A Responsible Web Host

A responsible web host follows a set of policies and procedures to ensure they meet the promised service requirements to all customers. Of course if more hosts set and followed a list of procedures instead of falling asleep the web hosting industry might have a better reputation.

At the minimum your web host should be performing the following tasks to ensure your website is running at an optimal level of performance.

Avoiding Server Overload

Web hosts who cram their servers with too many hosting accounts are doing themselves and their customers a disservice. Web servers are built for performance. Customers should be competing with other websites not their web server for necessary resources. If the server is over crowded or over worked than its time for the web host to break the piggy bank and add a new system to the network.

Data Backups

Web hosts needs to provide some sort of data backup. Sooner or later something is going to go wrong. A data backup of the client’s website, email and business data is invaluable to its recovery. At the minimum web hosts should perform a monthly backup of each client’s data. If a client needs more frequent backups than the tools should be provided.

Spam Monitoring

Web hosts absolutely must police their web servers for spammers. All suffer if even one customers is using their shared hosting account for spam. The web server will quickly be placed on a blacklist and all the websites on the server will experience interruptions in email service. It is nearly impossible to prevent potential spam abuse but good web hosts act swiftly and do their best to clear their server’s name.

Server Monitoring

Monitoring tools need to be present in order to alert of the web host of potential abuse. It is not the job of the customers to report all issues with the server. The web host needs to be on front lines monitoring for any issues. Potential abuse doesn’t always mean attack from outside sources. Sometimes the abuse can be internal. For instance, a customer hogging the majority of server resources. Other customers are paying the same amount of money and are entitled to the same level of server access.