Some useful information covering hosting and hosting providers.  This information is aimed at the Traffic Exchange script owner so won't apply to all hosting needs.  Ventrino offers hosting but our focus is script development, you do not have to host with us to receive support, indeed if you have a good host we strongly advise that you keep with them.

1.  Selecting a hosting company

Although we always recommend Ventrino as your first choice for hosting please consider the following when looking for alternatives:-

• Avoid no name hosting companies and particularly hosting resellers with little or no experience.  Often you will find people claiming to be hosting experts who have never touched a server in their lives.  Even if they are a reseller with a reputable firm your support often has to go through two people before reaching the technical person responsible for your issue.  This both slows the service down and like Chinese whispers the value of the information degrades as it is passed person to person.
• If given the option choose cPanel hosting over any other.  Ensim, Plesk, Helm really do not compete on value for money or functionality.  Often people describe cPanel as a loose collection of poorly written scripts which has some truth to it, however they are still better than their competitors and support direct from the manufacturer is excellent. 
• Bandwidth is cheap these days, what concerns most hosts is cpu, as in how much strain your website places on the server and how it impacts other website owners.  Although tedious make sure you read the small print to see how they deal with a site as it grows.  Obviously you want your business to grow to the point where it would bring the average shared server to it's knees!  (If you don't then you are not setting your goals high enough!).  However any hosting company (us included) wants the opposite.  My definition of a good hosting company is one that monitors the progress of your site and esitmates when the right time for you to move will be and to help you plan.
• If you must look for another hosting provider and do not wish to host with us then please use someone like www.hostgator.com our experience and that of other owners has been good.  Note that ALL ordinary hosts will expect you to monitor the performance of your site and should they exceed the figures provided for in the plan you have signed up to will shut your site down and wait for you to contact them.  Here at Ventrino we will contact you first (so please make sure you have the corrrect email address in your account).

2.  Selecting a hosting plan

Selecting a plan was touched on in the previous paragraph.  Bandwidth is not the most important, surprisingly neither is 24/7 support (if everything works OK why would you need support?).  Here's a shortlist to look for:-

• Proactive script development - Databases and scripts need continuous maintenance, does your host keep on top of latest developments?  Do they keep the server software up to date?
• Backups - cPanel makes this easy and there are many scripts available that will automate the process for you
• Check the requirements section here for details on PHP, MySQL and other subsystems.
• Minimum 5Gb Bandwidth to begin
• Minimum 500Mb disk space to begin but chek the host cuts logs regularly on your behalf  it's surprising how much disk space is consumed by daily web logs.
• Email restrictions are common, many hosts will limit your email send capability to 1,000 per day which is useless if your site has 10,000 members!
• FTP and/or Frontpage Extensions depending on your preferred way to edit HTML.  If you are new to HTML then check the Useful Applications page for free HTML editors.  Most of them have FTP built in so FTP is essential.
• Space taken by Email makes up part of your quota (disk space allocation) so make sure that anti spam tools are available such as SpamAssasin and Boxtrapper.  Note that hosts that offer "unlimited" email addresses are often clogged up with unused email and because large quantities of addresses are receiving spam performance is seriously degraded.  Look for a host that limits the number of email addresses you are allowed to create, if you are limited then so are other members sharing the server.
• Fantastico Deluxe.  This provides an ever growing number of stable installation scripts.  These include free and paid for scripts, usually you get the lite or freeware version and an option to upgrade if you need the extended features.  Products include Blogs, CMS, Live Help, Support applications and many more.

3.  FTP - What is it and how do I use it?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is used for transferring files from one place to another, for example it will transfer the HTML files you create from your PC to your web space.  FTP is also used for setting file permissions on files in your Linux or Unix web space, it cannot set file permissions for Windows servers, you will need to contact your host if your files are on a Windows server.

Click here for information on downloading a free FTP program if you do not already have one.

4.  Email - How can I access my Email?

There are two ways to access your mail, and each of those have alternatives.  The first and most common is through an email client such as Outlook Express (free with Windows operating systems) another popular one is Eudora.

Another way is through Webmail.  This is a web page that can access your mail in the same way as a client.  It has the advantage that you do not need to download your mail, instead you view it on the server and can delete, reply, or forward in the same way as you can a client, the disadvantage is viewing over a slow connection can be tedious.  You will find a link to Webmail in your control panel and usually have the choice of Squirrel Mail or Horde which is nuts if you think about it as Squirrels are famous for hording.  An alternative is Mail2Web which can pickup your mail from practically anywhere, an advertising sponsored free service and excellent it is too, especially if away from home.

5.  Do I need SSH?  What is SSH?

SSH is a way of issuing Linux and Unix commands directly as if you were typing them in a command window in Windows.  It is unlikely you will ever need to use SSH and because in the wrong hands it can do serious damage to your hosting any use should be done by an experienced professional.  Even if you are an experienced professional there is still little need for this product unless you are the administrator for the entire server.

So in short, no you don't need it!

6.  What hosting plans do you offer?

Thank you for asking! Details can be found here: http://www.ventrino.com/hosting.php

7.   Do you offer any video assistance?

Yes we do.  A list of videos is available here: http://www.ventrino.com/video_training.php and we have a list in this help file here.

8.   Where can I find more information on hosting?

We have a growing knowledgebase online which can be accessed from your client account, please click here to login.

9.  What requirements should I look for and is there anything that needs extra consideration?

You can see the main requirements here.  Most hosts, whether Unix, Linux or Windows will work without issue.  On rare occassions you may come across a host who is neurotic over security and will disable many of the functions that make PHP so great.  This can be bad news and apart from slowing down the installation you find at every stage of the process you become frustrated.  If the host leaves PHP and MySQL as default installations you have nothing to worry about.  If they disable 50% of the functionality chances are you still will not have a problem, but there are half a dozen things that any script needs which if disabled will send you in a spin.  Just as soon as you have fixed one issue you move on to another and another...

As much as you love your host keep in mind that 99% of installations made to Unix, Linux or Windows are completed without a single issue.  If you are getting frustrated it becomes easy for you to believe anything and you may find yourself chasing around Google, the host, the script writers (us) and getting nowhere.  Here's what you should do now to get the issue fixed instantly!:-

• Take up our offer for a FREE months hosting (use promo code REFUGEE).  Login to your account, select "Order", then choose a hosting plan and follow through to the point of ordering.  Enter REFUGEE as the promo code and you will get the first month free.  Finally ask us to make the installation for you and set your DNS to those provided with your new hosting plan.

You now have a month to decide whether we are the right host for you :-) you are not obligated to stay and if your host says they have fixed the problem or you have found another host you are free to move to them.  As we use cPanel the process is easy for your host too, everything, including crons, email and all configuration is moved over in a single file, so as long as the server issues are corrected there will be no problems.

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