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How to choose a hosting provider: a detailed guide

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It is important to choose a reliable hosting service as it can impact various resources such as finance, reputation and time. No doubt that the first step in research is defining the requirements (location, hardware, price, etc.) for a hosting solution. Knowing what you want is half the battle.

Here's a guide on the aspects to consider when choosing a hosting service that meets your business or personal needs.

Table of content

1. Business

First of all, hosting is a business, so try to do some quick research about the company and its related information.

  1. company
    • registration
      is the hosting company a registered company? Check it's registration number.
    • year of foundation
      check the year the company was founded, new companies are at a higher risk
    • country (office location, company address)
      according to the company location, some risks can be sanctions, conflict zones, etc.
    • team and CEO (the team or career page, the information on the LinkedIn page and GitHub account)
      a fake team, or a company that relies on just one person (bus factor: 1), can lead to several problems in the future
    • telecommunications license
      having a telecommunications license is a positive indicator for the company
  2. contacts (technical/sales/abuse departments email, phone, working hours)
    test the response times by using live chat, sending an email, creating tickets, and calling by phone if available; no phone option may be suspicious, but it is not a red flag
  3. news, social media accounts (X/twitter)
    explore how actively company introduces something new
  4. reviews and reputation
    • internet platforms (Web Hosting Talk, LowEndTalk, Reddit, Hacker News...)
      some reviews on platforms like Trustpilot may be fake; also it happens that non-standard issue can be resolved by mentioning the company on Reddit and HN
    • friends and colleagues
  5. website
    • domain (creation date, registrant, NS servers,..)
      using whois utility
    • web server location (country, data center)
      using Check-Host Info for example
    • SSL certificate information (Organization Validation)

2. Data centers

A data center is the physical location where servers are housed. A company may operate multiple data centers and host servers in different locations. Therefore, the company's business address is not necessarily the same as the location of its servers.

  1. location (country, city)
    sometimes a server should be as close to your other servers as possible; in some cases, the location of a server can introduce political risks; and depending on requirements, it may be undesirable to have a server located in a country that is part of the "Fourteen Eyes" alliance...
  2. ownership
    is the data center owned by the hosting company itself? Owning a data center usually allows for quick incident resolution.
  3. Tier number
    it indicates different types of data center infrastructure, including maintenance, power, cooling, and fault tolerance. The highest classification level is Tier IV.
  4. data center location specifics
    AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) can vary (VPN and torrents may be prohibited), DDoS protection can be different, etc.
  5. photos/video
    photos and videos from the data center can provide a quick impression of what it looks like inside and service quality
  6. history of the data center
    the year it was built, any past accidents, and so on

You can find more information about data centers in catalogs: https://www.datacentermap.com, https://datacentercatalog.com, https://www.datacenters.com

3. Network

The network is the most critical factor for ensuring reliable hosting.

  1. ASN (Autonomous System Number)
    get info about upstreams, peering, IPv6 support using test IP address or organization/data center name at bgp.tools, dns.he.net, peeringdb websites; does company have a BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) network blend or even a single homed? A BGP network automatically reroutes traffic away from a problematic Internet Service Provider (ISP) to another ISP.
  2. IP addresses
    IPv4 and IPv6 support, number of IPs for a server, price for additional IPs, failover IP address option...
  3. network status over status page
    check the current status, any downtimes, and responses to past incidents, example: Linode network status page
  4. blocked ports
    for example, outgoing mail ports such as 25 and 465 may be blocked
  5. bandwidth limits and port speed
    check the limits and additional charge
  6. DDoS protection
    protection speed limits, mitigation methods, failover IP option, black hole (null route) policy, fees and etc.; typicallly, large companies offer basic DDoS protection at no cost
  7. network test

4. Hardware

Hardware parameters are mostly related to CPU (speed and cores), memory (type and capacity), and disk (type, speed, capacity).

  1. specifications
    check the hardware specifications: is the hardware old or modern
  2. upgrade
    available upgrades/downgrades (memory upgrade, adding disks, and etc...)
  3. features for dedicated servers
    available OS, RAID types (software, hardware), IPMI, IPKVM (KVM-over-IP), Rescue Mode...
  4. setup time
    for dedicated servers, it can take from a few minutes to 1-3 days
  5. ownership and maintenance
    hosting company may either own the hardware in their data centers or rent it, which can vary by location. In the case of reselling, this can often lead to outages, especially when it comes to replacing failed hardware such as power supplies or disks. Additionally, issues like service suspension and network limit upgrades can also cause disruptions.
  6. real benchmark test
    make a real benchmark on server to know the true capabilities of hardware, for example using YABS (yet-another-bench-script)
    Yet-Another-Bench-Script output example ▾

5. Technologies and add-ons

Some add-ons and technologies may be necessary based on your needs, while others are good to have:

  1. virtualization technology (KVM, Xen, Hyper-V, OpenVZ...)
    OpenVZ has some limitations, and today KVM is mostly used
  2. scalability
    scalable hosting gives you flexibility and control to scale up resources (processing power, memory, and bandwidth) to handle the increased load
  3. cloud solutions
    cloud storage, load balancers, serverless applications, container orchestration solutions (kubernets) and etc.
  4. firewall
    in some cases, a dedicated firewall can be a very useful option for enhancing protection capabilities during network attacks
  5. backups
    automatic backups, snapshots, easy and quick recovery; as well it's better to keep a copy of backups in an alternative data center of another hosting provider
    Fire at OVH data center in Strasbourg, March 2021

6. Terms Of Use

Review the Terms of Use and other legal documents for important information:

  1. AUP (Acceptable Use Policy)
    some hosting companies do not permit VPN, Tor, mail servers, torrent activities, etc. Their responses to incoming attacks, port scanning, and DMA violations can be quite strict.
  2. SLA (Service Level Agreement) uptime
    SLA uptime calculators: Uptime.is or SLA Tools
  3. refund policy and money-back guarantee
  4. privacy policy
  5. other policies and agreements

7. User experience

A smooth onboarding process helps get started quickly, and good software helps comfortably manage servers.

  1. user registration and verification
    phone verification and scans of certain documents may be required; sometimes, registration or payment is not possible from specific countries or when using a VPN
  2. payments
    payment options (cards, cryptocurrency and etc.), billing panel usage experience; during the payment process you can usually find the company's legal name and address on the payment gateway page
  3. server management panel
    easy server reboot, OS reinstall, VNC access, API and etc.
  4. security measures
    two-factor authentication (2FA) for accessing to user panel, kernel updates for cloud servers and so on

8. Pricing

With a limited budget, be sure to review hosting pricing to avoid hidden costs or high-priced add-ons

  1. pricing models
    fixed pricing models are generally more affordable, while pay-as-you-go options offer greater flexibility
  2. add-on/upgrade prices
    some upgrades (for example adding 1TB of bandwidth) can be quite expensive
  3. cost increase
    LeaseWeb raises the cost of servers by a percentage of inflation almost every year
  4. promotional codes
    look for a promo code before making a payment, it can save you money over time

9. Support

Hosting support is infrequent but crucial during urgent times. It's best to receive prompt and qualified assistance when resolving server issues.

  1. working time
  2. response time
  3. support channels (email, phone, tickets, live chat)
  4. migration help option
  5. knowledge base and tutorials

Conclusion

When selecting a hosting company, there are various factors to consider; however, sometimes your options may be limited. Start by creating a list of your specific requirements and use it to filter potential hosting companies. Conduct thorough research on each company step by step, which includes a brief due diligence process. Check their reputation and read reviews, analyze any associated risks, assess additional parameters, and test the performance of their servers.

Some risks can be decreased if you have an infrastructure that allows you to migrate to another hosting provider semi-automatically without or with a short-term outage.

Quiz

Test your knowledge with the quiz:

  1. Which country has the most data centers?
  2. Choose the fastest type of storage device
  3. Choose the most suitable hosting solution for a long-term small project of your customer
  4. Choose the hosting solution for a VPN server for a registered VPN business company
  5. What is the year of building the first world's data center?
  6. What is the highest classification level for data centers?
2024.12.23 © Check-Host.net