People who are convicted of driving under the influence in California face severe legal penalties that will adversely impact their quality of life for years to come. Below is a standard list of legal penalties people face after a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd DUI conviction:

First DUI Offense

• jail time (up to 6 months)
• fines (up to $1,000)
• community service
• probation
• DUI School
• driver’s license suspension

Second DUI Offense

• jail time (up to a year)
• fines (up to $1,000)
• community service
• probation
• DUI School
• driver’s license suspension
• vehicle impoundment

Third DUI Offense

• jail time (up to a year)
• fines (up to $2,000)
• community service
• probation
• DUI School
• driver’s license suspension
• vehicle impoundment

Additionally, a person who has been convicted of DUI may receive an enhanced sentence if he/she caused a car accident, caused another person bodily injury, had a passenger below the age of 14 in his/her vehicle, drove 20 mph or greater over the speed limit, had a BAC of 0.15% or higher, or has a prior DUI conviction.

Orange County DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Orange County, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Orange County and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The DUI lawyers at Coffey & Coffey represent clients in Orange County, including Fullerton, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Westminster, and Newport Beach.

DUI Law
In the state of California, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. It is also illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher. If a person drives while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol, or drives with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, he/she can be charged with driving under the influence (DUI) by California law enforcement.

DUI Arrest
Law enforcement may make a DUI arrest they have sufficient probable cause. If law enforcement has reason to suspect DUI, such as noticing open containers in a person’s vehicle, they make legitimately make a DUI arrest. Additionally, law enforcement may make a DUI arrest if the person’s breath alcohol test results are 0.08% or higher, or if the person fails his/her field sobriety tests.

Once a person is placed under arrest for DUI, he/she will be served with a Notice of Suspension from law enforcement. This Notice will inform the person of his/her right to schedule an Administrative Hearing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles to contest the suspension of his/her driver’s license. From the time of his/her arrest, the person only has 10 days to schedule his/her DMV Hearing, or his/her driving privileges will automatically be suspended.

Hiring a DUI Attorney
After a person has been arrested for DUI, it is important that he/she retain the services of a qualified DUI defense attorney. Without the help of a DUI lawyer, people stand little chance of successfully fighting their DUI charges and preserving their driving privileges. By hiring a DUI defense lawyer, people can be assured that their case is handled by an experienced professional who understands California DUI law and the criminal process.

Orange County DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Orange County, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Orange County and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The DUI lawyers at Coffey & Coffey represent clients in Orange County, including Fullerton, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Westminster, and Newport Beach.

After a person has been arrested for driving under the influence, he/she will be served with a Notice of Suspension by California law enforcement. The Notice informs the person of his/her right to request an Administrative Hearing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to avoid the suspension of his/her driver’s license. From the time of his/her arrest, the person only has 10 days to schedule his/her Administrative Hearing with the DMV. If the person does not schedule his/her DMV hearing, his/her driving privileges will be suspended for a set period of time as ordained by the California DMV.

It is imperative that people schedule their Administrative Hearings with the DMV within 10 days of their arrests if they want to preserve their California driver’s license and driving privileges.

Once the person schedules his/her DMV hearing, he/she will be provided with a date, time, and location for the hearing. At the DMV hearing, the person will meet with a DMV representative who will serve as both the prosecutor and the judge. The DMV representative will present evidence against the person and argue that the person’s driving privileges should be suspended. The DMV representative will also make the final ruling as to whether or not the person will retain his/her license.

Due to the fact that the DMV representative serves a dual purpose, it is always to the person’s advantage to retain the services of a DUI defense attorney. A DUI defense attorney can represent the person throughout his/her DMV hearing, present counter evidence, and challenge any evidence that is presented by the DMV representative. Most importantly, a DUI lawyer can help preserve the person’s driving privileges and quality of life.

Orange County DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Orange County, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Orange County and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The DUI lawyers at Coffey & Coffey represent clients in Orange County, including Fullerton, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Westminster, and Newport Beach.

The DUI criminal case process begins once a person has been placed under arrest for driving under influence. A person can be placed under arrest for DUI if law enforcement has sufficient probable cause that the person was operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. Open containers, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, and/or failure of field sobriety tests are all grounds for sufficient probable cause and can lead to the person’s arrest.

Once the person has been placed under arrest, he/she will be escorted to the district police station. While under police custody, the person will be asked to take a blood alcohol test and will also be booked for DUI charges. Within 48-72 hours of the person’s arrest, the person must be arraigned. During the arraignment, the person will enter a plea of “guilty”, “not guilty”, or “no contest”. The person will be read his/her rights and the judge will inform the person of all pending criminal charges.

Prior to the arraignment, it is advisable that the person seek representation from an experienced DUI defense attorney. A DUI lawyer can guide the person throughout the DUI criminal process and defend the person in court. A DUI defense attorney can also negotiate with prosecutors after the arraignment to have the person’s criminal charges reduced and/or dismissed.

After the arraignment, both the defendant and the prosecutor may submit pre-trial motions. Pre-trial motions can be submitted to suppress evidence, for the discovery of evidence, and to dismiss the case entirely. At this time, both the prosecutor and defendant’s lawyer can further negotiate, and come to a mutually agreed upon outcome. If the prosecutor and defendant’s lawyer do not come to an agreement, the case will proceed to trial. However, the majority of DUI cases do not proceed to trial.

Orange County DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Orange County, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Orange County and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The DUI lawyers at Coffey & Coffey represent clients in Orange County, including Fullerton, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Westminster, and Newport Beach.

In the state of California, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. It is also illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher. If a person drives while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol, or drives with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, he/she can be charged with driving under the influence (DUI) by California law enforcement.

Each year, nearly 200,000 people are arrested for DUI in California. The mistake that many of these people make is taking their DUI charges too lightly. If a person is convicted of DUI, he/she may have to spend time in jail, pay large fines, and attend DUI School. Additionally, people who have been charged with DUI stand to lose their driving privileges. With the consequences being so risky, people cannot afford to take their DUI charges lightly.

Once a person has been charged with DUI, he/she needs to make sure that his/her rights are preserved and that he/she receives direction from a qualified DUI defense attorney. A DUI defense attorney can review the person’s situation and provide the person with valuable legal insight that could positively impact the outcome of the person’s case. If you have been charged with DUI, do not hesitate to seek legal representation from a skilled DUI lawyer.

Orange County DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Orange County, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Orange County and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The DUI lawyers at Coffey & Coffey represent clients in Orange County, including Fullerton, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Westminster, and Newport Beach.

After a person has been arrested for DUI in Newport Beach, it is important that he/she retain the services of a qualified DUI defense attorney. Without the help of a Newport Beach DUI lawyer, people stand little chance of successfully fighting their DUI charges and preserving their driving privileges. By hiring a DUI defense lawyer, people can be assured that their case is handled by an experienced professional who understands DUI law and the Newport Beach criminal process.

An experienced Newport Beach DUI defense attorney can review your case, challenge any evidence that may be presented against you, and provide you with the resources you need to build a strong defense. By working with a Newport Beach DUI lawyer, you will ensure that you are provided with the legal insight and guidance you need to obtain a successful case outcome.

Newport Beach DUI Defense Lawyers
Coffey & Coffey – Attorneys at Law

If you have been charged with driving under the influence in Newport Beach, you will need to hire an attorney who can protect your constitutional rights and defend you both in and out of court. At Coffey & Coffey, our experienced DUI attorneys have helped countless clients throughout Newport Beach and surrounding areas fight their DUI charges. We are skilled attorneys who strive to provide each of our clients with exceptional legal representation and advice.

The leading DUI defense attorneys at Coffey & Coffey are specialists in handling DUI cases in the Newport Beach courts. We have successfully represented numerous clients who have been charged with DUI in Newport Beach and are familiar with the city of Newport Beach’s legal and criminal processes.

Newport Beach and DUI Resources:

• City of Newport Beach
• Newport Beach City Guide
• Newport Beach History
• Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce
• Newport Beach Courthouse
• Newport Beach Police Department
• California Department of Motor Vehicles
• California DMV – DUI FAQ
• California Drunk Driving Statistics

DUI Lawyer, Newport Beach?

According to some recent research I have carried out "DUI lawyer Newport beach" is the hottest paying keyword as of the end of January 2008. This was interesting for two reasons. While I knew what a lawyer or attorney was and is I had no idea what DUI was or why it was such an issue at the beach of Newport.

I was about to find out. It seems that DUI is what we call drink driving in the UK or Driving Under the Influence. It does not take a genius to guess that Newport beach is the place where most people pay the most money to deal with such charges.

That "DUI lawyer Newport beach" is the top best paying keyword at the moment says a lot. Most of it not so good.

A little more research shows me that Newport Beach is a city in California and that it has a total customer base of 84,218 people (2007). Maybe all this drinking is because Nicolas Cage lives there because there is nothing that indicates such a massive surge in click prices. The only answer must be two or more highly competitive keyword bidders doing very well from it all.

Is there something about this part of Newport that lends itself to drinks cars and policemen? I don't know. What it means to us bloggers is a lot of cash being given out for a single topic.

Sadly, unless you live in Newport or the Newport area writing about DUI lawyers really is not going to help you too much. Perhaps "dui lawyer torrance" might serve you better although how you get that into a normal article is beyond me. It pays almost as well as the first keyword, apparently with "dui lawyer seattle" and "seattle dui lawyer" trailing somewhat.

It almost makes me want to start a blawg (law blog) or general DUI USA blog but for one small thing - it is a dull and boring topic. Let's be honest, it is not that interesting. Unless you happen to have gotten a fine and ban for your party lifestyle.

When you arrested for DUI in Newport Beach, you will have to deal with both the Orange County criminal courts (Harbor Justice Center) and the DMV. Since you were arrested for a Newport Beach DUI, you were most likely arrested by the Newport Beach Police Department.

If you're loved one was arrested by the Newport Beach Police Department and you need to contact them immediately please find the police department address at 870 Santa Barbara Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 and their telephone (non-emergency): (949) 644-3681. You may have also been arrested by either the Orange County Sheriff's Department or the California Highway Patrol.

The most important aspect of a DUI arrest is the fact that you have 10 CALENDAR, not court or business days, to have your attorney contact DMV to schedule a hearing and stop the proposed suspension of your driving privilege in California. Irrespective of whether or not you have a California driver's license, the DMV Admin Per Se hearing is crucial in a DUI case because of the opportunity it affords your attorney to subpoena witnesses and evidence to the hearing to challenge the merits of a DUI arrest. At the DMV Admin Per Se Hearing we will have an opportunity, should we choose, to cross examine the officers involved in your arrest, any percipient witnesses and possibly a forensic toxicologist.

DO NOT SCHEDULE THE DMV HEARING YOURSELF !! The main reason is that it may not be convenient to our schedule nor any of the anticipated witnesses who may need to be subpoenaed. Let our office handle the contacting of DMV as well as the scheduling of the hearing. When we request a hearing we do so via facsimile with a transmission confirmation as well as via certified mail to insure DMV receives our hearing request.

Since you were arrested in Newport Beach for a DUI, your DMV Admin Per Se Hearing will be held at the Irvine Driver Safety office of the DMV. The Irvine Driver Safety office is located at 16735 Von Karman, #110, Irvine, CA 92606-4953. Click here for driving directions to Irvine Driver Safety office.

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Since you were arrested in Newport Beach for a DUI, your court appearance will be held at the Harbor Justice Center. The Harbor Justice Center is located at 4601 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, CA 92660-2595. Click here for driving directions to the Harbor Justice Center.

Newport Beach DUI Information
City of Newport Beach	Newport Beach Police Department

Harbor Justice Center	Harbor Justice Center
Limited Jurisdiction DUI filings from Balboa Island DUI, Costa Mesa DUI , Newport Beach DUI, Irvine DUI, Santa Ana Heights DUI, John Wayne Airport DUI, Lido Isle DUI and surrounding areas	4601 Jamboree Road Newport Beach, CA 92660-2595 Telephone: (949) 476-4765 Website: Orange County Superior Court
Criminal Operations: Criminal: (949) 476-4765 Fax: (949) 476-4752	Alcohol Liaison: Telephone: (949) 476-4624 Courthouse location: Harbor Court. 2nd Floor Room 225
District Attorney - Harbor Justice Deputy: 4601 Jamboree Road Newport Beach, CA 92663 Telephone: (949) 476-4650 Facsimile: (949) 476-4623 Website: Orange County District Attorney	Public Defender: Telephone: (949) 476-4888 Website: Orange County Public Defender
Sheriff's Court Operations: Telephone: (949) 476-4822 Website: Sheriff's Court Operations	Orange County Probation: Telephone: (949) 249-5029 Website: Orange County Probation
Victim Witness Assistance: Telephone: (949) 476-4855 Website: Victim Witness Assistance	California Highway Patrol - Santa Ana Branch 2031 E. Santa Clara Ave. Santa Ana 92705-7838 Tel: 714-567-6000 Website: CHP

Map to the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, California

Pakistan is a destination for culture & adventure tours. There are many exciting options for adventure & thrill seekers. Travel and Culture is experienced tour-operator handling all type of adventure tours in Pakistan. We have our own equipment rental service and have contracts with jeep providers and hotels all over northern & Southern Pakistan. Our guides are from the local villages and regions and they know the area very well.

We are only tour-operator in Pakistan who is versed with both south & North Pakistan. We can cater for Adventure in the Karakorums, Himalayas Hindukush mountains and from Arabian sea to the Southern Deserts of Thar & Cholistan. We organize Trekking, Jeep Safaris, camel safaris and boat safaris in the Indus and Wild boar Hunting tours in Pakistan .

Our all adventure Itineraries Include Half board meals with small snack for Lunch. Itineraries are arranged from easy to the most hard ones. Cost is quoted in US$ Per person basis . All groups are guaranteed to materialize with minimum 3 Persons on any schedule or dates.

Day 01 On arrival at Sost from the China. Meet upon arrival after customs and immigration drive to Gulmit. This is a very scenic drive there are numerous photostops for taking the views of snow capped Karakorum mountains reaching over 7 thousand meters. Overnight at hotel
Day 02 Full day in Gulmit. Gulmit was a small kingdom in the past you will see village life of this quint little area surrounded by gigantic mountains. You can have shourt walks in the villages and mingle with the local people. Overnight at hotel
Day 03 Drive to Karimabad the central Hunza the highlight of your trip breath taking views of Rakaposhi Ultar and Golden peak will let you wonder in this nature's wonder of the world. Here the heights and magnitude of things are redefined and every thing elsewhere in the world seems so small. Overnight at Baltit Inn hotel
Day 04 Early morning watch the sunrise over the mountains from your hotel later have a healthy breakfast with the Hunza appricots and delicious honney and all things organic and pure in this pure land of longetivity. Optional Jeep Excursion to Nagar valley Overnight at hotel.
Day 05 Morning after breakfast drive to Gilgit. Gilgit is the only big city in the circumference of 500 kilometers. This in it self is a big pride for this friendly city. You will have a look at the bazaar and watch an old bridge built in 1880s by the British. Overnight at Serena hotel
Day 06 Drive to 80 Kilometers south of Gilgit on Karakorum highway withness the point where the three high mountain ranges meet at Raikot Take Jeeps to Tato and walk to the fairy meadows which regarded one of the most beautiful point of Pakistan. You can see Nanga parbat with a contrast of lush Green meadows Overnight at camp
Day 07 Full day in Fairy meadows optional full day walk to Biyal cam Overnight at hotel
Day 08 Walk down to Tato take Jeep to Hunza Overnight at Baltit Inn hotel
Day 09 Morning drive to Sost later continue to China

Day 01 On arrival at Sost from the China. Meet upon arrival after customs and immigration drive to Gulmit. This is a very scenic drive there are numerous photo stops for taking the views of snow capped Karakorum mountains reaching over 7 thousand meters. Overnight at hotel
Day 02 Full day in Gulmit. Gulmit was a small kingdom in the past you will see village life of this quaint little area surrounded by gigantic mountains. You can have short walks in the villages and mingle with the local people. Overnight at hotel
Day 03 Drive to Karimabad the central Hunza the highlight of your trip breath taking views of Rakaposhi Ultar and Golden peak will let you wonder in this nature's wonder of the world. Here the heights and magnitude of things are redefined and every thing elsewhere in the world seems so small. Overnight at Baltit Inn hotel
Day 04 Early morning watch the sunrise over the mountains from your hotel later have a healthy breakfast with the Hunza apricots and delicious honey and all things organic and pure in this pure land of longetivity. Optional Jeep Excursion to Nagar valley Overnight at hotel.
Day 05 Full day Excursion to Gilgit the only big city in the circumference of 500 kilometers. This in it self is a big pride for this friendly city. You will have a look at the bazaar and watch an old bridge built in 1880s by the British. Evening return to Hunza Overnight at hotel
Day 06 Morning drive to Sost later continue to China

Day 01 On arrival at Sost from the China. Meet upon arrival after customs and immigration drive to Gulmit. This is a very scenic drive there are numerous photo stops for taking the views of snow capped Karakorum mountains reaching over 7 thousand meters. Overnight at hotel
Day 02 Full day in Gulmit. Gulmit was a small kingdom in the past you will see village life of this quaint little area surrounded by gigantic mountains. You can have shourt walks in the villages and mingle with the local people. Overnight at hotel
Day 03 Drive to Karimabad the central Hunza the highlight of your trip breath taking views of Rakaposhi Ultar and Golden peak will let you wonder in this nature's wonder of the world. Here the heights and magnitude of things are redefined and every thing elsewhere in the world seems so small. Overnight at Baltit Inn hotel
Day 04 Early morning watch the sunrise over the mountains from your hotel later Drive to Sost for your onward Journey to China

One of the first things you will need to do in setting up your business on the Internet is to find a web host. The Web expands every day, and so do our choices. Just how do you find a web host to meet your business needs? There are literally tens of thousands, each one with a different focus and services designed for a specific segment of the market.

The operating system used by your hosting company may limit your flexibility as your company begins to grow. As you study your options, you might consider the following tips:

An operating system or "platform," such as Microsoft's Windows NT or DOS is the basic set of commands that tell your computer how to open applications and store files. In the early days of Internet activity, most servers operated on a UNIX platform, an extremely powerful and flexible system that requires considerable technical expertise to administrate. UNIX is still as popular as ever, but today you have a choice: Windows NT and UNIX variations such as Sun Microsystems Solaris, and Berkeley's BSD.

Experts offer significantly different opinions as to which platform works best for web sites, we will however give a brief description and analysis of the different systems. In the end, the choice depends largely on your budget and what you want to do with your site.

Linux

Linux, a version of UNIX, is a very versatile platform that serves a number of functions well. It is particularly suitable for meeting your Internet requirements, such as mailing, streaming, Web serving, and fileserving. Linux is a very cost-effective choice it uses hardware efficiently, and allows for more web sites per server, thereby lowering the cost of hosting per account. Linux servers are compatible with certain Microsoft extensions and applications, for example, MS SQL (a database program) or Microsoft Front Page (a web authoring tool). Many engineers prefer the flexibility, security, and control of Linux servers. Linux is Open Source (free) software and a host of free programs are available to users of Linux.

Microsoft Windows NT/2000

Window's 2000 graphical user interface makes it user-friendly and provides a familiar interface for most IT teams to work with. It integrates well with other Microsoft applications and there are a wealth of commercial applications available for this platform. Particularly attractive is the integration with Microsoft Application Server (ASP) which allows the creation of dynamic web pages linked to SQL databases, and other Legacy back office systems.

Sun Solaris

Sun Solaris servers offer the highest level of resources and power - these are the most robust servers! Sun has a proven track record and is deployed in many large Fortune 500 corporations. It is a mature platform and there are a large number of applications and development tools available. Because of Sun's capacity and stability it is ideal for high-traffic functions, such as database servers, high-traffic Web servers and mission-critical servers.

Cobalt RaQ

The RaQ was designed for virtual (shared) hosting of multiple Web sites. It's simple administration makes it a great first Web server. Its flexible administration interface also allows you to share administration responsibilities among your staff.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a version of BSD that was designed for the X86 processor. FreeBSD is a very stable open source operating system, and a good alternative to Linux. It is an extremely well-integrated and tested system, and is inexpensive. There are a large number of free applications available for use with it

How do I choose? As your site grows in size and complexity, in all likelihood your needs will change and the capability and scalability of a particular platform will come into question. It's best to anticipate this contingency and choose a web host that offers a variety of operating systems which are scalable and backs them up with technical expertise.

In the final stages of your search for a good web hosting company, a very important step is to test "the finalists". Because most web hosting companies have client support email(s) listed openly on their website, testing the quality and speed of their support is quite easy. All you have to do is send an email with one or more questions.

Let's take things step by step. First you have to find that email address. Usually you can find it in a "contact us" or "about us" section. Different email addresses result in different test results. What I mean by that is that you have to send an email to the SUPPORT team to verify the level of support, NOT the sales team.

There are different types of hosting companies: some web hosting companies answer their support emails a lot faster than they answer sales related emails, while others do exactly the opposite. You find that strange? Don't! It'a all a metter of fosus. Generally, good companies focus on their current customers and they regard (not without reason) support tickets as more important than new sales. Sure, the sales department should be reasonably good too, but, as a customer, it's reassuring to know that you come first when time is short.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't send emails to the sales teams. Certain questions are to be sent to the sales department, but the department that really should be tested (customer wise) is the support department. The reason is that after you sign-up for the service you will deal almost exclusively with the support staff.

By sending a test email web several things can be verified (and compared):

1. The amount of time it takes to receive a response.

To get the most of of the test (and be able to make a valid comparison between different companies) you should take special care not to favor any company.

To test the response time accurately you have to ensure that all investigated companies are send the emails at roughly the same hour (their time, not your time). Today we have hosting companies with staff in USA, UK, Australia, Hong Kong etc. Why not "exactly" at the same time? Because this is not rocket science! Of course, be as precise as you possibly can, but don't stress yourself too much.

Another thing is to select the right day in the week. As you might expect, in the weekend the response time can be somewhat longer. But, to put it short, I would send the e-mail Saturday night after midnight (their time, remember?). This should be the ultimate test.

Time evaluation: Anything under 6 hours can be considered a very good response in my opinion.

2. The quality of the response.

Answer quality has many facets. One of them is the quality of the information. Is the question answered precisely and correctly? Another one is the quantity of information. Is the answer incomplete, complete or provides all you ever wanted and a bit more?

Another is the clarity of the answer. Is the answer easy to understand, explains the "tech" words that you might not be familiar with or it sounds like gibberish?

Another is the structure of the answer. Is it well structured, stating with A and finishing with Z, or it's all a mess?

3. The personal level of the conversation (and/or politeness)

There are different approaches to this politeness issue. Some hosting companies use the "Sir" formula and some web hosting companies use the "you" formula (I don't thing there are many using the "Ya" word) . It's all a matter of taste. There are web hosting companies employing the "friendly above all" approach and companies employing the "respectful above all" approach.

As I said, it's a matter of taste. I usually prefer the friendly approach because it allows a "personal touch" and a slightly more relaxed conversation. But hey! Who am I to judge you! If you prefer to be called "Sir" or "Ma'am", I am OK with that. Just tell me when you send me an email which type of conversation you prefer and I assure you I will do my best to respect your likes (and dislikes).

I guess those are the things we can test with a test email. Let's devise now such a test email. This will be just a sample to give you a rough idea; you're free to make-up your own test.

Note that because you're not hosted by them yet, your question come from someone they don't know and can't verify if it's a client or not. You could be asked to provide some form of client identification in order to receive an answer, but I doubt this will happen.

"Hi.

I have a small problem. I intend to learn PHP. I just wrote a small script and I saved it in a file that I uploaded it on the server. Whenever I load it, instead of getting the expected result, the page simply lists the code of the script. Is there something I can do about it?

Thank you very much.

Regards,

Your name"

Of course this test is mainly for UNIX/Linux servers with PHP (the majority of such servers are PHP enabled, but you should make sure about it in each case).

OK... So what are we looking for in the answer?

First of all, because the script doesn't work and it simply gets listed, it's almost obvious that the script file is not parsed by PHP. In 99% of the cases this is due to the fact that the file extension is not .php (e.g. "scriptfile.php"). Since in basic HTML design the files are saved as .htm or .html files, new web programmers save script files with one of those extensions too. This is a common mistake.

You can set .htm and .html files to be parsed by PHP too. They should explain this to you, suggest that you either change the file extension to .php or have .htm and .html files parsed by the server, and of course, instruct you how to do it.

Also, a very good support team would offer to do make the necessary changes provided that you tell them what's the name of your account with them (website name).

And... this is about it. Simple huh?

Note: I'm sorry I can't provide a test for Windows based servers, but I have no experience with them. I am open to Windows server test suggestions!

The Web hosting market has changed dramatically over the years, with consolidation and price cutting making the services more affordable, but also reducing the number of choices available to businesses. More hosting companies are also trying to bundle services in order to derive more revenue from the surviving business customers they have left.

In addition to providing rack space and managing servers and storage, many hosting service providers also look to manage the applications that run on their customers' Web sites. Reliability is critical in the Web hosting arena, and competitive pressures are even driving a few hosting providers to make unrealistic promises. In February, for example, Electronic Data Systems offered a service level agreement that promised 100 percent availability for Web sites and applications that EDS is hosting. This is raising the bar pretty high.

Other service providers have often promised 99.99 percent (commonly referred to as "four nines") uptime, which gives them a cushion of about 53 minutes of outage time a year when they can down the servers briefly for regularly scheduled maintenance. A few have even touted "five nines," or 99.999 percent availability, which narrows the margin for error considerably.

While these claims are suspect in their own right, promising 100 percent uptime seems to be over-reaching a little bit further. Even if you offer "nines to the nth degree" availability, you're still not going so far as guaranteeing 100 percent availability. One hundred percent availability doesn't leave much room for mistakes and disasters, especially these days when there's so much for Webmasters to worry about, from cyberterrorism threats to over-subscribed Webcasts that overload the server.

We all know that Internet connections go down, that Web sites become temporarily unavailable or fall prey to denial of service attacks. It's not uncommon for an errant Java script to crash a Web application. Indeed, EDS seems to be hedging the uninterrupted claim, backing the offer with a "time-to-repair commitment as short as 15 minutes for fully redundant systems" and providing service credits that accumulate from the first minute of downtime. That's certainly comforting if you're worried that the actual uptime might fall a little short of the 100 percent mark.

The "fully redundant" part also sounds a little fishy. Does that mean you have an extra hard drive mirroring your hard drive, and maybe a third drive just for grins? How about an extra server mirroring your server, and uninterruptible power supplies backing up the electricity for the servers, disk arrays, and air conditioner, and while you're at it, an extra system administrator so one of them can go to lunch.

The Web hosting market has grown more competitive with today's economic slowdown. With fewer companies launching Web sites and scaling back plans for multimedia Webcasts and similar brand-building and bandwidth-hogging activities, hosting providers have needed to focus on niche industries and promote unique capabilities to differentiate themselves.

The claim of perfect uptime is one such strategy. So 100 percent uptime doesn't necessarily mean availability around the clock 24/7/365. You can just see EDS founder Ross Perot snickering about that bit of slick salesmanship.

Old Ross moved on from EDS years ago to hang out with Larry King, but his spirit still lives on. And you can just hear the "giant sucking sound," as Perot put it, while this claim deflates on its own dubious merits.

I know this subject is controversial, but here's what I have found in 25 years of experience. I use Windows, Linux, Unix, OpenVMS, FreeBSD and other operating systems all day long, and I am experienced with IIS and Apache. My conclusions are based upon actual testing and benchmarking, not rumor and articles by others.

Stick with the brand names for mission critical systems. Open source is fine for many things, but excluding the "big products" such as Mozilla, Apache and so forth, I am leery of it.



I would never even consider open source for the important things such as payroll, general ledger, accounting, warehouse operations and SCADA. These are the applications which companies actually use and need to stay in business.

I have never found anything that even approaches Office XP feature-for-feature. Office XP is rock solid, doesn't crash and is very secure. I cannot say the same for Staroffice, Wordperfect and the other competitors.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP are unmatched in quality as far as their market is concerned. Windows 2000 server is rock solid stable, has an incredible number of features and, most important of all, is supported and well documented.

Windows 2000 also has a security model which is unmatched in the industry. This model came from the VAX (Digital Equipment) and Novell, both of which were (and are) excellent. Linux and Unix don't really have a security model in comparison (I am referring, of course, to active directory and NTFS).

Of course, Windows has the well known issue of security exploits (a different issue than the security model). I currently manage quite an extensive farm of IIS servers, and I've found it's not that much work to keep these systems completely up-to-date. We just have to do our jobs as administrators.

IIS and Apache are equivalent in functionality.

IIS performs better than Apache (I've done the testing myself on the same machine) for straight HTML pages. IIS also has a better security model than Apache by far (based on NTFS as it is). IIS is also a heck of a lot easier to use than Apache, although you can certainly purchase GUI's for apache which make it usable for the average person. And the first major problems (including security) with Apache 2.0 have started appearing, and they are just as nasty as anything found in IIS.

To my way of thinking the main reason to prefer Apache over IIS is (a) initial cost, and (b) knowledge of your people. If you and your group already know apache, then that is the best choice for you. If you already know IIS, then that is probably the best choice.

Browsers? IE won the browser wars for a good reason (besides ruthlessness) - it's far superior to Netscape 6 and before. Now that Mozilla and Opera have had a couple of years, it looks like they might give IE a run for it's money. Even now, though, I've found IE is superior to the competition and I'm sure there is a new version in the works.

But all of this is not as relevant as the cost of modifications. I've found the initial cost of the software, regardless of what it is, is puny compared to the cost of modifications. I would never even consider hiring programmers, for example, to modify the OS, the browser, or the web server, so the availability of sources is not relevant. As far as an application system is concerned, I am interested in modifying the business rules, not the application itself. In fact, if my accounting system requires me to modify it's primary code just to change a business rule, I'll find something else.

There are many companies which provide good application systems, including SAP, Ultipro and hundreds of others. To date, not one open-source version of these (the really important things) has even made it to the initial RFP.

I find the "religious wars" about this subject fascinating. Ask Apache admins and they will tell you Apache is best and death to all unbelievers. Ask IIS admins and you will get the same story. same with Windows, Linux and OpenVMS and any other similar thing. I personally believe we all like what we like and are used to. What I personally like to do is ignore the hype and rumors and so forth and do my own analysis. And yes, I ignore Microsoft hype as well ... they have more PR skills than any hundred other organizations. But PR does not make for a good product.

The decision to use or not use a product should depend upon rational facts, not opinions and noise. Apache is in many ways better than IIS, and IIS is in many ways better than Apache. Which is better? Depends upon what you are using it for, the goals of your organization and many other things. Same with Windows Vs Linux, or any other argument.

Our experience, and keep in mind this is for corporate intranet web servers, is that the cost of Windows and IIS over a long term (5+ years) is far, far less than the cost of Linux and Apache. We performed our own internal study and factored in the cost of the software, maintenance costs, upgrades, time to support, training and so on. Windows 2000 server came out far ahead of Linux (even with all of the patching) and IIS came out ahead of Apache. I have only just installed Apache 2.0 on a windows platform and so have not formed any opinions on this product yet. In a few months, perhaps, I will have some solid data about what appears to be a great new release of Apache.

Cost, however, should never be the primary criteria of this kind of decision. Cost is the least important of many different factors which go into a decision. I have found over my career that when I chose something based upon cost as a primary factor I wound up with that sore behind feeling. Yet when I chose something based upon features and requirements and a good analysis, then picked the product which fit the best, then and only then was it comfortable sitting down.

I have found that Apache (with a good front-end GUI) is superior for a hosting solution. I like Apache in this environment because it gives the users (webmasters for small and medium sized shared hosting web sites) more flexibility without the server admin needing to get involved.

Linux is a great server platform, although we have found the cost to support, train and maintain is higher than windows 2000. As a desktop, though, Linux isn't even on the same planet as Windows XP. Linux has a long way (and I mean light years) to go before it is anywhere near Windows XP as a desktop solution for corporations.

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When you are looking for a Web hosting account, and even after you have signed up for an account, a lot of Web hosting jargon is thrown around. From bandwidth limits to server uptime, all of them are important.


When you buy a Web hosting account, you have to learn how to be a good Web hosting client. Once of the most important jargon keywords they will throw your way is disk space. So what is disk space?

Disk space is the space you actually rent on the Web hosting server. It is the place where you put all of your HTML files, images, scripts and anything else you might want to upload to your Web hosting account. You can also use disk space by creating email accounts on your Web hosting space. Each email account takes a little disk space so that you have room to store the messages on the Web hosting server.

Other customers rent space all around you on a shared server but most of the time you do not know who they are and they do not know who you are.

Web hosting accounts, and more importantly the disk space you are given in those accounts, can be any size at all, and some Web hosts offer more than others. It all depends on how much space is assigned to the Web hosting plan you purchased. As part of the plan, you are renting the space from the Web hosting provider.

For example, you might pay five dollars a month for Web hosting. You are renting the space for that amount of money. If you cannot pay for your rent, then you will be kicked out of the space you rent, and somebody else will take your lot.

Just a few years ago, Web hosting accounts were a lot more expensive than they are now, and you did not get close to what you are getting now. For a small Web hosting plan now, you might have payed four times as much, depending on the disk space and bandwidth, a few years ago.

These days though, things are a lot cheaper. With more data centers and bigger pipes on the Internet, we can get more bandwidth to and from our Web hosting accounts. Since the cost of hard drives has been going down, you are also able to get more disk space for less than you would have paid even five years ago.

Where is the world of disk space going in the future? Eventually prices will even out. With new technology though, hard drive space will grow and so will your Web hosting disk space. You will start getting even more bang for your buck in the future.

Once you decide to take that leap and purchase a Web hosting account, you do need to learn about every inch of the Web hosting world. Educating yourself about all the different parts of your Web hosting account will help you in the long run. And disk space is unmistakably one of those important parts. Without disk space, there could be no Web hosting at all.

A virtual private server (VPS) solution uses a software platform that permits a hosting vendor to multiplex a single dedicated server into multiple "virtual" machines. In essence, a VPS solution is a private and protected Web services infrastructure that operates as an independent server.



A virtual private server allows multiple customers to share the expense of hardware and network connections without sacrificing privacy, performance or preference. For this reason, VPS is considered one of the most sophisticated modes of automation available for provisioning small to mid-sized enterprise Web hosting.

The use of such technology allows hosting providers to save money by simulating the features of a dedicated server multiple times upon a single physical hosting environment, while concurrently allowing them to deliver high-quality Web services to their end users. VPS solutions allow Web hosting resellers to provide a full range of services usually only afforded by dedicated hosting technology. Resellers can therefore offer their clientele full administrative or "root" access to their Web services.

The virtual private server was first implemented by hosting giant NTT/Verio to bridge the gap between shared hosting environments and customized dedicated servers. By using a virtual private server, Web hosting resellers and Web designers can provide small businesses the performance, security, and control of dedicated hosting services at a fraction of the cost.

A virtual private server eliminates the restrictions of virtual hosting by providing all of the administrative features of a dedicated server. Each VPS user therefore receives their own set of services that they can customize to their specific needs. Virtual hosting is limited in comparison because its users do not have root access and software configurations cannot be customized, despite the fact that physical resources are also multiplexed. A virtual private server on the other hand, contains its own unique file system and CGI-BIN, disk space, system resources, bandwidth and memory allotments, which allow for a high level of customization.

Due to the fact that a VPS solution truly simulates a dedicated server, some technical understanding of server administration is required. Any true VPS solution will provide users with: "root" or full administrative access; guarantee a specific allocation of server resources, including CPU, memory and bandwidth; and allow the user to manage multiple servers and file areas through a sophisticated control panel.

A virtual private server will ensure "performance isolation" so that heavy traffic or CPU loads will not affect other VPS solutions on the same infrastructure. Others major features that characterize VPS solutions include: "fault tolerance," which ensures that errors, which affect one specific private server, do not affect others; and "enhanced security," which ensures that e-business applications can be deployed with greater privacy.

The most popular feature that VPS customers use, however, is the virtual private server's capacity for "functional isolation." Because a VPS has its own contained services, it is possible for users to install and customize their own open-source and commercial software packages.

Many virtual private servers on the Unix platform have become so advanced that they even permit users to install Linux RPM packages. This allows users to take source code for new software and package it into source and binary form, such that binaries can be easily installed and tracked, and source can be easily rebuilt. The use of RPM packages also allows VPS users to maintain a database of all packages and their files that can be used for verifying packages and querying for information about files and/or packages.

Small businesses that run their own e-commerce Web sites also appreciate the functional isolation of their private server, because it allows them to obtain their own secure certificates and shopping cart software for their e-business operations. Many sophisticated VPS solutions will even offer third-party plug-ins or modules, allowing users to take advantage of control panel functionality in order to install everything from the simplest CGI scripts to the most advanced shopping carts.

Due to these advantages, virtual private servers are very popular and are a relatively inexpensive choice for small to mid-sized enterprises seeking to maintain their own Web presence. VPS solutions are the natural choice for SMEs and individuals wishing to upgrade a shared or virtual hosting package. The following are descriptions of popular VPS packages now available through an assortment of major Web host vendors:

Ensim
Ensim's award-winning product line includes control panels, virtual private servers, server management, as well as Microsoft Exchange hosting software.

H-Sphere
Hsphere is scalable multi-server, centralized hosting automation software with fully brandable resellers support, comprehensive recurrent billing, trouble ticket system as well as complete account provisioning automated signup. It supports Win2000, Linux & FreeBSD. It provides fully features, easy-to-use end user web based control panel, and powerful admin user interface.

SW-soft
SW-soft develops the Virtuozzo technology and the HSPcomplete hosting automation solution. SWsoft's products deliver powerful, comprehensive solutions that power data center management and provide excellent return on investment.

Sphera
Sphera is a leading developer of Web hosting automation and management software for Internet data centers, ISPs and hosting providers. Sphera's HostingDirector enables cost-cutting and revenue increases by automating Web hosting management, facilitating sales of value added applications, services and more.

These above hosting software firms develop popular and dependable VPS packages. Consider using a hosting firm that elects to use one of the above virtual private server systems.

Shared or virtual hosting is usually available on a UNIX or Windows platform. What is the difference between hosting on these operating systems?



Windows Servers are designed to accommodate advanced Microsoft applications. Windows Servers therefore integrate back office offerings such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL. Windows Servers also offer specific programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripts, and Cold Fusion, which mainly link database applications to the Web. Windows servers usually do not provide an interactive shell, but are accessible through GUI-based remote administration packages such as PCAnywhere or through a customized control panel. Such packages allow you to log into the server's desktop as chief administrator as long as you have full control over your server.

Windows hosting is now an excellent option for both shared and dedicated servers. Due to the latest technological developments, Windows Servers can be more easily multiplexed and managed due to .NET technology.

Windows is also an excellent operating system to use if you intend to run your own dedicated server.

Since Windows servers provide unparalleled levels of support, security and integration for the Microsoft family of products, we recommend that consumers select Windows hosting if they need to link a Microsoft-based service to their Internet hosting requirements. Windows hosting, however, is rather complex and labor-intensive and should only be selected if a webmaster has extensive experience in maintaining Windows systems remotely and requires product/Web integration.

If a webmaster does not have experience in deployment or development in the Windows environment, they might opt to host on the UNIX platform.

A large number of hosting solutions are provided on the UNIX platform. This is because the UNIX platform is specifically designed to accommodate heavy Web traffic and server loads. UNIX servers are robust and are recognized for their ability to host multiple sites and serve out gigabytes of traffic.

This platform is also preferred by most webmasters due to their technical requirements. UNIX servers provide a wider degree of flexibility due to their shell environment. Shell environments are interactive, text-based systems that allow webmasters to interact and customize their services in real-time from any computer system worldwide. Unlike Windows systems, UNIX is not limited to special remote administration programs. A typical UNIX system can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet without special or expensive software.

But the most favored reason that most webmasters choose the UNIX platform is because of its uptime. Most UNIX systems with heavy traffic can provide 99 per cent uptime. Windows servers with heavy traffic usually cannot make this same claim, unless specially configured. For this reason, average webmasters should select UNIX as their OS.

If you are a novice, you most likely will not require Windows hosting and you should select one of many UNIX hosting plans. The only time you would need to use Windows hosting is when you are using the specific Windows applications noted above. Microsoft FrontPage may be used on both the UNIX and Windows platforms, since most hosting firms support Microsoft FrontPage server extensions on both.

Consumers can find an excellent shared hosting provider by using Web hosting directories or by directly soliciting hosts for comments on their service packages.



Using hosting directories is a highly recommended strategy, because such sites aggregate a tremendous amount of information about the hosting industry and its participants. By leveraging a host directory, regular consumers can contrast and compare the different features of several Web hosting firms.

The most credible hosting directories have catalogues that allow you to search for hosts that match specified criteria, whether it is based on cost, technology or geography. Most of the more sophisticated hosting directories also include an "advanced search" option that allows consumers to fine tune their hosting requirements.

Users of these resources must be cautious and exercise due diligence however. Some directories only allow paid advertisers in their catalogues, making the directory non-meritorious in composition. Consumers should be aware of how the list is compiled, updated and what criteria are used to add companies - especially if the site offers a top ten or twenty ranking.

Many hosting companies only conceive of hosting directories as marketing channels. For this reason, some disreputable hosting companies and executives have developed, purchased or even influenced certain hosting directories to boost their own revenues.

Too often, a directory will actually sell the most popular listings to various hosts who are willing to pay top-dollar for an award or recognition. Consumers should thus make no correlation between an award and quality.

Kudos, awards and recognition are indicators that a host has financial resources to advertising online, but does not indicate whether the host offers credible and reliable service.

Not all awards and recognition are purchased advertisements, however. When recognition is not purchased, you only need to inquire how the host was specifically selected for an award. This can usually be determined from an evaluation formula that is posted on the Web site.

Consumers should also note that many hosting directories not only offer a large list of hosts, but also detailed information about the host's features, price ranges and provide consumers with the ability to compare hosts again each other.

More sophisticated hosting directories will also include in-depth articles, message forums, evaluation tools and even promotional campaigns that will save you money with the most credible hosting firms. These features are also important because they allow consumers to obtain more in-depth and personalized information about a hosting firm.

Other resources that consumers may want to consult are online bulletin boards. Specialized bulletin boards contain and solicit postings from consumers who provide their opinion and experiences concerning their experiences with a hosting company. These resources provide users with a candid understanding of the inter-workings of hosting companies.

Savvy consumers should also consider searching for online comments concerning a specific host that they are seriously contemplating. Finding comments from dissatisfied consumers is as important as finding complements about the company. Consumers can find comments by conducting a search, using the candidate hosting company's name, in a search engine.

Another strategy that should be employed is direct correspondence. The concerned consumer should actually send potential hosting companies pre-sales e-mail to determine what features are available. Sending a pre-sales e-mail will also give the consumer an indication of how quickly the host responds to general inquiries. A credible Web host will respond in less than 24 hours. However, consumers must be aware that most hosting outfits will always respond to sales inquiries faster than technical support requests.

When composing a pre-sales e-mail, consumers should ask the following questions (consider simply copying this following list and sending it to a candidate Web host):

* Is there a discount if I pre-pay for a number of months in advance?
* What payment methods are available?
* How many months in advance am I required to pay?
* Is there a set-up fee?
* Is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?
* What is your bandwidth, transfer or hit limit?
* May I visit other sites hosted by you?
* Will I have my own IP number or is it shared?
* Do you offer an unlimited, 24/7 technical support service?
* How much space is available with your package?
* What is the OS and version of the server my site will be placed on?
* What are the hardware specs of the server?
* How many sites are currently running on the server?
* How many more sites do you think you will put on it before it is full?
* How do you decide what constitutes a full server?
* Is there any way for us to set up a mailing list for announcements?
* Will I have 24-hour FTP and telnet access?
* Will I have anonymous FTP?
* Will I have an automated control panel to access my site?
* Do you provide a full, free CGI directory?
* Can I run CGI scripts outside of the CGI directory?
* Is there a limit to how many scripts I can install?
* Do you provide full shell access?
* Can I debug a problematic CGI script on the server?
* What version of Perl do you use? Does it contain a full set of modules?
* Do you offer a Web statistics package?
* Will I also have access to the raw statistical log files?
* Does the space used by my logs count against my allotted disk space?
* What is your acceptable usage policy?
* How long have you been in business?

By employing a strategy of due diligence through the combined use of credible, hosting directories and direct correspondence with hosting firms, smart consumers can find an excellent shared hosting provider.

Security has become a major concern for all who conduct business on the Internet. Viruses that can destroy hosting systems and hackers who steal confidential information are a bigger threat than ever before. As a consequence, consumers should take proactive steps to protect themselves, conducting in-depth research and asking specific questions of prospective Web hosts to ensure that the security measures that they employ are strong.



Security, especially in shared and virtual private server Web hosting environments, is of paramount importance because it not only protects consumers from security issues associated with the Internet, but also ensures customers who are sharing the environment cannot intrude into other customers' services.

One feature to ask about is whether a cage structure has been implemented. Under a cage structure, each client has complete privacy from all other sites. A UNIX restriction known as change root provides security by making the hosting service behave like a restricted UNIX shell machine. This effectively creates a "cage" on the hosting machine that you cannot go beyond and no other customer can enter. Under the model, no one can interfere with the core operations of the host machines or associated services.

Consumers should also ensure before they purchase any Web hosting service that no unproven binary code is permitted in the hosting environment. Any script or application that could breach security must be prohibited. Binary code is not secure and unsolicited binary code could inadvertently open up security holes putting a customer's site at risk. A good Web host will not permit unsolicited binary code to be used on a shared hosting service, if there is even the smallest risk that the code could compromise other customer's services.

A good hosting provider will also ensure that its operating system and hosting automation software deployments are hardened. A hardened configuration will ensure that all known or reported exploits, or loopholes in code that can unsuspectingly accessed by intruders, are eliminated. A competent Web host will ensure that it is protected from software exploits by applying the latest service packs and fixes, and by implementing security advisories on a daily basis.

To control security threats, a hosting firm has to constantly audit its security, and make sure specific actions are taking including: that all hardware is physical secure; that all network services that the operating system provides are secure; that the file system can prevent unauthorized access; and that safeguard passwords are enabled. Hosting firms also need to ensure that their firewall systems are configured properly.

A firewall is software or hardware designed to block hackers from accessing your hosting environment. A properly configured firewall makes it tougher for hackers to locate your system. A properly configured firewall ensures that destructive traffic cannot enter or attack your system. A firewall should also ensure that attacks are not launched from your hosting environment, in case your system is hacked or inadvertently obtains a worm or virus whose objective is to attack other systems.

Consumers will also want to take their own steps to guarantee their online security by using strong passwords to protect access to their hosting environments. Hackers may try to steal your passwords to gain access. To make it tougher for them, use passwords that have at least eight characters and include numbers or symbols. Avoid common words: Some hackers use programs that can try every word in the dictionary. Don't use your personal information, your login name or adjacent keys on the keyboard as passwords.

Also, make sure that you use anti-virus software and update it regularly. Often, UNIX hosting environments are immune from Windows-based viruses, but can transmit them to other Windows systems just the same. As a result, enhanced protection is needed at the customer end to ensure that the Web sites being built are not "diseased."

Finding a decent virtual or shared Web host can only be achieved by conducting in-depth consumer research and evaluation. Many tools exist online that can assist the individual and small business find an extremely reliable hosting service. With the myriad of choice available, it is necessary for the consumer to discriminate. Since shared Web hosting is conceived as only a low-end, low-margin commodity by the industry itself, it is necessary for the consumer to be very wary. There are literally thousands of hosts that offer shared and virtual Web hosting services. While many provide extremely good service, others provide service that is less than desirable. In order to find suitable Web hosts, consumers must conduct due diligence.



Prospective shared hosting clients must therefore ensure that they test the technical capacity of any host thoroughly before they procure their services. Advanced testing of a potential host will reveal whether the solutions they provide are reliable enough for your high-traffic site. Remember that your Web host must be trusted to provide solid network infrastructure. If you select a host that cannot provide robust connectivity, then your site's availability to the world will suffer. For this reason, informed consumers will evaluate potential hosting firms before they sign-up.

Testing ensures that consumers will not waste their good money on bad services. Reliable testing results can be obtained through the use of sophisticated network tools that monitor hosting performance. Such tools will determine how often a host's servers experience outages and will generate a list of probable reasons why hosting services are unreachable. It is advantageous for you to use such tools to ensure that the host you select will provide minimum downtime. Most hosting firms boast about their relentless commitment to excellent service and server responsiveness, and usually the crowning jewel of this commitment is 99 per cent uptime.

But while most hosting operations use this promise of incredible uptime as a hard sell, few consumers actually test whether these pledges are true. Smart consumers of hosting services, on the other hand, are the first to authenticate these service guarantees. They usually consult the services of an established server monitoring services such as NetMechanic, provided by Keynote Systems.

NetMechanic provides an integrated suite of tools that detect problems with your Web site. The company's "Server Check Pro" product is an excellent choice for ensuring that your server is up 24 hours a day. The tool will ping, traceroute and attempt to access your site via http on a regular basis to verify that your server is up. For a small fee, the service monitors your servers constantly, and contacts you by your choice of pager, cell phone or e-mail when your server goes down. The tool will also generate specialized performance statistics in real-time so that you can monitor outage patterns to ensure you're getting quality uptime from your host.

You should also routinely attempt to check server response from your own computer. If you are using a regular 56k dial-up connection, you should attempt to pull up sites located with your prospective host during peak and non-peak hours. A battery of low-cost tests is available on the network layer level of your operating system. You can test a potential hosts' network and server responsiveness from your MS-DOS or UNIX line prompt. In order to obtain a true representation of the host's services, you should select Web sites on your host's network that are typical of the services they render to their normal clients.

You should thus avoid testing the host's main Web site or premier customers. These sites are mission-critical to a hosting firm and thus are afforded an extremely high level of maintenance, which is not always representative of typical service.

In order to locate a typical client of your prospective host, execute a "whois" search. Whois is an application that looks up critical information about any Internet domain. This information includes ownership, location of the host, and most importantly, its block of network numbers. By executing the "whois -a yourhost.com" command at a UNIX line prompt, you can search your potential host's entire block of network numbers, and seek out a normal customer who is hosted on an individual network address. The customer that you use should have the approximate services that you seek. Use the ping and traceroute commands from either your UNIX or DOS prompt to test server responsiveness. You also can obtain many free or shareware WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) network tools for the Windows platform that can test server responsiveness. An excellent suite of bundled network tools is provided free-of-charge by PCS Network Tools.

Using a line-prompt or WYSIWYG application, attempt to "ping" sites from the prospective host on your computer. Ping is the networking equivalent of sonar. The network tool is used to verify that a given server is actually reachable, and measures the delay that occurs when sending a data packet to it and back again.

Executing a "traceroute" from your computer is also an interesting and informative experiment to run on a hosting company. Traceroute applications allow you to map the direction that data travels over the Internet. By conducting a traceroute, you can determine whether the data you have requested from your prospective host will take a direct or indirect path to you. The most successful incident of a traceroute is therefore when data takes the shortest route to your computer.

These tests, conducted manually on a regular 56k connection will give you a rough indication of your client's response time if you were to choose the prospective host that your testing. In essence, these tests determine whether a host provides the lowest level of network latency, ensuring that data is passed to browsers and other Internet applications as quickly as possible. Your aim must be to ensure that the delay between request and response from a prospective hosting service is as short as possible. Making this determination is only possible if you conduct serious tests on prospective hosts before hosting your content there.

Virtual or shared Web hosting is the business of housing and serving files for a Web site. Typically, an individual or small to mid-sized business cannot afford to independently obtain an extremely robust connection to the Internet for their Web presence. Virtual or shared Web hosting provides these consumers with the option to outsource their Internet requirements inexpensively.


Using a shared hosting service allows these companies to share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files. It is the most basic entry-level, fee-based hosting service a customer can select.

Shared hosting offers clients the ability to host their Web site on a powerful, professionally managed server at a low monthly cost. Shared servers provide individual Web sites with redundant connectivity and guaranteed uptime. These services provide an excellent solution for entry-level hosting needs because they are designed to host small-scale e-commerce sites and static Web pages.

Shared hosting is also popular among first-time webmasters because it can provide a reliable Web presence without advanced technical skills. Such a service is also advantageous to the smaller consumer because it assures them that they will obtain transparent services and that their Web site will have its own domain name and set of e-mail addresses.

Virtual hosting services are thus extremely popular because they offer the smaller consumer fast deployment, strong resources and most importantly, low cost. By paying an affordable and predictable monthly fee to a shared Web hosting service, consumers obtain reliability, expertise and faster connections than their dial-up service can provide.

Such a service is also advantageous to the smaller consumer because it allows them outsource a high-traffic, content-rich Web site for a small percentage of what it would cost to hire a single employee to develop it and run it in-house. For this reason, most individuals and small businesses opt to select a virtual hosting service because it is inexpensive and usually provides the basic services that they require.

Convenience is another factor that drives popular interest in shared Web hosting due to the service's fast setup time and bundled features. Typically, site activation can take minutes after you have purchased services with a credit card.

The most characteristic feature of virtual Web hosting is that services are usually bundled. For an inclusive monthly fee, consumers can obtain a variety of high-quality, multi-platform Web site solutions.

Usually the bundle of services includes a minimum amount of disk storage space for your Web pages. The bundle will normally also include a minimum amount of data transfer, or a capped amount of data that your can send to individuals that access your Web site. Most virtual accounts will also include e-mail forwarding services along with hardwired, physical e-mail boxes. Mail forwarding services allows you to create e-mail aliases at your domain name that will forward to an external e-mail address.

A decent shared hosting firm will also include free 24x7 technical support in all of its service bundles. It should also include unlimited file transfer protocol (FTP) services so that you can update your Web site at anytime.

For your own reference, a shared Web hosting service should also provide you access to Web statistics, so that you can gage how many Internet clients are visiting your site. For the sake of accuracy, a reliable Web host should also provide its customers with access to raw statistical logs, so that consumers can use their own statistical Web packages for site analysis.

Other services that are typically characteristic of a shared Web host include: daily tape backup of your Web site; anonymous FTP server access so you can provide public access to your files via file transfer protocol format; and full CGI-BIN access so that as you upload scripts that will add functionality to your Web site.

Most shared or virtual hosting services now also offer hosting automation software such as control panels. The control panel allows a consumer to control most aspects of their hosting service through an online graphical interface. The graphical interface allows users to control all the characteristics of a shared hosting service described above.

Web hosting for personal sites differs tremendously from hosting for mission-critical e-commerce in that it is not as complex or demanding. For this reason, individuals and hobbyists can opt to select low-cost solutions that allow them to experiment with Internet technology without making a demanding or expensive commitment.




Personal Web sites that focus on publishing an individual's resumes and other personal content can be easily satisfied by free hosting solutions. Typically, if all you require is a small personal Web site, then there are a myriad of free sub-domain hosting solutions that are available.

Free sub-domain hosting allows individuals to host their Web site at a large portal or content aggregator. Usually your Web site is hosted in a Web community, and is sub-categorized by interest. The hosting is provided free-of-charge by way of pop-up or banner advertIsements and sponsorship automatically included by the host. The most popular of these sites include Yahoo! Geocities (www.geocities.com) and Tripod (www.tripod.com).

These services are only meant for personal use and because they are offered en masse, your site will be one of many sites shared on a server. Because free hosts don't charge you for their services, their fiduciary responsibility to you and your quality of service is limited. Free hosts have a tendency to offer no quality assurance or technical support because their business model is a loss leader meant to attract a large amount of users in order to generate advertising revenue.

While this business model might not amount to the most dependable service, it does allow individuals to set up free sites. Another solution that many individuals and hobbyists also select is the hosting associated with their ISP account. Many ISPs offer sub-domain hosting space along with their dial-up or broadband access to the Internet.

More complex hosting services provide highly individualized functionality that guarantees a sound level of quality service. Such services are fee-based, ensuring that revenues can be allotted to maintaining and improving service and providing superior technical support.

The most basic entry-level fee-based service is "virtual" or "shared" hosting. Shared servers offer clients the ability to host their Web site on a powerful, professionally managed server, at a low monthly cost.

Shared servers provide individual Web sites with redundant connectivity, guaranteed uptime. These services provide an excellent solution for entry-level hosting needs because they are designed to host small-scale e-commerce sites and static Web pages.

These sites are also popular amongst first-time webmasters because they can provide reliable Web presence without advanced technical skills. These servers are also very popular amongst webmasters because they allow you have your Web site hosted on your domain name such as http://www.yourname.com.

Such services vary widely in price and can cost anywhere between $2 to $50. As with any purchase, users can expect the quality of service to fluctuate based upon the amount paid for the service. "Caveat emptor" is thus the rule and not the exception when it comes to purchasing shared hosting services.

If an individual decides to purchase a relatively inexpensive package, then he or she can expect the quality to reflect the cost of the service. The lower the price one pays for hosting, the more network outages and service problems a consumer can expect.

This however might be acceptable if all an individual desires is non mission-critical hosting for a non-essential personal site.

So, you've decided that your current host doesn't suit your needs and you need to choose a new one. Well, don't worry - it happens all the time. Many webmasters upgrade their hosting services once their Web sites become popular, usually because their current hosting firm cannot provide an effective level of scalability or technical support.



Before you move, it's extremely important to make sure you have copies of everything related to your site. Double-check that all content, including Web pages, databases and scripts, are properly archived. But don't archive your Web sites just in case you switch hosts - always back up your data at regular intervals in case you experience unexpected data loss or hardware failure. This will also ensure that all your data is archived and compressed in its original directories, which is very important if you want to retain the full-working integrity of your Web site when you move.

Once you have archived your site, make arrangements to purchase your new hosting services. Make sure that any new solution you select includes basic services that approximate and surpass the service you where obtaining with your previous provider. Perform a search with our advanced search utility to make sure the companies you are considering offer exactly what you're looking for. It makes no sense to replace your present hosting service with another Web hosting solution that equally cannot fulfill your technical requirements.

When your new solution is activated, upload your archived Web pages, database and scripts to the new host. You will be allocated an IP number from the new hosting company. Take time to debug and test the new site from the individual IP number.

After your site is entirely debugged and you verify that all site functionality is operative, transfer your domain name service (DNS) servers over from your old host to your new host.

During this DNS transition period, which is referred to as the "propagation period," your Web site will be resolved by both your new and old host, as new DNS information about your Web site filters through the Internet worldwide. It typically takes about 1-2 weeks for the transfer to fully propagate around the Internet; so keep your old site running in case you get visitors whose ISP's name servers haven't updated fully.

It is imperative that you retain both your old and new hosting services during your hosting solution transition. You will need to check your e-mail from both hosting providers, since some regions of the Internet will direct e-mail to your original host, while other regions will start sending mail to your new server during the transition.

This same situation will occur with your site’s Web server during the period of propagation. For this reason, you must ensure that both hosting services are operating simultaneously during your solution transition.

Once a week or two have elapsed, cancel the account with your previous hosting company. Make sure to only pull the plug on your old account when e-mail stops arriving from your old server.

To ease the transition, you may want to select a hosting service that approximates the features of your previous hosting company. With a wide range of hosting control panel and automation software packages available, it is now easier to transition Web sites.

Transitioning from one new host to another can be a simpler task if you select the same operating system platform and control panel. Some hosting companies make transition from one control panel to another easier by employing a tool that actually automates the transition from a competitor.

Remember, when you're shopping for a new hosting company, make sure their services suit all of your needs. Use our enhanced search to find a host that meets your exact specifics. This will reduce your chances of having to search for another host later.

A data center is a facility used for housing a large amount of electronic equipment, typically computers and communications equipment. As the name implies, a data center is usually maintained by an organization for the purpose of handling the data necessary for its operations. A bank for example may have a data center, where all its customers' account information is maintained and transactions involving this data are carried out. Practically every company mid-sized and upwards has some kind of data center, and large companies often have dozens of data centers.



As data is a crucial aspect of most organizational operations, organizations tend to be very protective of their data. A data center must therefore keep high standards for assuring the integrity and functionality of its hosted computer environment. This is depicted in its physical and logical layout.

Prior to and during the dot com crash, thousands of square feet of general-purpose data centers were built in the hope of filling them with servers for web hosting and application service providers. This demand went largely unrealized.

A co-location centre is a type of data center.

Physical Layout

A data center can occupy one room of a building, one or more floors, or up to the whole building. Most of the equipment is often in the form of 1U servers (so-called "pizza boxes") racked up in 19 inch rack cabinets, which are usually placed in single rows forming corridors between them. This allows people access to the front and rear of each cabinet. Some equipment such as mainframe computers and storage devices is often as big as the racks themselves, and are placed alongside them.

The physical environment of the data center is usually under strict control:

Air conditioning is used to keep the room cool, generally around 17 degrees Celsius. This is crucial since electronic equipment in a confined space generates much excess heat, and tends to malfunction if cooling is not handled.

Backup power is often available. This can include one or more uninterruptible power supplies and diesel generators located close by.

Data centers typically have raised flooring made up of 2 foot (600mm) removable square tiles. These allow (in theory) all data and power cabling to be laid neatly and safely in cable trays below.

Data centers often have elaborate fire prevention and fire extinguishing systems. Using water on operational electrical equipment can do just as much damage as a fire so using it is not an option - also ordinary water and electricity don't mix well. Originally halon gas was used in the event of a fire to extinguish flames - an inert gas that pushes all the oxygen out of the room. However this has now been banned in some countries because of the danger it poses to people if they are trapped in the same room without emergency breathing oxygen supplies. More recent alternatives include Aragonite and FM200, and even systems based on ultra-pure water.

Physical security also plays a large role with data centers. Personal access to the site is usually restricted to a select few. Video camera surveillance and permanent security guards are almost always present if the data center is large or contains sensitive information on any of the systems within.

Network Infrastructure

Communications in data centers today are most often based on networks running the IP protocol suite. Data centers contain a set of routers and switches that transport traffic between the servers and to the outside world.

Some of the servers at the data center are used for running the basic Internet and intranet services needed by internal users in the organization: email servers, proxy servers, DNS servers, etc.

Network security elements are also usually deployed: firewalls, VPN gateways, Intrusion detection systems, etc. Also common are monitoring systems for the network and some of the applications.