David Russell

Not every church or organization has access to a Web server. Web hosting companies provide a service that leases servers or server space for Web publishing. There are service plans that range from a few U.S. dollars per month, to several thousand dollars. Most hosts will allow you to host several sites within a single plan or account.

Many of the lower-end plans are perfect for smaller churches and organizations. These plans are inexpensive because they take advantage of shared hosting, where several different hosting accounts (websites) are located on the same server and rely on the same system resources and bandwidth. If another site on the server has increased traffic, your site could be affected and respond slowly to visitors. However, there is no real “connection” between the various sites running on the same server. In terms of data, security and awareness of one another, they are exclusive. You should never see other account data or any Web sites except your own on a shared hosting plan. If you do, find a new host.

Other hosting plans provide different types of functionality. Modern virtual hosting uses an innovation called virtualization to provide a server that runs and feels exactly like a full physical server, but is actually deployed on a high-powered machine that runs other virtual servers simultaneously. Though it is nearly identical to the environment of a physical server, it is less expensive because less hardware is needed. This is an excellent solution for medium-sized churches.

The top-tier hosting plans normally involve leasing a full physical server providing the most reliability, bandwidth and system speed. If you have a high-visibility site or have particular data transfer needs, a physical server might be the solution for you.

Within each tier of hosting plans, there are other options to consider. Primarily, you’ll want to choose a server operating system that is right for you. Linux is far and away the most popular Web server OS. I highly recommend almost any flavor of Linux to power your Web server. Windows is typically the other option. (And there are still other options like OSX, Unix or FreeBSD.) Don’t feel like you have to choose the server OS because you “know” Windows or “like” OSX. You will not interact with the Web server the same way you interact with the computer at your desk. More than likely, you will never see the desktop or command line of these systems. You’ll manage the server in a friendly, web-based control panel built by your host. So no worries about any Linux learning curve.

It is also important to consider which programming language to use. This is a big decision. Websites can accomplish different things according to which programming language the server is capable of “parsing”. ASP, PHP, Python, Perl, Java, ColdFusion, Ruby. There are plenty more. Some are open source and mostly free. Others are commercial languages that require licensing to implement. NCC uses PHP and we’re experimenting with Ruby. There are also many open source Web applications that use PHP (and often a database technology called MySQL) to produce rich Web experiences right “out of the box” for little to no cost. The best bet for determining what works for you and your organization is to consult a knowledgeable Web developer. There are tons of them hanging out in the forum at Godbit.com. Just ask.

If you are in the market for web hosting, I recommend 1and1.

[tags]web, hosting, host, website, site[/tags]