Pages

Subscribe:

Thứ Ba, 7 tháng 6, 2011

Web Hosting Bandwidth Information

By William MacMahon


There is a lot of talk regarding bandwidth, most likely, you've heard this term at your web hosting company. Although there are many ways to describe bandwidth, it can be seen as the size of data that goes between two separate ends of an internet network link (i.e. from your web host to your computer). Bandwidth is one of the most important topics for a web host to discuss and its size is measured per second, in bits. How much bandwidth is used by a site varies depending on the services it offers. A site like a forum where there is a lot of scope for people to chat and interact will require more bandwidth than non-interactive sites. The more options a person has to interact on a site, the higher the bandwidth usage is likely to be. All of these options mean there is a larger amount of data being used and more people visit the site more often when compared to a standard website.

To define bandwidth mathematically one can say that, if your website is of 10 KB and the total number of hits is 20 per day, then your bandwidth would be 10 x 20 bites and if you want a monthly report multiple it with 30. Bandwidth is sometimes measured in bytes also.

8 bits = 1 byte and 1024 bytes = 1 Kilobytes

The heavy images on websites and too many feedbacks from the customers waste bandwidth. Moreover, if the user tends to download heavy items from the web then he/she would be expecting heavy consumption of bandwidth as well. Therefore, if you want your website to be filled up with videos, graphics and information then make sure that the bandwidth provided by your web host matches with your requirements. Some of the web hosts promise to provide large number of such services but later they turn their faces. Hence, in this respect proper selection of the hosts is also demanded.

Understand the amount of bandwidth that fits your requirements.

Is it easy to calculate how much bandwidth your website will need? There are different areas to consider but at the top of your list must be the mathematical and technological considerations. Other influences will also include your proposed content and hopes for future projects. Being able to have an excess amount of bandwidth to cover emergencies or expansion is vital to many web users. This is why it is very important to consider how much bandwidth you will expect to use before you meet with web host providers. This will give you a starting point before you talk to the provider but they will be able to offer you assistance with this topic also. Be aware that the vast majority of web providers bundle their bandwidth usage per month and knowing this can help you plan ahead. Most firms will total their bandwidth in this manner:

Average Page Views x Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Size Fudge Factor x 30

To ensure the best use of your site, many website owners decide to offer a larger amount of bandwidth and an equation for this would be:

[(Visitors per day x number of pages looked at x size of the page) added to (the size of downloads per day x the size of the file downloaded) times the maximum number of days in a month (31) times by a variable factor.

Note: These calculations have been created to work with the average figures for each element.

Links between website traffic and bandwidth usage:

There is a strong correlation between bandwidth usage and the amount of traffic a website gets. The best judge of this is quite often the visitors to a website as they will have first hand experience of undertaking actions of the site. This can be seen if a visitor wishes to download a music track or a video from the site. This creates traffic between the visitors' computer and the website. The bandwidth this takes up can be very low if the user has a rapid internet connection, which helps the file to download in a short space of time. The opposite can be said if the user has a very slow connection and this will result in a long download time and a large amount of bandwidth being used. This is very important if you are trying to keep note of how many bits are being transferred as this is what is classed as traffic.

How to cut down bandwidth usage?

It might happen suddenly that you receive a monthly bill for hosting that brings perspiration on your forehead. The hosting company justified the bill explaining that the monthly minimum bandwidth usage has been exceeded for your website and asks you to bring down the file size in your website. You are at a fix and simply do not know what would be your send stand.

Yours website has several files, each of these files have respective sizes of their own. Each of these files, when used by the visitors, consumes some of the website bandwidth. You have control on the bandwidth usage of your website and can increase or decrease these according to the requirements. Another easy way to cut down bandwidth expenses is to prevent the use of too many files, graphics, images and downloadable file son your website. These files themselves are heavy and when downloaded by multiple users, can consume lots of bandwidth thus increasing cost. Suppose there is a large image in the webpage that is downloaded each time a visitor views the website. Then also the same thing happens and unnecessary bandwidth expenditure takes place. If removing the web page images is not possible, then try to decrease its size and you can seen the dramatic change in the bill, next time, when the web hosting company hand it over to you. Cascading Style Sheets also help you to save bandwidth as they reduce HTML file sizes considerably.

Some bandwidth tips:

* Keep an eye on your website and organize a running total of how many visitors are using your site and make a prediction of how many will come in the next few months. Being equipped with a rough guide for your monthly use can reduce any shocks that come in your next bill.

* Have you considered the option of purchasing bandwidth that is not metered? This type of plan may cost more but it comes with more freedom regarding the size of bandwidth available, which will be unlimited. You will also have freedom from your web host who will not be constantly monitoring your website usage.

* Be sure to keep a note of any alterations that are made to your website. Knowing the up to date size of your site will allow you to accurately forecast your bandwidth usage and bills.

* Try to cut down the inputs from any visitors on your sites. Allow only selected visitors to make comments on your website.

* Have a conversation with your provider about being to improve your services. A rise in your usage may not lead to a rise in the amount of bandwidth being used. However, you may be able to benefit by eliminating any files that are no longer required.

* If you use JavaScript then instead of embedding it in each page, use it externally.

* Bandwidth can be eaten up by graphics with a large size so always ensure to load up graphics that have been reduced in size.

Last points you should remember:

There are many places to get advice on how best to use your bandwidth but the strongest advice would come from your web host. The advice that is offered by the firm should also be factored into the decision you make about provider to go with. There are many factors that will impact on how much your bandwidth costs you but the layout and content will have a lot to do with it. The amount of different factors that can have an influence on the cost involved means the support and advice from your web provider can be a vital factor in keeping your expenditure within budget. This support can be extremely helpful in combating in bandwidth theft. This occurs when other web users place links to graphics and images that are held on your site by linking to them from their site. This is an offense that carries a punishment and is not to be encouraged. This means that if you are advised of undertaking this activity you should always refuse. All decisions in life should feature some form of research and the same can be said for choosing which bandwidth provider to work with. Always be sure to communicate with your web provider to learn the best ways about the best ways to reduce how much bandwidth you use.




About the Author:



0 nhận xét:

Đăng nhận xét