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Web Hosting Guide
In order to help explain some of the terms that people encounter
when comparing hosting plans, we have compiled this guide to help you
make an informed decision when looking for a web hosting provider. If there
are any terms that you still don't understand and/or terms that you don't
see listed below, please email us
and we will be more than happy to provide you with more information.
ColdFusion
The ColdFusionŽ 4.5 Web application server gives you the fastest way
to develop and deliver scalable enterprise and e-commerce business
applications. ColdFusion includes visual programming, database, and
debugging tools in the ColdFusion Studio integrated development
environment. And open integration with databases, email, directories,
Java, XML, and enterprise systems means you can build complex Web
applications quickly and easily. The proven technology in ColdFusion
Server scales to deliver the reliability and performance that your most
demanding Web applications require. Available on Windows, Solaris,
HP-UX, and Linux, ColdFusion provides security on every level from
development through deployment.
Hard Disk Storage
This is the space you have to store your site. Every website is stored on a webserver which
is the computer that broadcasts your site to your visitors. Your hard disk storage
is how much space you are allocated on that computer's hard drive. Even
most robust websites don't require more than 5 megs of space, but having more is a nice luxury.
Monthly Transfer (also called bandwidth)
This is the total amount of data (including graphics and HTML web pages) which can be uploaded and
downloaded from your site each month. It is a rough estimator of how many visitors
your hosting plan can accomodate. For example, on an average size website with a
moderate amount of graphics, it has been our experience that 750 megs of transfer can
accomodate well over 4,000 visitors per month. Some web hosts claim to
offer "unlimited bandwidth" which is generally a bad thing.
Not only are they likely to pack your site on an overloaded server and connection (bandwidth
costs us money), but if you read the fine print there are always "excessive use
penalties" which are arbitrary and costly. In contrast, we monitor bandwidth
and insure your site is always fast and reliable with no hidden charges.
Unlimited updates via FTP
We allow you to update your site 24/7 using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Client.
This is a program which allows you to connect to our server and upload your files.
We recommend WS_FTP which is both powerful and simple to use. It can be found at www.ipswitch.com .
Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions
Microsoft FrontPage is an extremely popular web development tool. You can create your site and
upload it to our servers using this extremely powerful product. Our servers also
support FrontPage "bots" which are easy-to-add bells and whistles for your
website like counters, order forms, and more.
CGI script support and your own CGI-BIN directory
CGI (common gateway interface) allows you to run scripts and programs on our server to
enhance your web pages. Most of these scripts are written in a language called
Perl, although C and C++ are also used frequently. Unlike with HTML, CGI's are executed on
the server. You can use CGI to add advanced forms, shopping carts, counters, and
many other features to your website. The CGI-BIN is a special directory which allows
scripts and programs to be executed on the server.
Active Server Pages
With ASP, you can add interactive content to your Web pages or build entire Web applications that use HTML pages
as the interface to your visitors. Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side
scripting environment that you can use to create dynamic Web pages or build powerful Web
applications. ASP pages are files that contain HTML tags, text, and script commands.
ASP pages can call ActiveX components to perform tasks, such as connecting to a
database or performing a business calculation.
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