Thứ Ba, 7 tháng 6, 2011

Understanding Web Hosting Bandwidth

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.

1 byte is the equivalent of 8 bits and 1 kilobyte is the equivalent of 1024 bytes.

Another thing that can cause an ineffectual use of bandwidth is a vast number of pictures or a lot of user comments or remarks. It also makes sense that a person who has heavy usage on the internet including products that have a large size will invariably use a huge amount of bandwidth. This places a huge deal of importance on getting the right website from your web provider. The greater amount of visual, audio and graphical that is on a website, the greater the need for bandwidth will become. It is not always possible for a website provider to live up to the promises they make, so it is important to research them properly. As in all walks of life, having a provider who can meet all your needs is an important aspect when choosing your website host.

Understand the amount of bandwidth that fits your requirements.

How would you known that what is the required bandwidth of your website? This question needs to be answered from technical and mathematical point of view. This would also determine the website content you are having and have projected to include in future. It is always better to keep some bandwidth in hand as it would allow you to develop the website and include new features later on. You should take out some time in determining the bandwidth required for your website. If required you can discuss the issue with your web hosts who can suggest you better on this. Almost every hosting company measures the bandwidth plan on a monthly basis and hence you can chart your requirements based n that only. Bandwidth is generally measured as:

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

While if you allow people ample downloading options from your website your bandwidth would be measured as:

Adding the sum of the amount of visitors per day times how may times a page is looked at times the size of the web page and adding it to the number of files that retrieved from your site by the average size of the file will give the first half of the equation. This figure can then be multiplied by the largest number of days possible and a fudged figure to get the answer.

Note: The above calculations all use an average figure to obtain the most relevant return.

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.

Handy ways to reduce your bandwidth size.

Sometimes a bill can come out of the blue that leaves you catching your breath and the same can be said for your monthly bandwidth bill. If you have a pre arranged bandwidth limit, it is simple for your provider to state that you have went over your limit and charge you accordingly whilst requesting you reduce your usage. This request can leave many users not knowing what to do and what they should do for the best.

Every website is comprised of a number of files and each file on the website takes up so much space. If a visitor to your website comes along and uses these files, this will increase your bandwidth usage. As it is your website, you have the option to control aspects on your website and it is possible to alter how often a file gets used. By limiting the number of images or downloadable items you have available on your site, you can further reduce the bandwidth that is being used on your site. Considering that these files can have a huge size and if they are being downloaded by many users, the overall impact on your bandwidth usage can be very damaging. Altering certain things on your website can also help to reduce its use. For instance, if there is an image or file on your website that is downloaded every time a visitor hits your site, there will be an excessive amount of bandwidth being used. The first action may be too remove the offending file but if this is not an option open to you, you may wish to lower the size of the file. If you are able to do this, you should be rewarded with a lower bill the following month from your bandwidth provider. Another way to look at reducing your bandwidth use is to check for cascading style sheets as they are able to make the size of your HTML files much smaller.

Some bandwidth tips:

* Be able to have a rough estimate of the amount of visitors that access your site or may be likely to access your site at a later date. You can see why it can be of use to have a projection for monthly usage.

* It may be possible to purchase a meter free bandwidth facility. This facility may feature a higher than usual cost compared to a limited bandwidth provision but clearly there is no risk of going beyond a pre-set limit. The bandwidth rating is contained on your control panel but it will not be continually assessed by your web host.

* If you make changes in your website then always calculate the current web page size or else you will not be able to keep track of the bandwidth bills.

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

* Talk to your web hosting company regularly for upgrading your website. Upgrading doesn't always mean that there will be an increase in the bandwidth consumption. But this can also decrease the consumption of bandwidth by elimination unnecessary files.

* A better way to embed JavaScript may be to do it on an external site as opposed to having it placed on every page.

* If you resize any of your graphics or logo, remember to refresh and upload to ensure your bandwidth usage is kept to a minimum.

The final words:

Your web host provider is a great source of ideas and information. This is why finding the best one to forge a partnership with can make a huge difference to your site. There are so many different issues that will affect your bandwidth that choosing the right provider can inform you of what is right for you. One issue that is becoming more of a threat is bandwidth theft. It is regularly used by other websites and it is the process of using another sites graphics and pictures by linking to them. This is illegal and should not be undertaken under any circumstances. Some web host providers may tell a new user that it is okay to do this but you should never commit bandwidth theft. You can benefit from having a level of knowledge before you start discussions with your web host so doing some research is a great start. Knowing a little bit about the subject will help you greatly but be sure to listen to the technical tips and tricks that a bandwidth provider may be able to tell you to reduce your bandwidth usage.




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