naartax.com

managed by 'Free Hostia'

An evaluation of Free Hostia

We, at naartax.com, have selected 'Free Hostia' to be our current domain and web hosting provider. Hence we presume that this succinct review of 'Free Hostia' is perchance going to be quite helpful for other individuals from all over the World who need domain name and web hosting solutions. We say folks from all around the Globe, because the simple truth is that 'Free Hostia' presently furnishes domain and hosting services in several server farm locations: in the United States of America (Chicago, IL), in Great Britain (Maidenhead, 20 miles outside London), in Sweden (Stockholm) and in Australia (Sydney). Thereby, embracing virtually the whole planet. At least from the point of view of the World Wide Web. So, here is what you could expect from 'Free Hostia' in a few words:

Shared Web Site Hosting Solutions

The first thing we, at naartax.com, have observed is the cheap prices of the shared site hosting solutions furnished by 'Free Hostia'. Shared doesn't sound very well, does it? Well, that's what it is called: shared web hosting. The good news here is that the web site hosting accounts provided by 'Free Hostia' are powered by a custom designed, ultramodern cloud web hosting platform (each web hosting service, such as electronic mail, databases, hosting Control Panel, storage space, DNS, statistics, and so on, is being served by an independent group of web hosting servers in a cluster). This is something EVERY cPanel web hosting provider on the Globe will have enormous troubles with, because cPanel is a single server based web space hosting environment (each hosting service, such as mail, databases, hosting CP, disk space, DNS, stats, and so on, is being run on one and the same web server), cPanel is not open source (that is why the cPanel-based webspace hosting distributors are not able to add additional functionality and handle it the way they need it) and there is no open source file system (they have to build their own file system), which is the basis of any cloud web hosting service. Let's get back to the shared site hosting plans, which are powered by an actual cloud web page hosting solution. With a shared site hosting account, each customer pays just for his/her account, thus retaining the site hosting price really low (since a lot of clients utilize one and the same server). In a few words, a shared hosting package, which is being served by a cloud site hosting solution, allows you to pay just for the resources that you actually need, avoiding a scenario where you pay for a powerful web hosting account that you cannot actually utilize, or for a low-end web page hosting plan that cannot host your web page. The option to upgrade your account from one plan to another with only two mouse clicks grants you the flexibility to commence with a low-end package and upgrade as your web site expands. Hence, you spare cash that you can spend on publicizing the website while it is still novel. Every site hosting account offered by 'Free Hostia' comprises an online web site building tool and over 40 widely used script software platforms including WordPress, Joomla, Zen Cart and Moodle that will save you hundreds of dollars for web design solutions. 'Free Hostia' furnishes shared webspace hosting packages in several different regions across the World. There is one server farm facility in Chicago encompassing the USA and Canada; 2 European server farms - in the UK and in Sweden; and another one in Australia, which encompasses the Asia Pacific region. That way, approximately the whole World is covered to present you and your visitors with a steady and fast webspace hosting service at a convenient location. Altogether, the shared hosting packages supplied 'Free Hostia' are very well stocked and come at a very good price (beginning from $0.00 for the Chocolate package).

Semi-dedicated Web Servers

To users with little or no practice, a VPS hosting server may appear troublesome to administer. That's perhaps why 'Free Hostia' also hosts semi-dedicated servers in its principal North American data center in Chicago. Handling these packages is comparable to managing a normal shared web space hosting package via a web page hosting Control Panel tool. They have all the specs of a shared webspace hosting plan such as a free site building tool and a web app installation tool, but the amount of system resources typical of a semi-dedicated web server account is many times larger than that of a shared web hosting account. For instance, the CPU power that can be utilized is approximately 5 times as much as compared to the shared hosting plans. When compared with a shared web hosting plan, the quota of database queries added within the semi-dedicated hosting accounts is great: 90 000 / hour. An unlimited hosted domain name allowance is a standard too. The semi-dedicated hosting server plans do not ship with complete root-level access (we, at naartax.com, count this as a little negative point), but the plus is that they are administered via the same web site hosting Control Panel GUI as the shared hosting accounts. This means that a recognizable graphical interface is offered to all users who do not feel confident enough to handle a virtual web server, but at the same time are in need of more power and features than a Virtual Private Server can bestow on them. This is so because the semi-dedicated web hosting servers share the system resources of the same powerful cutting edge hosting servers as the ones which accommodate the virtual web hosting server accounts, still, the number of the semi-dedicated web servers is quite small (somewhere between twenty to thirty per server), while the VPS web servers can reach a much greater number (80 to 120 per physical machine). Having that information in mind, the semi-dedicated servers offered by 'Free Hostia' can be classified as being amazingly cheap (as far as cost is concerned), commencing from $29.95 for the Boabab plan.

Dedicated Servers

In naartax.com's opinion, enormous sites such as social networks, community and business web portals or famous web shops with thousands of clients call for a much more powerful webspace hosting environment. It appears that the folks from 'Free Hostia' have reached the same conclusion too. To live up to its clients' needs, 'Free Hostia' delivers a selection of dedicated servers that can manage millions of daily hits. That estimate rests on the hardware specs the dedicated web servers ship with: multi-core processors, up to four gigabytes of RAM, two thousand gigabytes of storage space and Gigabit network interface cards will doubtlessly guarantee the fast and steady performance of any kind of site. According to 'Free Hostia', the primary hardware specs can be upgraded for more resource-requiring sites. We, from naartax.com, deem that all dedicated server specs provided by 'Free Hostia' are also appropriate for starting a hosting reseller business as each and every web server provides free-of-cost billing transaction software platform and a free-of-charge domain reseller account. Unlickily, the dedicated web servers supplied by 'Free Hostia' are all unmanaged. We, at naartax.com, deem this a little downside, which can be corrected by paying a monthly fee which amounts to $32.00 USD. So, if you need aid, the Managed Services upgrade offers an array of extra services such as a routine backup, software installation, dedicated web server monitoring and troubleshooting operations. An array of web hosting CP (CP) user interfaces are available with each of the dedicated servers - Hepsia, cPanel and DirectAdmin. Our (naartax.com's) prediction is that the amazing point-and-click File Manager included in the Hepsia web site hosting CP will possibly render the recourse to any File Transfer Protocol software pointless. Our (naartax.com's) conclusion is that the dedicated servers delivered by 'Free Hostia' don't appear to be very cheap (still the Hepsia hosting CP and the unmetered hosted domain allowance will doubtlessly make you smile), commencing from $139.95 for the Arctic package.