receive $99 dollars cash back when you sign up for webhosting through the top rated web host on the internet, IXWebHosting.com! This is an exclusive online rebate only and is now available as a quick pay rebate via PayPal! Visit http://www.IXCoupon.com today!

]]> By: magnus http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288064 magnus Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:52:12 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288064 Another great service to use if you are interested in monitoring your webservices is Pingdom (http://www.pingdom.com/). Works brilliantly! Another great service to use if you are interested in monitoring your webservices is Pingdom (http://www.pingdom.com/).

Works brilliantly!

]]> By: russ http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288034 russ Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:07:37 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288034 i would love to see more comments on actually hosting companies, and your experience with them. i use godaddy and ixwebhosting for most projects, and godaddy seems to have excellent uptime, while ixwebhosting is iffy sometimes, maybe 10% it's down. any other hosts that you recommend? i would love to see more comments on actually hosting companies, and your experience with them. i use godaddy and ixwebhosting for most projects, and godaddy seems to have excellent uptime, while ixwebhosting is iffy sometimes, maybe 10% it’s down. any other hosts that you recommend?

]]> By: Rob W http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288028 Rob W Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:45:14 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288028 ...wait a second. I'm reading the description for "Peak Uptime". <strong>That's</strong> the reason for the time limitation. Sorry, I should have realized that. :( So, that's better, though it still seems like it would be easy for a host to "manage" that test account. About income: they collect from people who want to see the whole list, and they collect from hosts who want to be on the public list. It makes sense as a business model, since the public listing is a fixed price thing, not related to level of coverage, any kind of opinion-related review, etc.. …wait a second. I’m reading the description for “Peak Uptime”. That’s the reason for the time limitation.

Sorry, I should have realized that. :(

So, that’s better, though it still seems like it would be easy for a host to “manage” that test account.

About income: they collect from people who want to see the whole list, and they collect from hosts who want to be on the public list. It makes sense as a business model, since the public listing is a fixed price thing, not related to level of coverage, any kind of opinion-related review, etc..

]]> By: Rob W http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288027 Rob W Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:29:26 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288027 A hugely important point: their uptime "stats" include only <strong>7am to 7pm CST, Monday - Friday</strong>. So a host with 100% uptime might actually be completely inaccessible for <strong>108</strong> hours of each 168-hour week. That's insane. How is that a useful metric? I guess it's helpful for people hosting sites that are only EVER accessed by people in the US, during working hours... who does that include, exactly? Don't some people do their online shopping at home in the evenings, or on weekends, perhaps? Another huge point: they set up an account with these hosts, then check it every 30 seconds, but only 7am - 7pm M-F. And I'll bet these sites get no other traffic. So for the host to track down the test account and put it in their most stable environment is a no-brainer.... So no, I wouldn't recommend paying for this. A hugely important point: their uptime “stats” include only 7am to 7pm CST, Monday – Friday.

So a host with 100% uptime might actually be completely inaccessible for 108 hours of each 168-hour week.

That’s insane. How is that a useful metric? I guess it’s helpful for people hosting sites that are only EVER accessed by people in the US, during working hours… who does that include, exactly? Don’t some people do their online shopping at home in the evenings, or on weekends, perhaps?

Another huge point: they set up an account with these hosts, then check it every 30 seconds, but only 7am – 7pm M-F. And I’ll bet these sites get no other traffic. So for the host to track down the test account and put it in their most stable environment is a no-brainer….

So no, I wouldn’t recommend paying for this.

]]> By: LG http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288021 LG Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:14:30 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288021 pfftt. If anyone seriously thinks IXWebhosting achieve 99% uptime, I have a bridge I'd like to sell them. My experience was that most of their boxes are down for about an hour a day, every day. My current host (Nearlyfreespeech.net -- with a pay for use biz model that predates Amazon EC2/S3 by about 10 years) don't appear to be on the list. I'd rate their uptime as excellent, and their speed (for complex PHP stuff) as fair. Whilst I'd be glad for a bit of objectivity, it seems that Netmetrics still rely mostly on hosting providers for their income. I'd be wary of placing too much stock in them. pfftt.
If anyone seriously thinks IXWebhosting achieve 99% uptime, I have a bridge I’d like to sell them.
My experience was that most of their boxes are down for about an hour a day, every day.
My current host (Nearlyfreespeech.net — with a pay for use biz model that predates Amazon EC2/S3 by about 10 years) don’t appear to be on the list. I’d rate their uptime as excellent, and their speed (for complex PHP stuff) as fair.

Whilst I’d be glad for a bit of objectivity, it seems that Netmetrics still rely mostly on hosting providers for their income. I’d be wary of placing too much stock in them.

]]> By: Samuel http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288010 Samuel Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:56:50 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288010 Very good points, Aaron. There are lots of metrics for evaluating which host is right for your site. Some of them offer very good professional help at reasonable prices for tasks such as design, some of them just have stellar support, etc. However, if you look at the RealMetrics data you can clearly see large variances in how the various hosts do even simple things like serving a simple page up at peak hours or in a reasonable amount of time. Very good points, Aaron. There are lots of metrics for evaluating which host is right for your site. Some of them offer very good professional help at reasonable prices for tasks such as design, some of them just have stellar support, etc. However, if you look at the RealMetrics data you can clearly see large variances in how the various hosts do even simple things like serving a simple page up at peak hours or in a reasonable amount of time.

]]> By: Aaron Bailey http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288009 Aaron Bailey Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:23:35 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288009 The problem with these basic benchmarks is that they don't account for various types of applications you might want to run on your site. The tests above are just accounting for a simple HTML page. Shared hosts should quickly serve basic HTML pages without batting an eye. The real question is if the host will serve up your application (blogs, wiki, shopping cart, etc.) without problem. You'll want to do research or talk to someone knowledgeable about whether what you need to do with your site fits well with where you want to host it. My experience with a dozen or so hosts over a few years is that the better the support, the better the host. Also, make sure you have contingencies in place for when your host goes dark (and it will!). The problem with these basic benchmarks is that they don’t account for various types of applications you might want to run on your site. The tests above are just accounting for a simple HTML page. Shared hosts should quickly serve basic HTML pages without batting an eye. The real question is if the host will serve up your application (blogs, wiki, shopping cart, etc.) without problem.

You’ll want to do research or talk to someone knowledgeable about whether what you need to do with your site fits well with where you want to host it.

My experience with a dozen or so hosts over a few years is that the better the support, the better the host. Also, make sure you have contingencies in place for when your host goes dark (and it will!).

]]> By: Amie Gillingham http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/15/how-to-easily-find-the-best-host-for-your-site/#comment-288006 Amie Gillingham Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:56:33 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=1765#comment-288006 I may be one of those shelling out the $9 to compare hosts since neither our current dedicated server host nor the competitor to whom we're considering switching is listed. Thanks for the timely tip! I may be one of those shelling out the $9 to compare hosts since neither our current dedicated server host nor the competitor to whom we’re considering switching is listed.

Thanks for the timely tip!

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