Frequently Asked Questions
about hosting

FAQ You might ask

In the interest of helping you, the website owner, make an educated host and/or designer choice and have a better, more profitable experience, we offer the following information.

What is Web Hosting?

Hosting is the function of holding and making available documents (web pages and more) to others via direct connection to the Internet. It's where your website resides. Most documents are written with computer languages developed specifically for this purpose. Hosting costs support the 'server' for holding the web documents and Internet connection costs.

What is a server?

The term "server" is used a couple of ways, to refer to the whole computer that contains websites, known to us admins as the box or machine. And, in reference to the software that delivers Internet content (web pages) to the browser or client application.

A "server" (software) is any program that fills requests to provide content to the "client", which can be a browser or other software. A web server supplies only web pages. Your browser locates contacts the web server by means of a name server. A site may provide information contained in a database through the use of a database server. We upload files to a FTP server. And of course, you get mail from a mail server. There are many servers contain on a single machine or computer for smaller operation. For larger operations with a heavy work load these servers live on different machines.

What is Bandwidth .vs Data transfer?

These terms are interchanged by some, confusing the end user. Bandwidth is the speed of a connection, expressed the amount of data transferred per second. Data transfer is the data amount over a longer period of time, usually a month. This is the number shown as in the hosting features, but it is sometimes labeled as "bandwidth".

What is FreeBSD?

BSD (Berkley Software Distribution) is an operating system that was developed in the mid 1970's at the University of California in Berkley. It is very similar to commercial Unix, not Linux, as some believe. Although, Linux is also a Unix-like system.

In the early 1990's several variations spawned from BSD:  NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and BSD/os, the original system. Each flavor has its strong points while substantially keeping the same kernel.

The world's best published secret. While BSD is little known about, it was responsible for a number of functions used by others, including Unix. One of those is the TCP/IP connection protocol used throughout the world by all systems for connecting to the Internet and other networking.

As the BSD flavors evolved, each found a niche for its best usage. NetBSD and OpenBSD were so similar that they merged as one recently. FreeBSD developed exceptional strength in security and stability, making it an ideal platform web server operations. It is considered by those who know all systems to be the best for this purpose. That is why we used it, and so far, have the perfect security record that we do.

Why does WWN not use all latest versions for the OS and features?

The versions we use for FreeBSD, PHP, Perl and other features are used for three reasons.

1) The old line, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies. A version must be fully functional, stable and secure. The newest versions may have some weakness on these. Ours are strong in these things aspects.

2) Changing versions, upgrading, is easier done at time of hardware upgrading when off-line testing can be done before going live. Additionally, we evaluate versions of many things for best compatibility when upgrading. Many of our versions are current at the time of system upgrade.

3) There are difference between versions, obviously, which can cause problems with customer scripting thus, requiring script modifications. That can be an inconvenience with little benefit. We carefully weight the pros and cons before any changes. We also provide customer notification, script inspection and assistance when needed.

It's great to have the latest model car, clothes and other things, but not necessarily web servers. One example is FreeBSD version 5, by our standards, isn't solid enough for the Internet, version 6 is.

How do I know how reliable a host really is?

There is a way. Reliability and up time simply isn't available by looking at a hosting company's website. Their claims are just that, advertising claims. This aspect is important enough for the serious website owner to check it out.

You can find this out by monitoring a site for the host company in question. Do a web search for "website monitor" and find one or more services to monitor the site. A customer's site is best to monitor, or monitor the hosting companies domain name. This monitoring will inform you of times and duration when the site is not available. At the same time, monitor our domain, webwingsnet.com, then compare.

The monitoring company should use more than one location to check from, so their possible routing problems are not confused with the target site's availability.

When comparing Web Wings Net with others, the results speak for them self.

Can Web Wings provide everything I want?

There is no single host that is right for everyone, including us. Many things must be considered such as the designer's needs, the type of content and target visitors. We are always happy to discuss and answer specific questions regarding your needs, even if that means we are not best suited for your site.

Can I stream Real Media® content on your system?

Yes. Real Media® does not require a Real Media® server. Information is available.

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These questions may help you decide if we are the right hosting company for your site. We want satisfied customers and to spend your time wisely when choosing a host. Even if you already have a website, it would be helpful to consider these questions.

How serious is your business' web presents?

This is a serious question for one to ask them self, and thoughtfully answer it. The answer has many implications on what you should do and spend for your website, and where.

Do you know what you want to accomplish with your website?

A simple answer like "make money" or "sell my thing" is too short. A little more detailed answer here will help to achieve your goals later.

Do you have a plan for your site's content?

This is a very detailed question that rarely receives a detailed answer, and it shows on the website. If you don't know what you want and/or don't ask for it, you probably won't get it. Heard that before?

This is the single largest, most difficult question to answer, and the majority of owners do a poor job with it. Your hard work here pays off in higher ranking, more visitors, sales and $$ later.

Do you have a designer/programmer for your site?

Designers all work a little different and have different requirements of a web server. Your needs, the designer and server should be compatible.

What features do you need on the web server?

Please consult your designer for help with this question. We have many common and most popular languages and utilities but not all. Version numbers may also be an issue. One popular item we do not have is Microsoft FrontPage extensions because of the high security risk. Please, lets be sure this area is addressed before we start hosting you.

Is there more?

Yes, maybe. Consider anything you want that may be unique, at least in your opinion, and ask about it. Your website and hosting company is a long term relation ship, and it should be a profitable one for you. Getting off to a good start is the best thing you can do for it. Our business is service and we'll do our best to provide it for you.

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