Is Ethernet or OC3 bandwidth the right choice for a network solution for your business? How would you make that decision?

If you are talking about a network operator / service provider and assuming your links are above 1 Gbps …. most likely you will need both OCx/EoS and Ethernet. After all you need to interconnect with other networks. If you have links below 1 Gbps at the access or core sides of the network then you would have to use OCx, most likely. Although some people tend to say that for a new network you can do whatever you want, reality is another thing.

OCx/STM-N are known for their reliability and predictability and still have quite a good precense in long haul. These are migrating to EoS (VCAT, LCAS, GFP) and OTN but they won’t satrt to become “pure” Ethernet until 43G and supposedly there won’t be any difference at 100G so Ethernet could prevail adopting some of the reliability factors and DWDM compatibility from OTN. There is still long ways to go before the true convergence. In fact IEEE HSSG and ITU-T are working together to assure neither one reinvents each other’s wheels. Perhaps, if they succed, we would see single physical interfaces that could handle both: Ethernet for end-to-end connectivity and OTN for transport applications.

If you are thinking forward, perhaps you need to add OTN and EoS to your transport/core infrastrucure so it is ready for the future and yet flexible to interconnect to other peers using OCx, or deliver services below 1 GigE using EoS. People claiming they get “pure Ethernet” from their providers may not be paying attention to the EoS add/drop box that was delivered with the service contract and it is in fact receiving packets and shooting OCx frames back to the central office, or it arrived at a near aggregation location via OCx/EoS and then radioes to the customer premisses (perhaps over an internal OCx link too).

Below 1 GigE rates (I believe) there is no good way to deliver Ethernet directly to the customer (access network). it always has to be wrapped on some sort of (unreliable) transport scheme like VDSL, SHDSL, DOCSIS,… This is (in my opinion) what’s keeping SONET/SDH alive. Once we all have fiber and beyond 1GigE then there is no issue. You would be able to go Ethernet/OTN all the way.

While Ethernet is becoming quite widespread and cost effective, often times the A and Z locations may require a decision in favor of OC3. SONET being readily available, it may be more cost effective (yes - even including the WAN module for OC3) in some locations. For the same A and Z locations, if both Ethernet and OC3 are available, I would pick Ethernet due to the ease of integration as long as the cost is within ~ 65% of the OC3 circuit.

OCx has history, resilience, and capacity, and is subject to suppliers wringing every last cent out of it as an asset given the emergence of long(er) distance Ethernet.

“Choose wisely”, says the Templar Knight in Indiana Jones and the Final Crusade… likewise here. Unless you are committed to a long-term contract on OCx, don’t extend it unless your business and application requirements say you won’t need Metro-E flexibility until the end of the extension period. Even then, negotiate for huge concessions and/or cost-free upgrade to Metro-E at the end. As cost competitiveness of a service is based on the amount of market share: Metro-e /10GB-e will dwarf OCx over time.

Lastly, choose OCx/Metro-E service based on achievable and measurable SLAs first ….. then nail the supplier to the floor on price (as you do …. or …. you should do).



Budget web hosting

World never ever run on the idea of one-sided benefit, mutual benefit is accomplished one way or the other. This very concept ere is applicable on free Web hosting also. But before that one must what the hosting term is; it is a process of accumulating files onto a web server so that through a web browser visitors can evaluate it.

Webmasters who have recently built the sites always face a dilemma in choosing an appropriate host for his/her site, they get magnetized towards free host providers which are available throughout the cyber world, however, as discussed previously, the service provided by a free web host is not actually free as it declares, it has it’s own drawbacks such as lack of sovereign domain name for the user.

In the case of a new webmaster, selection of ideal host can be a daunting task and even when it comes to free web host; the choice should be selective one, because the majority of free web hosts aim to exploit their users. Moreover, as user counters some of the drawbacks such as assisting a small server place and inability of utilizing the FTP clients, lack of domain name, and ample amount of ads via the Web Company and scarcity of benefits, needs to be faced while searching for a free hosting. The web hosts attempts to wrap up their costs by publishing their or any other companies ads on their user’s website.

One should account about few things, before deciding about a host, it includes requirements of the user, features offered by the host, space allowed by the host, any statistics, what form of domain name offered by the host, can user use his/her own domain name or rather provide name servers, do the host provide feature of email address, type and location of advertisements on user’s site? Firm answers of all these questions are must before coming to any of the conclusion.

If one talk about the requirements, then now a day’s websites are available in two forms static or dynamic, majority of hosts prefer static hosting and if a user’s website is dynamic then he/she should search for a host providing the potential to host the website with the use of scripting languages. Dynamic services are provided by only few companies but with several restrictions, such as no data availability, etc. Same happens with availability of space which is in the range of 5MB to 50 MB, changing with respect to other factors; companies extract more benefits as they provide more space to the user. There are many free hosts who don’t provide the use of own domain names as it is not beneficial for them. That is the reason why most of the time the user’s web address becomes www.myname.freehosting.com.

Further to long URLs accounts, a further contentious issue is their reliability. It is generally believed that free host providers means hosts with old servers and giving free space wrapping up the amount through free advertisement. This is the reason why majority of free web hosts don’t provide the guarantee of servers running through out the day excluding general breakdowns? Another problem lies in scarcity of bandwidth providing, it may create problem when user’s site starts gathering a large amount of traffic and bandwidth extends its genuine limit.

Hence after judging all the factors one can say that free web hosting is not that bad as it looks, here one can surf without many charges. One may need to counter some of the restrictions but it is a boon to newcomers who want to do something new on the web.

These days, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting plan for next to nothing; however, cheap price cannot said to be the decisive factor which one should have to considered while purchasing web hosting services. This article provides a lesson of not considering the best price and features as the only passport of getting a good web hosting company but also emphasizing on reliability and honesty. If one is investing his/her money and effort into finding paying customers and he/she wouldn’t like to lose them in the condition just in order to save a few dollars per month on a web hosting service.

If a user is searching for a web hosting company, it is not a matter of concern that it is just for the inception of a web or the move of an established site; the user has to widen his/her thinking area before coming to a judgment that along which company he or she has to go with:

Customer support

Website hosting service is not restricted just to storage or bandwidth. Lacking customer support, a top-notch service is also nothing. If one is owning a business website, it is both duty and requirement of his/her hosting provider to be available for the service- 24/7, as any time any sort of technical fault may arise; neglecting it the hosting provider may suffer from serious shortage of customers and money.

Downtime assurance and service monitoring

It is a minor inconvenience to go down when it is a case of personal website; but it is serious when it comes to business website. Can anyone guess how much amount of profit would he/she lose if his/her site had been down for a week? As it is a trend of spending a large amount on advertising the website a long downtime can be lethal for today’s companies.

Basically, there are two rules upon which one can relay:

1. One should check if there is an uptime guarantee offered or not. An ideal service-oriented provider will not only give a money-back guarantee, but also offer a discount or free service as compensation for downtime. A company which avoids taking such liability will not provide an ideal service.

2. One should not go with a company claiming 100% uptime, as there is no such thing as a server with 100% uptime. If anyone ever announces that their server has a 100% uptime; one can easily conclude that they are either lying or they don’t perform the necessary upgrades that avoid a machine from being compromised.

Reputable web hosts will post statistics on their site, the remedial solution for the questions like for e.g., what is the frequency of interruption. How about the average percentage of downtime? If these aren’t posted, ask; if the answer isn’t forthcoming, that is not going to be a good sign. If one still likes to go with a host which doesn’t monitor servers, one has to do it by his/her own.

Backups

IS there any host who is safe against different types of technical and programical failures, the answer is NO! So, one should make sure that the company runs scheduled backups. The other probable advice would be that one must always have a backup of his/her website himself/herself, as one cannot predict what exactly is going to happen next. CPanel, currently the most popular web hosting management software, has a very comfortable backup-making tool. Which allows the user to backup files and databases quickly and easily, so backups are not a long head ace.

Acceptable use policy

Web hosts may have 200-300 or more clients per server; one cannot predict the exact number, as companies possess different hardware; while, each hosted website has different resource usage. One cannot ignore the probability of that a few of those customers host illegal content. There are several web hosts who have had their servers unplugged, resulting in their clients’ websites going down. Definitely ,one would never like to put his/her business at risk and locate the website hosted on the same server along with illegal pornography and software sites, so to avoid such types of problems one must check host’s acceptable use policy to find out, whether the host takes care of what’s hosted on their servers or not.

Hosting one’s site on an uncared-for server will also result in a low speed. If somebody on the same server sends spam, the server’s IP address will be blacklisted and he/she will have serious problems as recipients would stop his/her receiving emails. Spam is being sent almost everywhere, so having one or two red records isn’t that bad; but, if there are more, it may become a problem later on.

Infinite bandwidth and web space

If one talks about the adage “you get what you pay for” it ideally suit for the Web hosting industry. One should not fall in the craters created by the hosts like for e.g., unlimited allowances, as there is neither unlimited bandwidth, nor unlimited web space. Host’s pay for each GB of bandwidth themselves. One can think that hard drives are free but they aren’t. They are just a mirage to attract customers. The average website doesn’t use more than 1GB of bandwidth per month; the customer is satisfied as he/she bought something “unlimited” and through this host automatically receives a new customer, on whom they don’t need to spend more than $1-2 USD per month. But for imagination what would happen if one person had a website, burning much more bandwidth than an average site does, and he signed up with a hosting company offering unlimited traffic? The host would simply suspend his account and tell him, that it was via too much bandwidth. There even several companies there which offer unlimited bandwidth for the user and have a statement on their requisites of service, explaining that unlimited bandwidth means 40GB which they actually mean, for example.

Will someone really own his/her domain name?

If a user buy a domain name together with a website hosting package, he/she must make sure that the host is registered the domain name under his/her name or not. The name usually should be written in their FAQ, but, if there is no such information is provided, the user simply needs to take a step and contact them. This will also give the user a chance to detect whether their customer support team is fast enough or not. If the hosting company registers domains under someone else’s name, the user may have to face the challenges switching hosting providers later. If the user is in such situation, he/she have to file for a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which costs much beyond both domain name and web hosting service together.

Control Panel

A necessary tool for easiness and for regular maintenance, including, email mailbox additions/deletions, password resets, web additions, web count reports, statistics etc. This tool is unavoidable if the site is meant for any sort of business. That is why it is currently the most demanding web hosting management software. It is behind the screen role of a next-generation web hosting control panel system that allows a user to manage his/her domain through a web interface. The key idea is to transfer as much of the control of managing users web site to him/her; So one can say that, user have the ability to manage all the dimensions of e-mail, files, backup, FTP, CGI scripts, web site statistics, etc.

Value-added services

In the regular interval of time, hosting companies offer diverse sort of value-added services in order to give themselves an outstanding look. Of course, these are an advantage, but customers forget that many of the services cannot be applied in any of the field. But still some of the valuable features are mentioned below:

1. Auto-installer script –

Play a role saving the user’s time if he/she is going to install a forum, image gallery, content management system, etc. Installation procedures on an auto-installer script can be done in seconds and can be easily performed by novices by avoiding difficult tasks generally related with installations.

2. Online website builder –

Mainly dedicated with showing the way by moving on which the user can design a website in a few minutes without having any creation software and knowledge. One very powerful website builder established in the market is Site Studio; this quality based editor allows for ease of use, full control of color schemes and themes, one-click publishing, and a collection of templates to brought into use.

The last tip

The purpose of this article is to feel the users that price and allocations cannot be given reference over importance of quality of service; if the user possess limited budget, then the price can be a valid criterion, but if not, it should not be given much importance.

By going through this article and asking questions, one can narrow down the list of web hosts to the extent where the user by his/her own can make the judgment between what is right and what is wrong