The development team has spent 3 months night and day to get a beta version of your product ready for testing. The COO wants to know when the customer will be able to see the product. The Venture Capitalist wants to see results for the $3 million they've invested. You just want to get everyone off of your back for 10 minutes. This is not the time to hastily pick a Web Hosting Company.
As an ASP your application is not a standard off the shelf product. Months and possibly years have been spent perfecting how your application operates. ASPs are creating applications that a few years ago would only be found in a LAN environment. These applications have similar components to their LAN brethren, and operate in a similar fashion to their LAN counterparts. It's this uniqueness that can cause problems at the hosting level.
Know what your needs are!
As simple as this statement is, you might be surprised by what actually goes into your application. Think about your needs: server capacity, storage space, multiple NICs and TCP/IP addresses, Firewalls, etc. Think about your application at the processes level and how the different components interact, look at how the different servers work together. Then draw the whole server farm out and document everything. This map and specification sheet will be your guide to the hosting company and a reference for everyone when things go wrong.
The map will also come in handy at the office. I posted a copy on the wall outside my office; it's amazing who refers to it. I knew development would use this map, but a few days ago I caught our Director of Marketing using the diagram to explain our product to someone.
What to look for in a Hosting Company
As critical as it might seem to just get the site up and running, it is best to take your time and research the companies you would like to use. The best place to find out information about Hosting Companies is though their web sites. For obvious reasons, Web Hosting Companies will have plenty of information about their services on tap. The first thing to keep in mind is that this is marketing material; this information should be used as a starting point not as the final place to make your decision.
When you look at the different companies you'll notice similarities. Everyone has secured facilities; they all have backup power sources, and enough bandwidth to play the ultimate game of Half-life with 10,000 of your closest friends. Not to say these are not important issues, but they are so common they should be part of the standard configuration of any hosting facility.
Most hosting companies will have different levels of service depending on your needs. These can range from just rack space and a connection out to the Internet, to where the Hosting Company has full control of the boxes and gives you access on a limited basis.
Consider if you need to get into the box. Does your software need special access to the operating system? If so, then you would want to have root control so that you can make the security setting personally.
Once a box is built, do you need to change anything? If not, then consider using a lower level of service. This is more of a cost savings than anything else; why pay for more service than you need. Check to see if they have specialized products that fit your needs, remember the diagram? Usually if a hosting company has a special service, they are not going to hide it.
As soon as you have a short list of Hosting Companies call them and talk to a sales person. Do they know the company's products? Have they worked with an ASP before? What is their background? Do they work with a project manager? Don't be afraid to ask questions! This person is here for your benefit, not just the Hosting Company.
SOURCE:-
http://www.technologyevaluation.com/research/articles/hosting-horrors-16773/
As an ASP your application is not a standard off the shelf product. Months and possibly years have been spent perfecting how your application operates. ASPs are creating applications that a few years ago would only be found in a LAN environment. These applications have similar components to their LAN brethren, and operate in a similar fashion to their LAN counterparts. It's this uniqueness that can cause problems at the hosting level.
Know what your needs are!
As simple as this statement is, you might be surprised by what actually goes into your application. Think about your needs: server capacity, storage space, multiple NICs and TCP/IP addresses, Firewalls, etc. Think about your application at the processes level and how the different components interact, look at how the different servers work together. Then draw the whole server farm out and document everything. This map and specification sheet will be your guide to the hosting company and a reference for everyone when things go wrong.
The map will also come in handy at the office. I posted a copy on the wall outside my office; it's amazing who refers to it. I knew development would use this map, but a few days ago I caught our Director of Marketing using the diagram to explain our product to someone.
What to look for in a Hosting Company
As critical as it might seem to just get the site up and running, it is best to take your time and research the companies you would like to use. The best place to find out information about Hosting Companies is though their web sites. For obvious reasons, Web Hosting Companies will have plenty of information about their services on tap. The first thing to keep in mind is that this is marketing material; this information should be used as a starting point not as the final place to make your decision.
When you look at the different companies you'll notice similarities. Everyone has secured facilities; they all have backup power sources, and enough bandwidth to play the ultimate game of Half-life with 10,000 of your closest friends. Not to say these are not important issues, but they are so common they should be part of the standard configuration of any hosting facility.
Most hosting companies will have different levels of service depending on your needs. These can range from just rack space and a connection out to the Internet, to where the Hosting Company has full control of the boxes and gives you access on a limited basis.
Consider if you need to get into the box. Does your software need special access to the operating system? If so, then you would want to have root control so that you can make the security setting personally.
Once a box is built, do you need to change anything? If not, then consider using a lower level of service. This is more of a cost savings than anything else; why pay for more service than you need. Check to see if they have specialized products that fit your needs, remember the diagram? Usually if a hosting company has a special service, they are not going to hide it.
As soon as you have a short list of Hosting Companies call them and talk to a sales person. Do they know the company's products? Have they worked with an ASP before? What is their background? Do they work with a project manager? Don't be afraid to ask questions! This person is here for your benefit, not just the Hosting Company.
SOURCE:-
http://www.technologyevaluation.com/research/articles/hosting-horrors-16773/
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