WWW Hosting at IIS servers: what makes it worth it?
Most people looking for webpage hosting technologies choose the LAMP stack, which is a combination of Linux operating system, Apache WWW server, MySQL database and PHP language. This is an excellent choice for anyone who simply needs nothing more than an Internet page.
At Host Up, we aim to satisfy more demanding users. We are aware of the LAMP stack limitations and that is why we have chosen to use more flexible and potent technologies. Our goal is to build the most versatile hosting platform for small and medium enterprises, and for individual users who wish to use the Internet for something beyond a website, such as including complex e-business systems, multimedia web pages or dedicated enterprise applications based on Microsoft technologies.
We have selected Microsoft Information Services 7.5 (IIS 7.5) as the basis for our hosting platform, as it combines Internet services for the Microsoft Windows family systems. IIS is currently the second most popular website server, hosting every third page on the Internet (source: Netcraft).
IIS allows one to administrate, manage and configure all functions related to web resource sharing, such as adding and removing websites, Internet application management and FTP server management.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The annual package of traffic from / to the Internet
|
1200 GB
|
2000 GB
|
2500 GB
|
4500 GB
|
|
Suport websites
|
1 (100MB)
|
2 (200MB)
|
5 (400MB)
|
20 (2GB)
|
|
MS SQL Databases
|
1 database
|
1 database
|
2 databases
|
5 databases
|
|
Account on FTP Server
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Setup fee
|
€125
|
€125
|
€125
|
€125
|
|
Annual rate
|
€80
|
€120
|
€160
|
€260
|
|
Half-yearly rate
|
€55
|
€85
|
€115
|
€185
|
Why IIS?
We have chosen IIS primarily because its flexibility. The LAMP stack limits us to practically one programming language (PHP), the potential of which is usually inadequate for our needs; it also limits us to only one database - its possibilities is enough for small websites as it cannot be properly scaled to meet the development of an organisation and the challenges it faces.
It enables a large selection of programming technologies
The Microsoft platform has a modular design which enables the support of Internet services and sites created in a wide variety of programming languages - not just PHP (through FastCGI), but also under ASP, which is designed to create dynamic websites server-side and the business logic of which can be programmed in C#, VBScript, JScript, PerlScript, Python, Ruby or Delphi.
The newest version of Microsoft Internet Information Services also features advanced integration with the ASP.NET framework, which allows sharing of applications written for the .NET programming platform in all available languages, through a web server - the means to this end is the extremely friendly Visual Studio programming environment. In practice this means that Internet applications can be built and deployed extremely rapidly.
It has excellent configuration options
The IIS platform we use allows the main webpage and all the subpages launched in it to be configured with just one file, including all the parameters of the webpage. This file can be easily shared between different web pages by creating a Web Farm - an infrastructure for the largest Internet services which generate loads shared between multiple servers.
The IIS server and the web pages it contains can be easily managed via graphic interfaces or a text-based command line (PowerShell). Changes in configuration are in real time and does not require the server to be restarted.
It is safe
A Microsoft web server is also secure. Our ISS brings you many opportunities, such as secure user password encryption and isolation of user service processes, full support for the encryption of data sent over SSL, query filtering to protect from malicious code injection into the webpage and finally URL authorisation mechanisms to protect the webpages from attempts at redirecting traffic onto the servers used by cyber criminals to attack Internet users.
It is excellent for media streaming
Live Smooth Streaming technology enables IIS to deliver video content and adjust its quality to suit the user's bandwidths and network loads. This allows movie delivery without overloading the streaming server and keeps the video stream smooth - the picture never clips. Connecting the potential of an IIS server with the Microsoft Silverlight platform enables quick creation of Internet TV portals or movie rentals.