There are various misunderstandings about Managed Web Hosting Services. Today, most of the small and mid sized businesses use managed web servers to carry out their mission critical businesses.Depending on the requirements, Shared hosting and VPS hosting services have gained popularity, but alongwith it, there are various misunderstandings and misconceptions that have rooted in the minds of users. Following is an in depth explanation of about the misunderstandings.

A) Managed Services are entirely Outsourced.

This is one of the biggest misunderstanding among individuals.It isn’t always true. Sometimes, web hosts outsource their post sales technical support tasks to other companies for the purpose of offering better services to their customers. There are a lot of automated services you get with a managed dedicated hosting service provider.The volume of privileges differ with the web hosting package.Most of the reputed web hosting providers have dedicated and professional technical and support staff available 24×7 at the DC’s. Though, the website design, promotion and the website administration needs to be taken care by yourself.

B) Its the newbies who must opt for Managed Web Hosting services.

Many users have a thinking that Managed services are suitable for newbies due to their lack of webmaster skills and web server management skills. This probably may be a thought arose due to the fact that, dedicated server management needs some amount of web master skills. Some outsource this task to other professional companies for better server management.But, this is very untrue that managed web hosting service is suitable only for newbies and not webmasters. There are many factors involved in web server management and require dedicated people to handle the crucial task of server management. Therefore,managed hosting is preferred by most of the consumers in the Web Hosting Industry.

C)Managed Hosting Service isn’t as Reliable as Unmanaged Services.

Its actually the other way round.Reliability basically depends on the web hosting provider you have chosen.Most of the reputed web hosts offer reliability and scalability of their servers.

Instead,if you choose an unmanaged service from a hosting provider, you need to take care of the server management which includes installing new security patches, installation of software upgrades etc.Whereas with a managed web hosting provider, these tasks are taken care by the host themselves and you can concentrate your focus on other aspects of your business.

D) Managed Web Hosting is Insecure

This is another biggest misunderstanding that managed web hosting service is insecure.In todays highly competitive world, it is important to provide the utmost services to the customers.Hence, maximum web hosting providers take utmost care to provide best of the best security and reliability of their servers and services.They take enough precautions to avoid intrusions, attacks, malicious activity etc so as to keep their customers safe and secure. Managed Web hosting provider are well aware of the various online threats, hence take ample care to avoid those.

E) Managed Web Hosting is Very Costly.

Yes, thats true to some extent. But, understand that if it would have been that expensive, would anyone have had chosen these packages? The answer is NO. There are web hosting providers who offer these services at affordable prices. One must differentiate between the fact that you do not have to invest in purchasing costly server hardware and softwares etc. Inaddition to that you do not need to employ teams for the purpose of your server management, therefore if you jot all the expenses, you would realize that choosing a managed web hosting service is far more cheaper than purchasing your own hardware etc. In the long run you would realize that managed hosting services are much more cost effective than the unmanaged hosting solutions.

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Shared and VPS hosting have some things in common. It is important to understand the difference between the two to choos an appropriate solution that most suits your website requirements.

First of all let us take an overview of Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting.

Shared Web Hosting : Shared Web Hosting is the most basic type of web hosting solution. Shared hosting packages are cheap and affordable in terms of pricing. This type of hosting is more preferred by small websites that require less resources. In this, a physical server is shared by multiple users and websites. This being affordable, is more preferred by users as the cost of the server and its resources are shared by multiple users. Shared web hosting can sometimes not suit all types of websites, as different websites require different amounts of resources such as bandwidth and disk space. There may be websites that receive high traffic, hence consume bandwidth that is greater than what is offered with a shared hosting package. In such cases one needs to opt for a higher plan such as VPS Hosting or a Dedicated Server Hosting plan.

To start with, you may choose a Shared Web Hosting package and later upgrade to a VPS or Dedicated hosting plan as per the requirements of your website/s. Many webhosting providers offer flexible upgrade options and you can switch from one plan to another with less waste of efforts, keeping the website up and running over the web without any downtime.

The only drawback of shared hosting is that you do not get much privileges with it.

VPS Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting: A VPS is the next option to Shared Hosting in terms of resources and privileges. Basically, VPS shares a similar concept with Shared Hosting, but there is are few major differences between the two i.e. resources and privileges. Similar to a shared plan, multiple VPS accounts are created on a physical server using a virtualization technology. With a VPS you get better resources such as bandwidth and diskspace and you have better control over the server. You get complete admin access to the server, which means you can create, modify, delete ,install or uninstall applications of your choice, which is not possible on a shared server. VPS hosting plans too are affordable. With it you get to experience a dedicated like environment. The only difference is the resources and price. Each client using a virtual server is given a fixed share of a server.

A VPS is more preferred than shared hosting or Dedicated server hosting plan. The reason because, shared hosting packages offer less resources, security and privileges whereas a dedicated server is more expensive and the resources available with it are sometimes much more than what is required. On a VPS there not much restrictions set which isn’t the case with a shared hosting server plus you have almost similar privileges as that of a dedicated server. As said earlier with a shared hosting plan you do not have much privileges whereas with a VPS hosting plan, you get complete root or administrator access of the server. You have the privilege to configure your own applications and softwares.

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Basically a web hosting company offers a home for your website/s. The web hosting provider offers you a storage space on the server. There you can save your web pages and transfer information electronically, which can be viewed by users on the World Wide Web. Such a Web space is important for any website to be viewed online, this is known as Web Hosting.

The web hosting service provider offer machines that are really powerful and ensure that your website functions smoothly. It is important that your website is hosted on a good quality branded hardware for  uninterrupted functioning. Depending on your budget and website requirements, you can choose an appropriate web hosting package. One of such a package is the Shared Hosting package. In this type of hosting solution, multiple web sites/ accounts are set-up on a single physical server. A Shared Hosting package is the cheapest of all the other types. You share a common physical server with other user accounts. This type of hosting is suitable for personal or small business websites. You do not have much privilege with Shared Hosting.

The other type of hosting solution is the VPS Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting. It is one of the most preferred types of web hosting. With this you get much privileges than shared hosting. You get root or admin access to the server, which means you can use the server as you wish and can install applications and software of your choice. On top of that, you get to experience a Dedicated like environment. Plus VPS hosting package are fairly cheaper and can be afforded by most users. It offers greater level of security and privileges.

Lastly, the Dedicated Server Hosting solution is one of the highly preferred and most secure type of Hosting solution. A dedicated server hosting solution is usually preferred by owner of large businesses and those who have large websites. You are the sole owner of the server, and have the privilege to use the server as per your needs. Yours is the only account on the server and no one else can host a website on it until you intend to do so. You can even create reseller accounts or VPS accounts and resell it to your customers.

You get two platforms for Web Hosting purpose viz. Linux and Microsoft Windows.

With the different types of hosting services, choosing an appropriate web hosting service provider is equally important. You must follow certain guidelines to choose an ideal web hosting provider.

You can refer : Key Aspects to Consider when Choosing a Web Hosting Provider.

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If you follow certain basic steps while choosing a web hosting provider, your web hosting experience with them, can prove to be fruitful and productive as well. The following tips should prove helpful for you before choosing a web hosting provider. It is important for you to research the hosting plans and services offered by different web hosts.

A) Avoid falling in the traps of Prices :

The simplest way in choosing a web hosting provider is to avoid falling prey to the price tags offered by web hosting providers. Give least importance to the price of the web hosting packages. Instead, you must look for the services they offer, check if they are available whenever you need them. Even today, people give more preference to price and least priority to the services offered, whereas it should be vice-versa. One must understand that it is the service offered by web hosting provider that plays the most crucial role in the success of any website/ business. You can instead opt for a web host that believes in offering Value for money. It is required that the website is up and running everytime.

Here is a simple calculation:

More Uptime = More Traffic

More Traffic = More Sale/Conversion.

One can find number of web hosting providers that offer web hosting services at Cheap prices. As far as you have a small business ,Cheap basic packages can be just fine, but as the traffic to your website grows, it is required for you to shift to higher plans for the website to perform better. It is necessary to find a good hosting provider at the start up. You should make sure what features the web hosting provider offers.

To help you out with this, you must consider the following services while choosing a web hosting provider:

o Back-up options

o SSH access

o Uptime Guarantee (Expect atleast 99.9%)

o Payment options and modes of payment

o Ability to host additional sub-domains

o Check if they provide FTP accounts

o Option of Domain Parking

o Check if they offer a Money back guarantee

o Check for the OS they offer

B) Uptime Guarantee

It is very crucial to have the maximum uptime. Though it is a bit tougher to understand that before signing up with a Host, but you can find some statistics tools to determine the uptime. Web Hosting forums too are the best places to determine such a host. Ideally 100% uptime is best, but practically it is hard to find such a host. But, as per the industry standards, 99.9% is acceptable. You can check the uptime of the server by the following link www.pingdom.com

C) Its better to share the server with the known people:

If you have chosen to have your website hosted on a shared web hosting account, it is better to find people who too are interested in the same package. You can lease a single VPS or dedicated server and create shared accounts on it and can resell it. Or else you can join the affiliate program of the web hosting provider and earn good revenue from it, this tric helps in covering your expense of hosting your website.

D) Research on Web Hosting Provider

It is always better to do some research before choosing a web hosting provider. One must select a reputed web host inorder to have a good hosting experience. You can ask friends about the host, check web hosting forums for educating yourself about the reputation. While doing this, understand that you are going to find some negative comments also, it is next to impossible to satisfy the hosting needs of every customer. There might be many reasons for a negative statement, some competitors too use this trick to damage the reputation of their competitor. So its completely your call to decide the authenticity of such statements.

E) Don’t fall Prey to Marketing Techniques

It’s a common practice to use attractive keywords to attract customers

Keyword “Unlimited”

Understand that nothing is unlimited in web hosting. Web hosts often attract customers by using keywords such as Unlimited Bandwidth and Unlimited Diskspace. They dare to give such false promises as you probably never use the entire allotted

F) Post Sales Support

Once you have signed for a web hosting package with a web hosting provider, it is important that you get good and up-to-date post sales support. The web host should be available whenever needed. They should offer the service of contacting them via. Live Chat, E-mails/Tickets/ HelpDesk and Phone. They should be in a position to offer instant solutions, there staff must be competent enough to handle any server issues.

Following these few points can land your online business in safe hands and can add majorly for your website to succeed.

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Web Hosting is a basic and probably the most important aspect of any online business. Web servers are an essential component when one needs to get a website live on the Internet. Any E-commerce website needs to be taken care by multiple infrastructure factors, which includes buying and hosting servers, managing them, seamless network connectivity and constantly monitoring the performance of the servers.

Managing the servers can be tedious and ofcourse an expensive task. It may divert away the focus from the core business issues. Here, managed web hosting services can be the best alternative. In the web hosting business, one can find cheap web hosting plans that would best suite once requirements. There is a big misconception that a managed web hosting service comes with a huge price to pay for. Many web hosts are reputed for offering reliable, scalable, high performance, and cost effective in house web hosting solutions.

Managed web hosting service is little different than other hosting solutions such as Standard Dedicated server hosting, Shared web hosting, Reseller Web Hosting and VPS Hosting. Customers have the privilege to choose between Standard and Managed Web Hosting. Though now-a-days hosting providers offer managed services such as managed messaging, managed security, managed server updates etc.

In addition to this, depending on the web hosting provider, these services maybe categorized as cheap web hosting solutions.

Shared web hosting is another type of web hosting, which can be offered under managed hosting category. In this type, multiple accounts are created on a single physical server. Shared hosting is best suited for running open source applications.

There are multiple issues such as security issues, server downtime, network downtime, hardware failure etc. that needs to be addressed on a priority basis. Here, the Managed web hosting can prove to be helpful. Managed web hosting is bit complex, but inspite of that it is flexible and includes system monitoring, network and security management, data back-up services, application management, infrastructure provisioning, database administration and disaster recovery. All there services are now a days included with a web hosting plan at reasonably cheaper rates.

Other good thing about hosting a web site on a leased server is that, one does not need to own any hardware and space. Most of the managed hosting providers offer 24×7 infrastructure monitoring.

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