How to Choose The Right Drupal Hosting
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Have you heard about the plenty problem? That’s what the plethora of business alternatives available today is effecting for many entrepreneurs. There are many businesses vying for your business when you search Google for the “best Drupal hosting provider.”
It is now imperative that you take your time in locating the most trustworthy one. If you don’t, your time and efforts will be in vain in addition to financial loss. But how is that accomplished? Starting here is not difficult at all. You can find your perfect Drupal hosting service by using the steps that this article provides.
What are the Types of Hosting a Drupal Website Needs?
It’s critical to determine the specifics and needs of your website before choosing a host. The needs for hosting can vary throughout websites. These are the three kinds of hosting that you may require.
- Shared Hosting
It is basic and cheapest hosting option, so there is less functionality on offer. It is because you will have to share hosting with several other websites. So you cannot expect to do much here.
- VPS Hosting
A virtual private server (VPS) hosting is the option that offers you a middle ground between the two extremes. There will be slightly higher capabilities for an increased price.
- Dedicated Hosting
You can get the maximum possibilities for your website if you opt for dedicated hosting. The price will be the maximum, but it will be worth it considering the benefits on offer.
How to Select a Web Hosting Company
Here are some considerations you need to keep in mind when choosing a Drupal hosting service provider.
- System requirements
Your hosting provider should have the capabilities to meet the technical requirements in terms of both software and hardware. Whether you choose dedicated or VPS hosting, here are the hardware requirements.
Hardware
- Preferably a Linux-based 64-bit operating system
- Dual-core processor with a speed of 2 GHz or faster
- A minimum of 4 GB of memory
- A minimum disk space of 120 GB
Software
- Drupal code
- PHP and its compliance for the support of DomDocument, cURL, and SimpleXML
- Apache Solr and Java are optional if you want to use the Drupal toolkit
- Apache server preferably, though Drupal can run on other servers as well
- MySQL database system, as it is compatible with the Drupal toolkit.
- Security
Security is vital to ensure that your data resources remain safeguarded. The hosting service provider should offer network security. It will enable only authorized users to access the data resources. There should also be encryption for protecting data when in transit and at rest. The keys should also remain under your control.
- Speed
Your website should have a top-notch speed so that it responds to user queries in a quick time. The speed of a website is critical in ensuring visitors stay on your website for a long time. It holds much more importance in the case of mobile users.
Measures like optimization and compression help in addressing issues related to the loading speed of a website. But the server power is also essential as it plays a vital role in site responsiveness. Shared hosting is not ideal as the platform will have its resources stretched. It will lead to reduced site responsiveness and speed.
- Reliability
For your visitors to trust your business, your website must remain reliable in terms of performance at all times. When choosing a hosting provider, a key element should be the guarantee of the minimum amount of uptime. Most service providers guarantee an uptime of around 99.9%. So, what it means is your website will remain available to users almost all the time.
- Backup and recovery solutions
Automated backups are a crucial aspect of the offerings of your hosting provider. It helps in protecting data through automated backups. It is helpful in cases where the storage device or server experiences a breakdown. So backups ensure that you can restore the data promptly.
Your service agreement with the hosting provider should have a clause related to this aspect. There needs to be a mention of the time it would take to restore the system and penalties in case of delays. Your business can take a hit if your website continually faces outage and loading issues.
- Compliance
There are various types of compliances you will need to meet when running your business. It includes the kind of business you run and the customer data you collect. Some of the common regulatory standards are HIPAA or PCI DSS. When we talk of PCI Hosting, the regulations are about backup retention for covering possible legal action.
Regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which are related to data privacy, list stakeholders who can access the personal data of users. Hosting providers that offer HIPAA compliance should have systems that meet the healthcare regulatory guidelines.
- Reputation
You would not want to do business with a company that does not have a solid background. Customer testimonials and online reviews thus hold a lot of importance. They can help you save a lot of time and resources. You can make a list of your requirements and identify some essential keywords.
So, when you look out for reviews online, check if the services of the hosting provider are close to what you are expecting. Take a look at all the possible options so that it becomes easier to figure out the best hosting provider.
- Customer support
You would want to have reliable guidance and handholding at least for the initial few weeks. If you run into any problems, the service provider should provide you with assistance in no time. Like speed and reliability, you can make a clause related to customer support as well in the agreement. You can specify the kind of support and how soon you will require it.
When you are on the lookout for a Drupal hosting provider, these are the eight essential considerations to remember. Finding a reliable service provider has both short-term and long-term benefits. You will enjoy uninterrupted business continuity on your website without worrying about downtime issues.
