Icethunder – Your place for webhosting stuff!
Help! My web site is not working!!!
Aug 27th
Well, if you want to get attention you do have it 
But it would be very nice if you would be able to describe your problem in more detail while trying to find help on a forum. It’s because you do have the attention, but with no relevant data to start with no one will be able to help you.
Include as many information as you only can when trying to find help in web hosting. People are willing to help but they need info to get started.
When searching for help try to append these information:
- your domain name so others can check if they can see your web site or the Error message
- what have you done before this problem started to show up
- what did you install
- what did you uninstall
- what did you allow Read the rest of this entry »
Is there a “best web hosting company” thing out there?
Jun 3rd
I will need to cool you down right at the beginning of this article, because I will tell you there is no such a thing like “the 
best web hosting provider”. The reason behind this is the diversity in the field of web hosting and moreover the various needs and expectations of different customers. What is good for Mike form Miami does not need to be regarded as a good service by Alison from London and Jerry from San Jose can even regard it as absolutely bellow average!
What I tried to say is the pure fact that what is good and what is bad is influenced by the experience of single individuals and these individuals all have different criteria they use for evaluating. And this is what you should keep in mind. Also the experience is influenced by the users “luck factor” as you may go from one host to another host and do not get into any kind of trouble even if you sing up with the host with the worst image in the industry. On the other side other people might never really get a satisfactory level of service even if they only sign up with great web hosts. Sometimes it is about luck. Read the rest of this entry »
Three features a host should offer [at least...]
May 29th
Don’t panic as this article will not be about me trying to convince you to buy from big companies, or me trying to tell you, that it is great to buy an unlimited hosting plan, because it is not This article will be simply about what I would like to see in an offer from a hosting company what would make me go and consider their offer.
Hosting companies tend to offer so many different features. They offer them in different amounts and thus it is hard to decide between two or three hosting companies. The top three things a offer should have to appeal to me are :
- Offer SSL for my mail client connection
- Offer SSH as an option for file uploads or a secured HTTPS web space uploader
- Offer the option to create at least 20 MYSQL databases Read the rest of this entry »
Do you ever wonder? TODAY: What’s a name server?
May 27th
I think, that anyone who has a domain name registered at one company and hosts it’s web site elsewhere knows what is a name server. It’s because such a person has to set up it’s name servers, or update them always when moving between 
web hosting companies. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is easier, than you might think at first. You just go to your domain registrar and use it’s web inteface to update your web sites location.
What’s a name server
A name server is a special kind of server telling people where to find a specific web site. We could take Icethunder.net as an example. You would not be able to come to icethunder.net if your PC would not be able to figure out a way to my web site! You would not be even able to visit any web page if your PC would not be able to find the destination at which the particular web site is located. The mechanism helping you is known as DNS. With the help of DNS servers your PC is able to figure out IP address of the web site you are trying to visit. A DNS server is like a phone book for web pages. It holds records of web site names and their corresponding IP addresses, because network communication is based on IP’s and not on word addresses like google.com! Read the rest of this entry »
Is it worth it to have a web site on shared hosting?
May 26th
The headline is a really good one and it’s a very practical question anyone who is trying to put his web site online should ask himself. You should ask it, because the answer gives you the much needed information whether it does pay off to put your web site on a paid service, or you could be perfectly fine with a free web hosting alternative. It is very important if you are on a small budget, or you are not absolutely sure what to do – what direction to take.
What should decide?
What way you will go – the free or the paid one – depends absolutely on the nature of your project. It depends on your expectations and projections. You need to have a plan in place for your online project. The plan should hold basic information about your web site and what do you want to use it for. Does it matter if you have a few days downtime per year? Does the speed matter to you? Does the features and their availability matter to you? Could you need support from the company during your stay? These are the basic questions you should ask. These questions also answer the question what is better for your case. They give you the answer what direction to take and do not get lost 
Read the rest of this entry »
Do you ever wonder? TODAY: Why I can’t have HTTPS on my web site?
May 25th
I think this is not a properly asked question and a far better headline would be “What do I need to be able to use https instead of http for my web site?”. The answer to this question would be than this article
The black magic behind aka “the Intro”
As you may or may not know HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and it’s the protocol you are using when trying to get to a web site. The web server serves HTTP requests and gives clients the proper web sites. The whole idea behind HTTP is, that it’s “plain text” and everything you send this way is not encrypted. All the data you put into a web site starting with HTTP is send “as is” and thus you could lend your password and username to anyone who would be spying on your network! Read the rest of this entry »
Do you procrastinate your hosting tasks???
May 24th
Well, not a very good headline for a web hosting blog, but it is very descriptive. It asks you if you procrastinate your every day tasks and among them is are also tasks like: researching your future web host, monitoring your web site’s uptime, looking for ways to improve design, speed ranking of your web site and much more.
You should not underestimate any part of your web hosting life, because it could backfire in a very bad way. You should be always the one who manages every aspect of your online project and thus no problem should surprise you. As long as you do have a back up strategy everything is great. But procrastination of your every day hosting tasks is a very bad habit. One day you wake up and find out, that your web site is down for several days. You would have noticed thisa lot sooner if you only would monitor it regularly Read the rest of this entry »
What makes a good domain name?
May 23rd
I think, that it happened to a ot of you and mane times during the years. You are trying to find out what’s the name of the great web site your friend has been telling you about the last time you met… You are trying to come up with the name, but you are not able to. You do not remember the name. And here is the point.
You can have a great we site. Your web site can be full of great articles, images, audio or other great stuff, but it does not mean anything as long as your web site’s name is not easily remembered! You need to think hard what name you will use for your web site, because the name is the only thing you can’t change. OK, you can change you domain name [buy a new one], but it’s less easy and more expensive then to change an article
What are signs of a good name?
- The name is short. This helps a lot as not many people do really remember too long domain names. It is always better to keep the domain name as short as possible while making it understandable as well Read the rest of this entry »
Four bad habits while searching for a web host…
May 22nd
I mentioned a short list of “best tips” yesterday and today I will expand on this topic a little more. I will not k about the “best tips”, but about the bad habits people use to have while searching for a web host. The list will not be complete and you are welcome to add your own thoughts under the article with your own list of bad habits
- Buying in a rush. It’s never very good and clever to buy in a rush. You should always leave enough time for exploration and comparison, else you could make bad decision based on too little information.
- Buying more than you need. This is closely related to the fact, that people do not know how much they really need. How much bandwidth they may need, or how much web space they need for their web site. But it’s very essential to know these facts before buying anything. Read the rest of this entry »
7 basic tips for good hosting experience
May 21st
Here are the tips I would give you if you would ask me the question: “What should I know before buying a hosting package?”
- Definitely make some estimation beforehand. You need to know how much bandwidth and web space you will need!
This comes very handy in the beginning and during your search as it helps you to decide which hosts and package just do not offer what you need… .
- Decide what operating system & database type you need.
- Decide your annual budget.
Yo should know how much you are wiling to spend on web hosting beforehand. Read the rest of this entry »
