Choosing the size of your bandwidth pipe

Web hosts are pretty generous with the amount of bandwidth they provide
in their packages. Like disk space, bandwidth is measured in gigabytes (GB).
Bandwidth provision of 10-50GB is generally a respectable amount to run a
Web site with a blog.

Web sites that run large files — such as video, audio, or photo files — gener-
ally benefit from higher disk space compared with sites that don’t involve
large files. Keep this point in mind when you’re signing up for your hosting
account. Planning now will save you a few headaches down the road.

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Choosing the size of your bandwidth pipe

The very same concept applies to the bandwidth available with your host-
ing account. Every Web hosting provider offers a variety of bandwidth
limits on the accounts it offers. When I want to view your Web site in my
browser window, the bandwidth is essentially the pipe that lets your data
flow from your “well” to my computer. The bandwidth limit is similar to the
pipe connected to my well: It can hold only a certain amount of water before
it reaches maximum capacity and won’t bring the water from the well any
longer. Your bandwidth pipe size is determined by how much bandwidth
your Web host allows for your account — the larger the number, the bigger
the pipe. A 50MB bandwidth limit makes for a smaller pipe than a 100MB
limit.

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Choosing the size of your bandwidth pipe

 

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that is carried from point A to point
B within a specific period (usually, only a second or two). I live out in the
country — pretty much the middle of nowhere. The water that comes to my
house is provided by a private well that lies buried in the backyard some-
where. Between my house and the well are pipes that bring the water to my
house. The pipes provide a free flow of water to our home so that everyone
can enjoy their long, hot showers while I labor over dishes and laundry, all
at the same time. Lucky me!

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Managing disk space

 

Disk space is nothing more complicated than the hard drive on your own

computer. Each hard drive has the capacity, or space, for a certain amount
of files. An 80GB (gigabyte) hard drive can hold 80GB of data — no more.
Your hosting account provides you a

same concept applies. If your Web host provides you 10GB of disk space,

that’s the absolute limit you have. If you want more disk space, you need to upgrade your space limitations. Most Web hosts have a mechanism in place for you to upgrade your allotment.

Starting with a self-hosted WordPress blog doesn’t take much disk space at
all. A good starting point for disk space is between 3-5GB of storage space.
If you find that you need additional space, contact your hosting provider for
an upgrade in space.

limited amount of disk space, and the

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

Think of your Web host as a garage that you pay to park your car in. The garage gives you the place to store your car (disk space). It even gives you the driveway so that you, and others, can get to and from your car (bandwidth). It won’t, however, fix your rockin’ stereo system (WordPress or any other third-party software application) that you’ve installed — unless you’re willing to pay a few extra bucks for that service.

Most Web hosting providers give you access to a hosting account manager
that allows you to log in to your Web hosting account to manage services.
cPanel is perhaps the most popular management interface, but Plesk and
NetAdmin are still widely used. These management interfaces give you
access to your server logs where you can view such things as bandwidth
and hard disk usage. Get into a habit of checking those things occasionally
to make sure that you stay informed about how much usage your site is
using. Typically, I check monthly.

 

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Dealing with disk space and bandwidth

 

Web hosting services provide two very important things with your account:

 

✦ Disk space: The amount of space you can access on the Web servers’
hard drive; generally measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB).

✦ Bandwidth transfer: The amount of transfer your site can do per month;
typically, traffic is measured in gigabytes (GB).

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Getting help with hosting WordPress

Here is a list of some of those providers:

✦ Blogs About Hosting: http://blogs-about.com (shown in Figure 1-2)
✦ Laughing Squid: http://laughingsquid.net

✦ BlueHost: http://bluehost.com

✦ DreamHost: http://dreamhost.com

 

A few Web hosting providers offer free domain name registration when you
sign up for hosting services. Research this topic and read their terms of ser-
vice because that free domain name may come with conditions. Many of our
clients have gone this route, only to find out a few months later that the Web
hosting provider has full control of the domain name, and the client can’t
move that domain off the host’s servers, either for a set period (usually, a
year or two) or for infinity. It’s always best to have the control in your hands,
not someone else’s, so try to stick with an independent domain registrar,
such as Network Solutions.

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Getting help with hosting WordPress

 

The popularity of WordPress has given birth to Web services — including WordPress designers, WordPress consultants, and (yes) Web hosts — that specialize in using WordPress.

 

Many of these hosts offer a full array of WordPress features, such as an

automatic WordPress installation included with your account, a library of WordPress themes, and a staff of support technicians who are very experienced in using WordPress.

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

 If the technojargon confuses you — specifically, all that talk about PHP,
MySQL and FTP in this section — don’t worry! Chapter 2 of this minibook
gives you an in-depth look into what FTP is and how you will use it on your
Web server; Book II, Chapter 3 introduces you to the basics of PHP and
MySQL. Become more comfortable with these topics because we discuss
them frequently.

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

 

The easiest way to find whether a host meets the minimum requirement is to check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the host’s Web site, if it has one. If not, find the contact information for the hosting company, and fire off an e-mail requesting information on exactly what it supports. Any Web host worth dealing with will answer your e-mail within a reasonable amount of time (12-24 hours is a good barometer).

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

✦ Domain e-mail with Web mail access
✦ File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access
✦ Comprehensive Web site statistics
✦ MySQL database(s)

✦ PHP

Because you intend to run WordPress on your Web server, you need to look for a host that provides the minimum requirements needed to run the software on your hosting account, which are

 

✦ PHP version 4.3 (or greater)

✦ MySQL version 4.0 (or greater)

 

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

On the other hand, if your Web host supports the software on your account,
it comes at a cost: You have to pay for that extra support. To find whether
your chosen host supports WordPress, ask first. If your host doesn’t offer
software support, you can still find WordPress support in the support
forums at http://wordpress.org/support, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Several Web hosting providers also have WordPress-related services available for additional fees. These services can include technical support, plugin installation and configuration, and theme design.

Generally, hosting services provide (at least) these services with your
account:

 

✦ Hard drive space

✦ Bandwidth (transfer)

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

When discussing Web hosting considerations, it is important to understand
where your hosting account ends and WordPress begins. Support for the
WordPress software may or may not be included in your hosting package.

Some Web hosts consider WordPress to be a third-party application. This
means that the host typically won’t provide technical support on the use
of WordPress (or any other software application) because software sup-
port generally isn’t included in your hosting package. The Web host sup-
ports your hosting account but, typically, doesn’t support the software you
choose to install.

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

 

After you register your domain, you need to find a place for it to live — a Web host. Web hosting is the second piece of the puzzle that you need to complete before you begin working with WordPress.org.

A Web host is a business, a group, or an individual that provides Web server
space and bandwidth for file transfer to Web site owners who don’t have
it. Usually, Web hosting services charge a monthly or annual fee — unless
you’re fortunate enough to know someone who’s willing to give you server
space and bandwidth free. The cost varies from host to host, but you can
obtain quality Web hosting services for $3 to $10 per month to start.

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

The next step is obtaining a hosting account, which we cover in the next
section.

 

Some of the domain registrars have hosting services that you can sign up

for, but you don’t have to use those services. Often, you can find hosting ser-
vices for a lower cost than most domain registrars offer. It just takes a little
research.

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