Basic Questions

What is Web hosting and what does virtual or shared hosting mean?

Web hosting is the act of renting space and bandwidth through a company so that you may publish your web site online.

Free hosting is usually supported with banners and pop ups, so you may opt to get paid web hosting, which gives you complete control over your site contents.

Virtual hosting (also known as shared hosting) simple refers to the fact that your site is on one server, and that this server hosts mulitple sites. You are virtually shared - your site will not be the only one on this specific server. This form of web hosting should suffice for most everyone. Very few sites would actually need the power of a dedicated server, so this option provides to be a reliable and cheap solution.

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What exactly is space and bandwidth/data transfer?

Diskspace is the size your website can be. Every single letter on your website has to be stored somewhere on your web host's server. Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HTML pages are usually very small, but it is the extra images, scripts, and even databases that can take up large amounts of disk space.

Bandwidth/Transfer is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month. Transfer is usually measured in gigabytes - billions of bytes. Once you go over your monthly limit, a host may either shut your site down for the remainder of the month or it can charge you 'overage'.

Related articles:
Bandwidth Explained | About Unlimited Bandwidth

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What is domain name?

A domain name is a word along with a TLD (e.g. ".com") that uniquely identifies your website.

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How do I register a domain name?

Registering a domain name is very easy. First you will have to make sure that the domain you want is available - using something called a WHOIS lookup at sites like ours you can make sure the domain you want is available for registration. Afterwards, you simply need to visit a registration page to purchase your domain name.

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What are subdomains?

Consider subdomains as an extension of your domain. For example, your site is www.example.com. A subdomain would be test.example.com, and another would be webhosting.example.com.

Subdomains are usually treated as separate sites from the main domain site.

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Do I have to change my domain if I get a new host?

No. Provided that the domain is registered in your name (as it should be), you can simply update your namservers (from where you manage your domain names) to that of your new host.

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What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting?

Depending on which operating system to go with depends on your needs.

If you need to support Microsoft products such as ASP, MS Access, or VBScript, then Windows hosting would be better. Furthermore, if you are comfortable with IIS and do not have the time to understand how UNIX works, Windows hosting would again be a better choice.

There are some things to remember.

First of all, just because you use Windows at home does not mean you should use Windows hosting. The two are completely different, and having a Windows system at home will not affect your ability to communicate with a UNIX server.

Secondly, Linux is much more common with web hosts due to its superior stability and because it is free. Since it is free, Linux hosting is usually cheaper than Windows. Just because it’s free does not mean it’s not as good - Linux is an excellent product too.

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What is server uptime?

Uptime is literally what it means - it is the amount of time your site is online throughout the entire month. The best uptime would be 100%, but because things can break, many hosts offer 99.9% uptime guarantees. This means that if your site is not accessible for more than 43 minutes in a single month, they will reimburse you, depending on their terms of service.

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I have a fast internet connection (DSL/cable) - can I just host my own site?

You could, but that’s definitely not recommended.

First of all, most ISPs have clauses that do not let you use your internet connection for web hosting - doing so will result in termination of your account.

Second of all, think of the headaches it can provide: making sure your system is secure so that no one can hack into it, having your computer on 24/7, and other such problems.

Third of all, think of the performance. Most good web hosts use powerful servers with lots of RAM and high performance hard disks. Furthermore, they have multiple internet connections at speeds far higher than what residential DSL or cable service can provide.

Lastly there are all the issues of support. If something goes wrong, it will be your job to fix it - you will not have a professional to correct the problem.

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Why would I need a dedicated IP?

For most people, a dedicated IP is not required. But for people that want to provide anonymous FTP or a website using SSL, a dedicated IP can make that easier.

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How do I upload my site online?

Uploading your site can be done in many ways, but the most popular is FTP.

When your hosting account was created, you should have been provided with an FTP account. Using software such as CuteFTP or WS_FTP, you can log into your host. Then, using the program like a normal windows program, you can drag and drop files onto your web host. These files become live online instantaneously.

There are other ways to upload your site such as using SSH or uploading files through your browser.

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If you still have any questions, please contact support@pamahosting.com and our client support team will be pleased to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.