Are you in the market for a shared hosting service and wondering how to choose from the pool of options? There\’s a lot of factors to take into considerations. You\’ll have to do some research for each potential host. You\’ll have to think about the host\’s reputation for crowded servers, uptime, web panels, support, and cost. This short guide will walk you through the steps on how to pick a good shared host.

Server Load

Perhaps the most important factor to take into consideration is the service\’s reputation for server load. You can check the server load using the uptime command for Linux servers. High load is bad, low load is good.

High load occurs when there are too many customers, websites, or web applications running on the same physical server. This usually means the service provider is putting too many customers on the same server, expecting them to share it nicely. They do this to save money on cost and earn more profits from their customers.

Many service providers have horrible reputations for cramming their servers. Do some research and check online reviews before you make any commitments.

Hosting Uptime

Another important factor is hosting uptime. Do their servers disconnect and stay down for periods at a time? Your website or web application is dependent on their servers. If their servers go down, so does your website. This usually means loss income for you. Uptime can be checked using the uptime command on Linux machines.

Most companies will advertise their uptime on their homepage or a page on their website. It\’s usually something they like to brag about. Most companies actually do a great job regarding uptime. You can usually check their status page to see if they\’ve had any recent outages.

Web Panels

If you\’re staring out, it\’s important that your shared host provides a good web panel. A popular one is cPanel. Web panels provide a GUI for simple point and click installations of common software. Would you rather install a WordPress blog by command line or by clicking a few icons?

Common software includes WordPress, MySQL, PostgresSQL, Drupal, forums, base Ruby on Rails applications, Django applications, and much more.

Besides software, web panels can also be used to administer email and database accounts. You can avoid using the command line to create and set your email username and password.

Included Software

If you\’re a developer, the included software on your server is important. Does your shared hosting provider include common version control systems like Git or Mercurial? How about scripting languages like Ruby or Python?

Some shared hosts live close to the bleeding edge. When Git began to become popular, they made it a default on all of their servers. These are great shared hosts to have because it means less work for you.

Custom Software Packages

How does the shared host handle custom software packages? Many websites or web applications may depend on other software packages. If you\’re hosting a Ruby on Rails application, you may require installing uncommon Ruby gems. If you\’re hosting a Django application, you may require Python packages. Hopefully, the shared host you choose will allow you to install software packages into your home directory.

Learn More About Web Hosting Learn how to pick a Ruby on Rails host. Also find out if shared hosting is enough for Rails.

Learn how to pick a Ruby on Rails host at http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/How-To-Pick-A-Ruby-On-Rails-Host/2981657 — also find out if shared hosting is enough for Rails at http://www.articlesbase.com/web-hosting-articles/is-shared-hosting-enough-for-rails-6548827.html

Author Bio: Learn More About Web Hosting Learn how to pick a Ruby on Rails host. Also find out if shared hosting is enough for Rails.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: shared host, shared hosting, web hosting