A review of AfterHost

We, at afriyie.net, have chosen 'AfterHost' to be our current domain name and hosting supplier. Hence we presume that this concise review of 'AfterHost' is maybe going to be quite useful for other people from all over the Globe who seek domain name and web hosting services. We say individuals from all over the World, because the mere truth is that 'AfterHost' presently delivers domain and hosting services in several server farm locations: in the United States (Chicago, IL), in the United Kingdom (Maidenhead, 20 miles outside London), in Scandinavia (Stockholm) and in Australia (Sydney). Thereby, embracing practically the whole Earth. At least as far as the Internet is concerned. So, here is what you could expect from 'AfterHost' in a few words:

Shared Web Space Hosting Services

The initial thing we, at afriyie.net, have noted is the budget prices of the shared web hosting solutions furnished by 'AfterHost'. Shared doesn't sound very well, does it? Well, that's what it is called: shared web hosting. The good thing here is that the web page hosting accounts supplied by 'AfterHost' are driven by a custom developed, leading edge cloud web hosting platform (each hosting service, like mail, databases, hosting CP, storage space, DNS, stats, etc., is being dealt with by an independent group of hosting servers in a cluster). This is a circumstance EVERY cPanel web hosting provider on the Globe will have colossal troubles with, because cPanel is a single server based hosting environment (each hosting service, like electronic mail, databases, webspace hosting CP, web space, DNS, stats, etc., is being served by a single web hosting server), cPanel is not open source (that is why the cPanel-based hosting providers are unable to add new functionality and manipulate it the way they need it) and there is no open source file system (they need to build their own file platform), which is the basis of any cloud web hosting service. Let's return to the shared web space hosting plans, which are driven by a real clustered hosting system. With a shared web space hosting package, each customer pays solely for his/her package, thus preserving the site hosting price really low (because numerous users share the same web server). In short, a shared hosting package, which is hosted on a clustered web space hosting platform, permits you to pay solely for the resources that you indeed demand, refraining from a scenario where you pay for a high-end web site hosting plan that you cannot truly use, or for a basic site hosting package that cannot shelter your web site. The possibility to upgrade your account from one plan to another with only 2 mouse clicks grants you the flexibility to commence with a small package and upgrade as your Internet presence expands. That way, you economize capital that you can invest in promoting the website while it is still brand new. Each and every web hosting plan supplied by 'AfterHost' boasts an online site building tool and over forty popular script platforms among them WordPress, Joomla, Zen Cart and Moodle that will economize you hundreds of dollars for web page design services. 'AfterHost' provides shared web hosting services in a number of different regions around the World. There is one data center facility in Chicago encompassing the United States and Canada; two European server farms - in Great Britain and in Sweden; and another one in Australia, which covers the Asia Pacific region. Thus, almost the entire planet is encompassed to provide you and your web site's visitors with a stable and fast web space hosting solution at a preferred place. Altogether, the shared hosting services offered 'AfterHost' are very well equipped and are available at an affordable price (starting from $5.00 for the Starter plan).

Semi-dedicated Hosting Servers

To clients with little or no experience, a private virtual server may seem tough to administer. That's perhaps why 'AfterHost' also keeps semi-dedicated web hosting servers in its principal United States server farm facility in Chicago. Administering these packages is similar to administering a normal shared website hosting package via a site hosting CP tool. They have all the specs of a shared site hosting package such as a free-of-charge site builder and a PHP script installer, but the amount of system resources offered by a semi-dedicated server hosting plan is many times larger than that of a shared plan. For example, the CPU power that can be used is about 5 times as much as compared with the shared site hosting plans. When compared to a shared site hosting package, the number of database queries added within the semi-dedicated hosting accounts is big: 90 000 / hour. An unlimited hosted domain name allowance is a standard as well. The semi-dedicated server web hosting accounts do not offer complete root access (we, at afriyie.net, think that this is a small minus), but the advantage is that they are administered through the same Control Panel tool as the shared webspace hosting accounts. This hints that a well-known GUI is offered to all clients who do not have enough confidence to manage a virtual private web server, but at the same time require more power and reserves than a VPS server can bestow on them. This is like that because of the fact that the semi-dedicated hosting servers share the system resources of the very same powerful first-rate web hosting servers as the ones which host the private virtual server web hosting packages, yet, the number of the semi-dedicated web servers is quite low (somewhere between 20 to 30 per physical machine), while the virtual private web servers can reach a much greater number (80 to 120 per physical server). Having that information in mind, the semi-dedicated servers furnished by 'AfterHost' can be dubbed as being amazingly cheap (as far as cost is concerned), commencing from $20.00 for the Semi Dedicated 1 package.

Dedicated Web Hosting Servers

In afriyie.net's opinion, huge sites such as social networks, community and corporate portals or famous online shops with 1000s of customers demand a much more powerful web site hosting solution. It appears that the fellows from 'AfterHost' have arrived at the same conclusion as well. To satisfy its users' requirements, 'AfterHost' offers an assortment of dedicated servers that can cope with millions of daily visits. That estimation stands on the hardware specs the dedicated web hosting servers come with: many-core processors, up to 4 gigabytes of RAM, two thousand GB of web space and Gigabit network interface cards will undoubtedly guarantee the fast and stable work of any sort of website. According to 'AfterHost', the primary hardware specifications can be upgraded for more resource-demanding sites. We, from afriyie.net, think that all dedicated server packages offered by 'AfterHost' are also appropriate for beginning a hosting reseller business as every web server includes free-of-charge billing software platform and a free-of-charge domain reseller account. Unfortunately, the dedicated web hosting servers delivered by 'AfterHost' are all unmanaged. We, at afriyie.net, deem this a minor defect, which can be rectified by paying a monthly tax which amounts to $32.00 USD. So, if you need help, the Managed Services upgrade includes a number of supplementary services such as a routine backup, software installation, server monitoring and troubleshooting procedures. A bouquet of web site hosting Control Panel (CP) tools are offered with each of the dedicated web servers - Hepsia, cPanel and DirectAdmin. Our (afriyie.net's) prediction is that the impressive point-and-click File Manager included in the Hepsia Control Panel will perhaps render the utilization of any FTP software futile. Our (afriyie.net's) inference is that the dedicated servers delivered by 'AfterHost' don't appear to be very low priced (yet the Hepsia web site hosting Control Panel and the unlimited hosted domain name allowance will undoubtedly make you smile), beginning from $40.00 for the Atom 2c plan.