Database Hosting - How Can Your Host Help With Your D-Base?

What type of Web sites rely on information served from a database? Sites that offer users customized Web pages filled with rich, dynamic content. Sites that automate searching and buying products on-line. Sites that allow you to search for a retail or service location closest to you. Sites that offer multiple access schemes based on usernames and passwords as well as other criteria to securely serve the right information whether you are a client, an employee or a vendor. Sites that put detailed historical reports at your fingertips to view past orders, inventory, traffic and sales statistics and customer reviews. Sites that serve up press releases and articles from a corporate archive. Sites that do all of this and so much more are all driven by large volumes of information that is stored, updated and quickly accessed from a database.

When selecting a Web hosting company, the keys to successfully delivering a database-driven Web site are reliability, speed, maintenance, tech support and costs. That’s why it’s important to choose a Web host that understands and supports your database needs to optimize your Web site’s performance. Your core considerations for choosing the right Web host will be operating system, Web server, database server, and Web development tools.

In general, a Web site developed using a Microsoft Windows application such as FrontPage will run most efficiently on a dedicated Windows server. By the same token, a Linux Web site should be run on a dedicated Unix server. However, a FrontPage Web site can also be hosted effectively on a Unix server running the latest FrontPage extensions. Discuss the pros and cons with each prospective Web host as to which type of server and operating system they recommend for your site.

Depending on the size of the database you will be accessing for your site, you may even need to consider whether a separate database server is the best solution. Ask if the prospective Web host recommends one dedicated server to run both the database and the Web site -- or running separate servers, one just for the database. It really depends on the amount of system resources that will be needed for your database. A server configured to run complex database applications will have 4 or 5 times more RAM than a typical Web server. That’s because it is drastically faster to complete search results from database data stored in RAM than on the hard drive. This is accomplished using special algorithms to figure out what key database data to store in RAM so that search results for each query are delivered at least 10 times faster compared to data stored on the hard drive -- turbo-charging the delivery of your Web pages. How important is this difference? Consider search engine sites like Google.com that store over 3 trillion Web pages in their database yet can deliver search results in under half a second on average!

Connectivity speed to the Internet is also a vital component for serving a content-rich database Web site reliably and quickly, especially if your user traffic is projected to be high or experience rapid growth. Companies that co-locate with, or resell the services of a third party often do not have complete control over the performance of their network and computers. Companies who own and control their own operations can better ensure the reliability of their services. It is also a good idea to ask what types of lines connect them to the Internet. Anything less than T3 could mean problems with response times on your Web site if they are over-utilizing their connectivity.

Don’t overlook the importance of clearly outlining with a prospective Web host how maintenance of your database and Web servers will be handled. Maintaining a dedicated Web server is intensive enough much less maintaining security and optimization of a growing database, too. Will you or someone on your team constantly perform essential database admin tasks such as optimizing tables so as not to waste server resources when running queries? If you aren’t sure what maintenance you will need or you don’t have the time or resources to maintain your own servers, you should consider a Managed hosting plan. With Managed hosting, the Web host provides some if not all of the maintenance required to securely and reliably deliver your Web site. Get specific with your prospective Web host and avoid overlooking any maintenance issues that you need included in the cost of your hosting plan.

Want to really "click" with your users? Make sure you have the right system setup from the beginning so you can avoid the costly headaches of a dysfunctional database-driven Web site.

"Database Hosting - How Can Your Host Help With Your D-Base?" by CompareWebHosts.com