Web Hosting - Part III

What is ASP Web Hosting?

ASP web hosting refers to web hosting companies who provide support for ASP, or Active Server Page.

What is ASP?

ASP/Active Server Pages are HTML pages with embedded ASP scripts. ASP scripts are processed on the server before the page is sent to the visitor's browser. ASP allows you to create dynamic database driven pages, a visitor can access data in a database and interact with page objects such as Active X or Java components.

How does ASP work?

When you type in a URL in the Address Box of your browser, you are asking the web server to send the file to your computer. If the file is standard HTML, then the file that your web browser receives will look exactly the same as it did on the web server. However, if an ASP file is sent to your computer from the server, it first runs the HTML code, then the ASP code. The ASP code could be anything such as the current time, date, or other such information.

How to find an ASP web host?

You will need to find a web host who will host your website on a Windows server. It is safer to host your ASP pages on a Windows server as they are more stable and most ASP components work specific to Windows. You also need to consider if your website uses a database, such as SQL and Access. Make sure your web host provides support for the type of database your website requires.

Domain Name Server (DNS)

Each computer on the Internet is assigned a unique address, called an IP address. A typical IP address looks like this: 199.123.456.7

It is very difficult to keep in mind the IP addresses of all the websites we visit daily. Words are easier to remember than strings of numbers. This is where domain names come into the picture. When you visit a website, all you need to know is its URL. Computers remember numbers, and DNS helps us convert the URL into an IP address that the computer can understand.

When you type in domain.com into your browser, the browser first needs to get the IP address of www.domain.com. The browser contacts a DNS server to query the location of the server where the webpages are stored. Think of it as a directory service of IP address.

The classic phonebook directory analogy, you need to find the company "Joe's Bookstore", you look in the directory and see that it is located on 123 Main Street. Then you go to the address to visit the store.

Which Web Server - Linux or Windows?

The truth of the matter is these two web server platforms are functionally equivalent, it all depends on what are your hosting needs, and what are you most comfortable with.

Both platforms differ in cost, ease of use, versatility and stability. Windows costs more than Linux.

Linux	Allows for running scripts written in PHP, Perl, Python and other Unix-originated languages. It usually supports MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.
Windows	Allows for running ASP scripts and utilizing .NET and other Microsoft technologies. It supports Microsoft SQL Server and Access database.

If your website does not require any scripting support, you should choose Linux hosting because they are more economical. However, if your website needs scripting and database support, you should choose the platform that supports the technologies you use.