While you may hear the term "unlimited hosting" thrown around in marketing campaigns, it is important to understand that this promise specifically refers to disk storage space and bandwidth. Instead, users may find they have hit a limit of CPU usage - something that has only recently become a problem for web hosting providers. To understand why CPU use is the limiting factor in many modern hosting accounts yet memory is unlimited, it is important to understand a bit about the evolution of website hosting and how internet sites are built.
When website hosting first evolved as an industry, the typical resources that limited a user's account were bandwidth and disk storage. Storage refers to the amount of memory (measured in megabytes and gigabytes) that a user stores on the host server, and bandwidth refers to the amount of memory that is transferred from the host to visitors. Most websites were static pages - some combination of HTML code and low resolution visual objects. Very little programming was done on the server side of the network, and few websites called entries from a database.
The advance of hard drive and broadband technologies led to larger hosting accounts, faster website access, and cheaper prices for individuals building their own domains. The increases also led to dynamic, data-base driven sites becoming more common and popular among webmasters. Programming languages like PHP allow web publishers to create pages that call up templates, user-generated content like comments and forum threads, and other types of functions that require most server-side CPU usage from the hosting provider.
Despite gigabytes of available memory and terabytes of monthly bandwidth allocation, excessive CPU use from a website can slow down or even crash a website hosting server. So when hosts promise unlimited, the fine print will always include a clause about CPU usage and the way it can affect the entire hosting environment beyond your own website. Unfortunately, it is hard to put an exact number on CPU resources like you can with physical memory. Many new webmasters can become frustrated and even angry when they hit this limit and their accounts slow down - or even shut down.
Make sure you're aware of how your website uses server-side CPU processing time. Cache pages when possible, and make sure to choose a hosting plan that was designed with your levels of traffic in mind.
Before signing up for any hosting plan, make sure to read the hosting reviews of people who have used that service before. Also, make sure to find the best hosting coupons and discounts because there is never any reason to pay full price! |
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