dedicated server and web hosting.

What is virtual hosting?

Today's computers are extremely fast and the cost of disk storage has declined dramatically. A slow pentium processor computer is fast enough to fill a T1 (1.5 Mb/s) connection. Most websites require relatively little storage space and receive few hits. Dedicating even a modest computer by today's standards (400 MHz Celeron, 8GB hard disk) to a single, small website is not a wise use of resources and would be prohibitively expensive. Virtual webhosting is where many websites reside on a single high-speed computer and each website is served up independently of one another. A single webhosting server then becomes many virtual webhosting servers. The resources of the computer may then be put to full use, which leads to a more cost effective webhosting solution. Stellarhost™ offers four different webhosting packages.

Are there any disadvantages of virtual hosting?

There are two disadvantages. First, if one of the sites on a virtual hosting server becomes very popular, then the increased bandwidth use could negatively impact the other sites on the server. However, with the fast machines used by Stellarhost™, the amount of bandwidth usage needed to slow the other sites would no longer be economical for the popular site. We would then suggest that the popular site move to a dedicated server. They would have a more cost-effective solution for their online business and the other users would have the responsiveness they expect of a site hosted with Stellarhost™. The second disadvantage is with security. While this issue is not severe, whenever you have multiple users on a system, you can have potential security problems. The problems are not typically due to malicious intent of other users, but many people use insecure passwords or allow access to unauthorized individuals. Stellarhost™ is very security conscious and we have taken measures to limit these potential hazards. Other users will not have access to your shell directory tree (the directory you log into and can store personal information), but other users can see files in the webserver directory tree. This is not really a security issue, since the webserver has low privileges and must be able access these files. It is generally assumed that files, which the webserver can access, are for public viewing. While these may be access controlled via the webserver, local users will have access to these files. If you have sensitive information you would want to encrypt it or a better solution would be a dedicated server where only you have access to the contents of the machine.




Products & Services
Dedicated Servers Web Site Hosting	What is virtual hosting? Today's computers are extremely fast and the cost of disk storage has declined dramatically. A slow pentium processor computer is fast enough to fill a T1 (1.5 Mb/s) connection. Most websites require relatively little storage space and receive few hits. Dedicating even a modest computer by today's standards (400 MHz Celeron, 8GB hard disk) to a single, small website is not a wise use of resources and would be prohibitively expensive. Virtual webhosting is where many websites reside on a single high-speed computer and each website is served up independently of one another. A single webhosting server then becomes many virtual webhosting servers. The resources of the computer may then be put to full use, which leads to a more cost effective webhosting solution. Stellarhost™ offers four different webhosting packages. Are there any disadvantages of virtual hosting? There are two disadvantages. First, if one of the sites on a virtual hosting server becomes very popular, then the increased bandwidth use could negatively impact the other sites on the server. However, with the fast machines used by Stellarhost™, the amount of bandwidth usage needed to slow the other sites would no longer be economical for the popular site. We would then suggest that the popular site move to a dedicated server. They would have a more cost-effective solution for their online business and the other users would have the responsiveness they expect of a site hosted with Stellarhost™. The second disadvantage is with security. While this issue is not severe, whenever you have multiple users on a system, you can have potential security problems. The problems are not typically due to malicious intent of other users, but many people use insecure passwords or allow access to unauthorized individuals. Stellarhost™ is very security conscious and we have taken measures to limit these potential hazards. Other users will not have access to your shell directory tree (the directory you log into and can store personal information), but other users can see files in the webserver directory tree. This is not really a security issue, since the webserver has low privileges and must be able access these files. It is generally assumed that files, which the webserver can access, are for public viewing. While these may be access controlled via the webserver, local users will have access to these files. If you have sensitive information you would want to encrypt it or a better solution would be a dedicated server where only you have access to the contents of the machine.