It can be pretty tough working out what the best web hosting plan for your website will be with some many offers in the market. Today we focus on two of the most important factors in a web hosting plan, Disk Space and Bandwidth allocation.

Disk Space is akin to your hard disk in your computer. There is fixed allocation which you can used, taken up by different files including documents, music, videos, email and software.

Most small websites will only use a very small amount of disk space. For example, a small 10 page site with images may use less than 10MB of disk space if properly prepared by a web designer. Larger websites or those using databases to drive them can consume more disk space, though sites hosting large files such as high resolution graphics, music and video files or popular forums are typically examples of sites that will use more disk space.

The term Bandwidth deals with the amount of traffic your website sends and receives to other people who visit your website. Every time someone visits your website, bandwidth is used. If your site is small and doesn’t get too many hits, a lower bandwidth plan is acceptable, while for more popular sites, higher bandwidth plans should be considered.

The size of your website in disk space consumption terms and popularity will affect how much bandwidth you’ll need in your hosting plan. The more movies or high resolution images you hosts, the quicker your bandwidth allocation will be used. When considering what bandwidth allowance is right for you, consider the type of website you’ll be hosting with Web3k and what content will be made available.

What about hosts that claim unlimited disk space and bandwidth in their plans? Every host has a finite amount of disk space to offer its customers, and there’s no such thing as a hard disk drive with ‘unlimited storage’, so be wary of hosts offering these plan as there will typically be restrictions hidden in their terms to prevent users from consuming an ‘above average’ amount of disk space and bandwidth.

We get a lot of enquiries from customers regarding the best web hosting plan for their needs, and every situation is different. If you find you’re still confused, drop us a note and we’ll be more than happy to help!

People use the internet all the time, for email, games, or research, but not everyone knows how website hosting works. At the heart of web hosting and the internet is the Domain Name System, or DNS for short and name servers. Here you can see hosting explained - DNS and Name Servers summarized.

Simply put, DNS is a database matching domain names to internet protocol (IP) addresses. IP addresses are specific strings of numbers assigned to computers connected to the internet. It can be compared to phone numbers linking to a specific phone.

The DNS changes the numbers (IP address) into words for easier access. Whenever you browse to a website or send an email, a computer accesses a domain name and queries a DNS server to find out which computer or server to transfer its data to.

For example, if you type in www.web3k.com.au, DNS looks up its database on a Name Server and finds the IP address it is located at. Once the IP Address (for example 192.168.1.10) is found, your web browser now knows which server on the internet to contact and begin retrieving the pages on the website. DNS constantly works in the background, translating billions of domains into IP addresses every day.

When creating a website and setting up web hosting, DNS servers are required in order for the web hosting to work properly, which Web3k provides with every hosting service purchased.

So as you can see, DNS and Name Servers are an important part of the internet and hosting websites. Without it, the internet would be a different place and most likely harder to navigate. It can be complicated and technical for some; however Web3k already manages this process for many of its customers and can do the same for you.