9 Sep 2021

3 Essential Web Hosting Features In 2022 And Beyond

Essential Web Hosting Features

There are some essential features that a web hosting service needs to offer to website owners, so it can be considered a reliable and high-performance one.

High Availability

There are different scenarios to achieve High Availability (HA). Web hosting providers can mirror the underlying Cloud infrastructure used to deliver web hosting services. That requires the web hosting company to have advanced cloud computing technologies in place. For this reason, most web hosts do not have a High Availability on an infrastructure level. Most of them still use stand-alone physical servers to deliver Shared Web Hosting services as they did in 2010. Even if any provider uses cloud infrastructure to offer Shaed Hosting, this still does not mean that the service instances used for delivering Shared Hosting are Highly Available.

HostColor (HC) Cloud infrastructure features High Availability. We also offer HA on a DNS level. Our clients can choose an optional "DNS Failover" service on sign up with any small business web hosting plans. The DNS Failover provides high availability by monitoring the uptime of the dedicated IPv4 address, used by any website hosted on HostColor Cloud. If the DNS does not resolve for more than 5 minutes, the Name Servers switch to a second hosting account that provides High Availability.

Managed Service

With the new software applications and services models rapidly changing the IT services markets, people are often feel overwhelmed with the new technologies. The engineers do not run the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) industries. They are run by marketers who would do whatever it takes to sell, even if they need to mislead consumers about the quality of certain products and services. The web hosting industry is becoming increasingly unethical. For this reason, any small and medium business needs a reliable technology partner, who has the expertise to: a) design and support advanced IT environments; b) keep their client's costs as low as possible.

Spending $30 per month on Managed Website hosting saves you thousands of dollars spent on web design, SEO, and web development. Services like HostColor's "Managed Website" help SMBs to stay ahead of their competitors. HC's "Managed Service" doesn't just buy you an hour of the system and technical administration for your web hosting account. It buys you expertise at the lowest possible cost.

Infrastructure and Application Security

There are three levels of IT security - a network level, an infrastructure level, and an applications level security. HostColor follows the best technology practices and procedures to secure its network and infrastructure. Our management interfaces and dashboards are not on public IP addresses and cannot be accessed via the public internet. Those that must be on the public internet, due to technical limitations, are secured by firewalls and various advanced procedures.

Application-level security is a challenge that our clients line all other consumers, website, and IT infrastructure owners need to deal with. Application security is a complex process. It depends on the software producer and very much on the internal policies set by the IT departments and system administrators that manage business infrastructures. A part of our Managed services HostColor provides free consulting to its customers on hardening and securing their Web Hosting Accounts, Public and Private Cloud Servers, VPS and Bare-metal Dedicated Servers.

We recommend to our customers to protect their administrative interfaces and make them inaccessible through the public internet. Regular software upgrades are also a must, alongside the SSL certificates and the use of software firewalls.

These - High Availability, Managed Service, and Infrastructure and Application Security - are the most important things to focus on. If you browse the web you will find a bunch of phony articles that suggest that "Green Hosting", offshore IT service accounts, and do-it-yourself software frameworks are becoming more and more important. They aren't actually. The "Green Hosting" is just a talk, a buzzword. Why? Because web hosting providers do not have a lot to do to make the delivery of web hosting services "Green". Apart from using the latest generation technologies and servers, that require less power to run high-performance applications (for example ENERGY STAR-rated servers), web hosts' hands are tied. It is the data center providers who can build green telecommunication buildings, use renewable energy, natural cooling, and technologies that reduce the overall energy usage. For various reasons, most data center service providers are more concerned with profit margins than with the adoption of eco-friendly policies. Natural cooling is another buzzword. It can be done in the Nothern countries, states, and/or provinces that have a cold climate, but not in the South. If anyone needs web hosting services in California, Texas, Florida, or Georgia in the U.S., in The European South, or anywhere in the hot countries, "natural cooling" is virtually impossible.

So, when you need a reliable web hosting service, consider the reasonable requirements such as:

  • High Availability and Failover
  • Managed Service
  • Provider's Expertise In Digital Security
  • SSL certificates
  • CDN and DDoS attack prevention
  • On-site SEO services
  • ECommerce platforms in place
  • Backup & Data Archive add-ons

We wish you to be successful with your online business. If you need help, you can rely on HostColor's expertise and 20-year excellent business record.