What is Shared Webhosting?
People really should clue-up about what ‘Shared Webhosting’ is.
What ‘Shared WebHosting’ is:
1. An economical — sometimes CHEAP — way to host a website, and utilize email at your domain name.
2. ‘Shared’ means just that: Shared. You are not the only customer on the box.
You could be 1 of 2 or 10 customers on the box. That, usually, is really nice. More commonly, you are one of a few hundred, to a thousand or more customers on that server.
3. This economy comes through utilising a standard ‘install-base’. All of the servers for a particular platform (Windows, Linux, BSD, etc) will be configured with a set of standardised applications / utilities, even if these ‘standards’ are standard for that particular hosting company.
What ‘Shared WebHosting’ is NOT:
1. Shared Hosting is not analogous to your local IIS or linux installation.
Once you go beyond hosting one site on a server, you get into a mess of headaches.
Yes, 1, 2, 10 sites are not that bad. Apache, VirtualHosts, easy, right?Don’t forget the LDAP, FTP, MTA, POP/IMAP (with or without TLS / SSL).
That’s also not including the CGI, Control Panel, Access Control (to prevent a user from accessing other’s account), Disk Quota management, Process limits / CPU usage.
Basically all of the ‘little things’ that force customers to be good neighbors.
2. As in item ’3′ above, The standard base is just that. This makes maintaining a clean reliable
environment, well . . . manageable, maintainable, and supportable. You will most likely NOT be able to install specific versions of software. For example, if you require ‘Python 2.5′, and the hosting plans provide only ‘Python 2.4′ . . . 99 times out of 100, you will be using ‘Python 2.4′.Why? Support. (I’ll get into Technical Support in a little bit)
3. And to round-out these points. ‘Shared Hosting’ is not your personal Tech Support Reps or Coders.
‘Shared Hosting Technical Support Representatives’ are just that. Technical Support. We are not here to code your site for you. Look at my site here. Does this look like something you want inflicted-upon your own site? We get paid in the $13 – $18 per hour range. (I’m somewhere in the middle) We know our job, and most of us take pride in doing our job well. We are not Coders. We are not Developers. Take a look at what an entry-level coder gets. $75/hour and up. A Developer, someone who can develop and integrate a solution to design, code, publish, and maintain your site . . . Entry-level is $125/hour and can surpass $250/hour. Notice a difference in the pay? Guess what you can expect in skill when it comes to coding or developing your site. Now don’t get hung-up on these labels. A Coder or Developer could either one exchange the titles, but you should get the point I’m making. . .
As a side-rant, or more of a bonus insight into a call-center . . .
I am a Team Leader at a hosting company. that means I’m a supervisor for a small team of the First-Level / Front-Line / First Tier / Tier One (ad nauseum) Reps. The first guy who answers the phone.
My Job is no longer to support the customer directly. My job is to support these reps. To train and lead them, to provide the customer with better technical support / assistance. My goal is to train them to do my job, while I strive to attain a higher-level position. Where’s the rant here? Getting to that. Here’s the thing. When Mister Self-Important calls-in, and demands to speak with a supervisor . . . You are going to get me. How helpful do you think I am going to be or want to be? You are no longer my concern. As a Tier One Rep, you were my concern, because my job is to answer your calls, and try to resolve whatever Technical issue that you may be having, IF it’s within the scope of what we support. What do we support? Our Servers, and connectivity to and from Our Servers.
You’re having an Outlook issue, and because you forgot that you changed your password, finally, you now all of a sudden, are getting 0x800ccc92 errors . . . When we tell you that the error means that your password doesn’t match what you have on your account on the server, don’t demand to speak to me. I will only point-out the obvious, and with a world-weary tone in my voice, to boot. All the while, wondering – Why? Why didn’t I go to college for programming instead of Culinary School? Of course, when I take-out my chocolate mousse or one of my stews . . . all is justified. But maybe, just maybe . . .