{mosimage}Is
your nonprofit's Web site running off a server in your 15-year-old
nephew's closet? Does your Web designer charge you $150 a month for
hosting when you've heard that $15 a month will get you everything you
need? Would you like to use a particular software package that your
hosting provider just won't let you install?
By:
Idealware
This
article is courtesy of Idealware, which provides candid information to
help nonprofits choose effective software. For more articles and
reviews, go to www.idealware.org .
Is
your nonprofit's Web site running off a server in your 15-year-old
nephew's closet? Does your Web designer charge you $150 a month for
hosting when you've heard that $15 a month will get you everything you
need? Would you like to use a particular software package that your
hosting provider just won't let you install?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to consider looking for a new Web hosting provider.
At
its most basic, a Web hosting provider offers both a server where you
can host your Web site and an Internet connection your constituents can
use to access it. Good providers specialize in Web hosting, with dozens
or hundreds of servers, all protected by carefully designed security,
climate, power, and backup systems to ensure that your site stays up
and running.
But how do you find a reliable provider that meets
your organization's needs — especially when there are thousands of
hosting services out there, a plethora of features and tools to choose
from, and pricing options ranging anywhere from $5 to $500 or more per
month?
Idealware asked the seven nonprofit technology consultants
listed below to share their favorite Web hosting providers and to offer
some guidance on navigating the options. We've consolidated their
advice in this primer on Web hosting services.
• Ted Fickes, Founder, Eagle River Partners
• Jeff Herron, Vice President, Beaconfire
• John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Specialist
• Eric Leland, TechCommons Director, CompuMentor
• Jon Stahl, Program Manager, ONE/Northwest
• Michael Stein, Internet Strategist and Author
• Chris Steins, CEO, Urban Insight
While it's technically
possible to host a Web site on any computer with a permanent connection
to the Internet, it's rarely a good idea. Letting one of your IT staff,
a board member, or an acquaintance host your site from his or her
closet or garage may seem like a good way to save money, but it's
seldom worth the risk. Power outages, crashes, hackers, and even
well-meaning staff can all take your site offline for hours — or even
days.
In other words, hosting is best left to the professionals,
who can offer a variety of safeguards: high-quality, backup Internet
connections; emergency power generators; reliable backup systems,
strong firewalls; the ability to accommodate sudden spikes in the
traffic to your site; and a lot of experience troubleshooting Web
servers.
A professional outside hosting service can provide the
critical infrastructure and safeguards that few nonprofits can afford.
Though not free, this cost-effective alternative will offer
you peace of mind — and after all, isn't it worth a small investment to
know your Web site is up and running when donors or constituents are
looking for it?
Occasionally,
the person or company who built your Web site will offer to host it for
you. While this may sound convenient, consider the option carefully.
To
start, ask your designer where the actual server that hosts your site
will reside. Any reputable designer will outsource the actual Web
hosting to a professional provider; under this reseller's agreement,
your designer will rent a chunk of hosting space, manage the
relationship with the vendor, and bill costs to you.
Be sure to
find out the specifics of the hosting package you're being offered.
Will you get the same type of storage, bandwidth, email service,
upgrade path, and ability to check Web stats that you would get from
working with a reputable outside provider? (See "Basic Shared Hosting,"
below.)
Also, keep in mind that hosting with a Web designer can
be more expensive than hosting directly with a provider; after all, the
more channels you have to go through, the more people there are to take
a share of the fees. It's also important to keep an eye out for
unscrupulous resellers who may overcharge you.
In most cases,
it's better to skip the middleman and go straight to the source.
However, if you have a long-term relationship with a Web consultant, it
might be worth the extra money to have him or her serve as a liaison
between you and the hosting company, interpreting any
hard-to-understand technical jargon. Some consultants can also offer
specialized or customized software that may be harder to obtain
elsewhere.
The cheapest, easiest way to host a Web site is through what's called a shared
hosting provider. Under this system, your Web site's files are stored
on a server that also hosts a number of other people's sites. (However,
you can typically see and access only your own files.)
Shared
hosting providers are set up to allow an organization with basic
Web-building skills to administer its own site without involving the
hosting company. The organization — not the service provider — handles
the behind-the-scenes work for its site, from uploading new files to
checking visitor statistics to creating new email accounts and
resetting passwords. This is usually accomplished through a Web-based
control panel or via FTP.
What should you look for in a good shared Web hosting provider?
Unless you have a lot of
images, videos, or large PDF files, even a very small storage and
bandwidth plan is likely to be sufficient. Idealware's site, for
instance, which receives about 325 visitors a day and 25,000 page views
a month, uses less than 500MB of bandwidth per month — far less than
the amount offered by most plans.
Some
providers will also allow you to create secure sections of your Web
site where you can restrict files to visitors with a given password;
create redirects so that a given Web page is available under multiple
URLs; and more.
The majority of hosts use a
setup consisting of a Linux or Unix-like operating system, Apache Web
server software, a MySQL database, and a PHP or Perl programming
language. This setup is not likely to support Web sites created in ASP
or ColdFusion.
Likewise, some hosts use a purely Microsoft
setup — with Windows as the operating system, Internet Information
Server (IIS) as the Web server, SQL Server as the database, and Active
Server Pages as the programming language — and this may or may not
support PHP and MySQL. To be sure, check with your provider before you
sign up.
Some
applications, however, require more access to the server — to change
system files or global settings, for instance — than shared hosting
services typically allow. This means you may not be allowed to install
some of your organization's applications on a standard shared host.
Again, looking into this before you sign up with a particular provider
will save you trouble down the road.
Not all
hosting providers offer outstanding email hosting service, however. The
quality of virus and spam protection and of Web-based email
administration tools can vary widely, and some providers set strict
limits on outgoing mail capabilities in an effort to prevent spammers
from abusing the system.
A shared host is a typical, affordable way to go. Why would you want something else?
While
there are too many specialty Web hosting options to cover here, it's
fairly easy to narrow in on reliable ones suited to your needs. Begin
by contacting your software's Web site or support team to see what
hosting providers they recommend.
Another effective strategy is
to consult user forums or email lists for hosting testimonials. Many
software forums — especially those for open-source tools — include a
lot of detail about the pros and cons of various hosting providers.
Another option for a nonprofits that needs specific software packages to run its Web site is a managed virtual private server
. This setup allows you to share server hardware with others, but
offers you your own, dedicated virtual operating system, set up in a
way that functions independently of other users' software.
You
can install anything you'd like on your virtual private server, making
this choice particularly useful for those who'd like to use more
complex applications or frameworks — like proprietary software, Plone,
or Ruby on Rails — but don't need the processing power of a full server.
Virtual
private servers are considerably cheaper than the dedicated server
options (where you essentially lease or buy your own server), and
generally run about $15 to $60 a month, depending on the processing
power needed. Prices are coming down quickly, though, as this segment
of the Web hosting market is a rapidly growing and evolving.
Virtual
private servers have only recently become accessible to a mainstream
audience, and our contributors don't have much experience with specific
vendors.
Dedicated
servers are the Cadillac of the hosting world. As the name implies, a
dedicated server is yours alone, and you can configure it and install
anything on it that you like.
You can purchase your own server
hardware and plug it into the Web hosting provider's
infrastructure — known as "co-locating" — or you can rent the hardware
from the hosting provider. Either way, the benefit of hosting your site
on a dedicated server — as opposed to a server out of your broom
closet — is that a Web hosting provider offers a safety net your closet
simply doesn't supply. This frequently includes protection against
theft, power outages, floods, and more.
An additional benefit to
dedicated hosting is that it allows you to decide which administrative
functions you'd like to perform, and which you'd like to delegate to
the hosting facility. These services, typically at an additional
charge, may include monitoring your server to make sure it's running,
routine upgrades, backups, and the like.
If your dedicated server comes with these additional services, it's known as a managed
server. Keep in mind, however, that even with a managed server, you'll
need someone with substantial experience in server configuration and
application installation to get your Web site online and to keep it
running smoothly.
How
do you make a final selection? Like many decisions, choosing a Web
hosting provider often comes down to budget and features. Begin your
search by making a list of your requirements. How much disk space and
bandwidth do you need? What about programming languages? Do you require
phone support, or are you happy receiving help via email? If you have a
small budget, are you willing to compromise on customer service? Is it
critical that your Web site never goes down — or are a couple of
minutes of downtown here and there acceptable?
Carefully examine
the features listed on the Web sites of the providers you're
considering, and call to ask any additional questions. Remember to
consider not only your current hosting needs, but also your future
requirements. And don't forget to ask for references or talk to
organizations similar to your own that are using the host you are
considering.
Most importantly, don't give up — and don't
leave your Web site in a precarious situation. There are a lot of
hosting providers out there, and navigating the options may seem
daunting. But with a little research, you can find an affordable
provider that will help ensure that your Web site is up and running
when your donors and constituents come calling.
Source: Techsoup
Copyright ©2006 CompuMentor. This work is published under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
