Cheapest Linux VPS Home for Cheap Virtual Private Server Given the highly competitive nature of the web hosting industry it is not surprising to find a lot of misinformation online about hosting plans and their attributes. Unfortunately, many novice webmasters fall for these widespread misconceptions and subsequently base their decisions on false pretenses. While you may not need to have knowledge of advanced server administration techniques, and you may have no need for the extensive capabilities of a dedicated or virtual private server hosting plan, it is still good to have a thorough introductory understanding of web hosting. Consider the following four myths that have deceived many inexperienced webmasters:
Shared Hosting is Unreliable Because the Servers Become Overburdened
If you’ve researched the pros and cons of shared hosting you’ve probably run across an article or two that claims shared plans are unreliable due to the fact that many users have to share a single server. While it is true that a specific partition of the server is assigned to each user, it is not commonly mentioned that shared plans operate within a network of servers in a data center, and tasks can be reallocated to another device if a server becomes overburdened. In addition, overloading of a web server is rare because most webmasters don’t even come close to their bandwidth/disk space limitations, and hosting companies perform daily server maintenance to keep performance optimal.
Bandwidth and Disk Space Is Truly Unlimited in Most Plans
Most hosting providers promise an unlimited amount of bandwidth and disk space, despite the fact that the web server that is used to host these plans are physical devices that have very real limitations. While it is true that there are no set monthly limits on the amount of server resources that can be used, server administrators use algorithms to limit the number of requests that can be initiated by each user on an hourly/daily basis. This is done to prevent abuse and ensure acceptable performance for all account holders, so such restrictions cannot be avoided. Nonetheless, if you’re an experienced webmaster who’s beginning your first online endeavors it is highly unlikely that you’ll exceed any form of limitation set forth by your hosting provider.
99.9% Uptime Guarantees
Uptime guarantees are so prevalent that they have become the norm in the hosting industry. However, many people fail to ponder the actual meaning of a 99% uptime guarantee, and that it is not exactly clear how much downtime is actually allowed before the promise is violated. In other words, will your hosting plan remain active for 99% of one month, or 99% of one year? Obviously, there is a significant difference between 1% of 365 days and 1% of 24 hours, so is your hosting provider simply using this guarantee as a marketing ploy or is it a real indicator of reliability? The reason why every company guarantees this is because downtime is becoming increasingly rare as server maintenance/redundancy techniques improve.
Every Serious Webmaster Should Have Dedicated Hosting
The truth is dedicated hosting is rarely needed by the average webmaster, and renting a server all to yourself is usually just a waste of your budget. If you really are not sure how much bandwidth and disk space you’re going to be using you should consider a hosting plan that operates in the cloud environment. Cloud hosting gives you access to an entire datacenter of resources and only charges you for the bandwidth/disk space you use on a monthly basis. Unless you are an advanced user with lots of files to store, own a vast network of websites, and/or experience consistently high traffic levels, dedicated hosting is most likely not necessary for your situation. In fact, VPS hosting plans come in a wide variety of sizes and can accommodate the needs of 60-80% of webmaster out there, making dedicated hosting an option that is reserved for only the most advanced and demanding users.
Conclusion
Any time you have a competitive industry there is bound to be rumors, misconceptions, and downright falsehoods that are propagated by advertisers and other inexperienced individuals. The best advice you could heed is to always verify the validity of statements found in any article, blog comment, or forum post by researching and only trusting reliable sources. That being said, it is ultimately up to you to protect yourself from hasty decisions and keep your investments wise.
