Web Hosting Fulfills the Capacity Needs
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Emily Selden
Web Host Needs Space for the Traffic
The amount of disk space the Web host needs for the volume of traffic a business generates is the important
factor. Between 10 and 100MB of disk space is what the average small or medium web site will need to count on their web host providing. The average size of HTML pages is very small, perhaps even smaller than 1K. However, the average size of the image found on these pages will, often times, be larger than the page itself. It is expected each HTML page will use between 5kb and 50kb of disk space on the web host company's server.
This can vary depending on the use of images or other space consuming elements. Using many images or graphic elements, sound files, or movies requires much more disk space. Knowing the requirements of the website to be hosted is essential before looking for a web host.
Computing Monthly Traffic for the Web Host
A small or medium web site will consume between 1 and 5GB of data transfer per month. To calculate this multiply the average page size with the number of expected visitors (people who will view the site) per month. If the average page size is 30Kb and you expect 50,000 visitors per month, you will need 0.03MB x 50,000 = 1.5GB. Commercial sites, for example, often consume more than 100GB of monthly traffic.
Before signing a contract with a web host provider, be certain to have this information: the restrictions on monthly transfer, site closure or expensive overage charges if volume is exceeded, future usage need will be covered, upgrading is a simple task.
Web Host Speed of Connection
Web site visitors will often connect via a modem, however, the web host provider should have a much faster connection. A T1 connection was considered a fast connection when broadband on the internet was new. Today the connection speeds are exceedingly faster. Looking at the numbers: one byte is equal to 8 bits, this amount is the number of bits utilized by the computer to transport a character (letters or digits).
A slow connection speed modem transports anywhere between 14 000 to 56 000 bits per second (14 to 56 kilobits per second). This will appear as 2000 to 7000 characters per second, this translates to approximately one to five written pages text. to crunch the numbers further: One kilobit (Kb) equals 1024 bits; One megabit (Mb) equals 1024 kilobits; One gigabit (Gb) equals 1024 megabits. Today connection speeds on the Internet have only increased: Name/Connection/Speed per second:
Modem/Analog/14.4-56Kb; D0/Digital(ISDN)/64Kb; T1/Digital/1.55Mb; T3/Digital/43Mb; OC-1/Optical Carrier/52Mb; OC-2/Optical Carrier/156Mb; OC-12/Optical Carrier/622Mb; OC-24/Optical Carrier/1.244Gb; OC-48/Optical Carrier/2.488Gb
Before committing to a contract with any web hosting provider, go online to other web sites. Test their servers, checking the network speed and compare the websites against the type of provider, to see if the same needs are relevant. Creating a connection with other customers of the web host provider is also a valuable resource.
