Web Hosting
Sites That Click offers web hosting on reliable, fast servers located in modern datacenters on major Internet pathways. Where you host your web site and manage your email makes a significant difference for speed, security, and total cost of ownwership. The best-designed web site is not effective if it is slow or has periods when it is unavailable. We ensure the best "home" for your web sites by providing the best in the following aspects of web hosting:
Datacenters & Connectivity
We currently have servers located at several sites in North America. We chose major datacenters, installations dedicated to supporting web servers and their conection to the Internet. Rather than locating our servers within Upstate NY, with limited connections to major web pathways, we maintain our assets at major "peering" points where web traffic is switched between high-speed "backbones". If your server has a connection to a single backbone (such as Sprint, Cogent), you rely on one path for all of your data flow. That single path always takes your data to the nearest network access point, and failure of that provider or backbone disconnects your server from the rest of the web. Placing our servers at peering points for multiple backbones provides redundancy for path outage and congestion, so your data always has a usable path to web visitors.
We use Cisco routers and Border Gate Protocol (BGP4) to direct information passing through our datacenters. Each packet of data is examined instantly to determine its destination, then sent over the best route possible. This speeds response time, and should one data route fail or become slow, future packets are automatically redirected through another route.
Read more about our datacenters.
Servers
We provide hosting on modern computers running the Linux operating system and LiteSpeed web server. Instead of using modified home/office PCs, our servers are rack-mounted assemblies specifically built for web server use, meant for working continuous duty. Minimum specifications are:
- Intel® Xeon™ CPU
- 24 GB RAM
- 4 300Gb hard drives
- Modular construction for rapid replacement of power supplies, etc.
We use 2U (two rack unit height) chassis to improve server cooling and reliability, rather than trying to fit more hot 1U servers in an equipment rack.
Linux is our choice for high-performance, reliable operation of servers, as well as being the fastest growing operating system in the world. Linux is the base for the servers of Google, Amazon, CNN, American Express, and Schwab. Our servers employ a hardened Linux "kernel" to deter external attacks on the server software.
The number of domains placed on each server is limited to prevent overloading. We also prohibit certain types of sites, particularly:
- online gaming sites
- domains primarily meant for downloads of music, images or video
- adult sites
- chat rooms
Monitoring
Our servers are monitored at the datacenters, and also by external services with stations located around the world. This dual approach allows us to detect problems keeping the server from responding to web visitors, whether the difficulty is in the server, datacenter, or web backbones. Monitors alert first level administrators within minutes of problem detection. A group of administrators scattered about the globe provide 24/hour per day response, communicating with technicians in the datacenters as needed. Servers can be restarted remotely to avoid the delay of having personnel reach the server rack. Escalation of response is defined so that our Rochester office is notified by email and phone if the problem persists for more than a few minutes. Our monitoring stations also allow us to gather statistics to demonstrate our committment to 99.5% or better uptime.
User Interface
Hosting clients are provided the Cpanel software as the control panel to manage their domain. With the password-protected Cpanel, users can make changes in your account themselves, configuring email, web folders, databases, and viewing statistics without the need of Sites That Click staff for most tasks. With its full list of features and browser-based interface, Cpanel makes learning and typing cryptic server commands a thing of the past.
If you want reliable web hosting with all of the benefits presented above, please consider our hosting plans.