A good hosting provider

Users often wonder – Who is a good hosting provider?
Well, picking out the right hosting provider suiting your requirements can come out as a tough task.
No matter how the website looks from the outside, it’s the plans they offer which matter.
Here is what you should keep in mind while looking for ‘The one’ from the widespread pool of hosting providers.
 

• • 24X7 Customer support: It’s important that your hosting & domain company provides you with 24×7 customer support in case of any technical glitch. This is important to avoid website downtime, which might have unfavorable circumstances for the website.
    The whole point of having a 24X7 support is that your provider is available at the time of need.
    
  • Backups and restore points: Backups both provide and require security. Hence, it is important to ask the hosting company about their backup policies. The backup policies differ with different providers and plans. Ask if they claim to restore lost or corrupted files. This also has many phases, like complete recovery, partial recovery or recent backup recovery. Backups would give the webmaster an assurance and peace of mind.
    
    
  • Network monitoring: Diligent monitoring can stop the server-to-server spread of malware before it gets to the server hosting your site. Ask for some details on how the support team monitors the network, whether the staff is dedicated to this function, and what the engineers look for.
    
  • Security: No one wants a security breach, therefore, it is important to make sure that the hosting provider is well equipped with SSL, Firewalls and DDoS Prevention techniques. The company needs to be transparent about the measures they have taken to protect your data.
    The provider must state what firewalls are likely to stop and what other measures the security team employs.
    The provider should define the stage where the security team will inform the owner about any kind of security threats to the system
    The network monitoring folks MUST inform owners of potential problems that might affect their site.
    
  • Antivirus and Malware scanning: It is important that the provider runs scans each and every document which goes up on the server.
    The support plan should include identifying and removing the Malware in case the account gets infected.
    
  • High availability and disaster recovery: Look for a hosting company that will keep your website running with 99% uptime or better than that. Disaster recovery is not limited to just backing up files. The hardware should be capable enough to guard the network against downtime because of any hardware failure.
    The same concept is extended to the servers.
    
  • Access and user permits: If we talk about hosting, access means physical access to the hardware and the ability to log into the servers. The owner and the provider should make sure that such access should only be given to limited to trained technicians with security clearance, of course.
    
  • File management: The ‘All Server’ access is remote. No one will go to the server to add, remove, or move website content files. You should use secure FTP (SFTP) with a secure and robust password for all file transfer and maintenance while also following other FTP and SFTP best practices.
    
  • Applications and login: The hosting company should have a strict password policy for employees with mandatory password changes at regular intervals as well as when equipment or personnel changes. You should have similar policies for your server access passwords. Establish and enforce policies for strong passwords. Those who want to can exploit weak passwords within hours.
    
  • Green energy: Data centers consume a lot of energy. These days, a few of them are taking the initiative to ‘Go Green’ by using renewable energy, partially or 100%.
    It’s an important factor of consideration looking at our moral responsibility towards the environment.

The above points are the basic standards to consider while choosing a hosting provider. No matter who claims to be the BEST, unless and until they meet the basic standards, it’s a waste.

Last but not least, make sure that the provider is completely transparent about the points stated above and there are no hidden costs.