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What to look for in a web host

If you are new to web development finding a host can be a daunting task.  Heck, even if you've been at it for years finding a new host can be tough.  The difference is knowing what questions to ask. 

Aside from recommendations from people you trust, there really isn't a good way to know ahead of time how good a host will be.  Sure, there are hosting review sites all over the internet.  But some hosts spend a good deal of time writing fake positive reviews of themselve and negative reviews of their competition.  Some of these review sites are even run by the hosting companies listed.  Certainly a tough place to get an unbiased review.

Assuming you don't know anybody who has positive experiences with a host, how are you supposed to find a good host.  The key lies in knowing what to look for.

What doesn't matter
First, let's go over a few points that really don't matter.  These generally are the features that a host will try to sell you on.

• Bandwidth
  Yes, you should get plenty of bandwidth with your hosting package.  No, you will not ever truly get unlimited bandwidth.  The reason why is beyond the scope of this article, although I may write one eventually, but let's leave it as they will find a reason to drop you long before your bandwidth is used up.  Very few sites will use as much bandwidth as is provided with even the most basic plans, so don't get too caught up in this statistic.
• Storage Space
  Again, most packages will give you more than enough.  As a start I would suggest at least 250 megabytes of space; more if you are planning on proofing online.  Generally you will find more than enough space in all but the cheapest of packages.

So, what do we look for?
Here comes the hard part.  Often what you want to know about a host they won't list on their sales pages.  You need to ask, and in some cases experiment.

• Number of accounts on a machine
  The more accounts that a host has on the machine you'll be on, the better the chances that somebody else will do something to affect your site being available - not hacked, but making the server so busy that your site can't be reached.  While there is not a definate way to measure this, your host should be able to tell you.
• Contacting support
  At the very least you should be able to email support 24 hours a day and receive a prompt response.  Good hosts will also have a 24 hour phone line.  Test these out.  Send emails and make phone calls to their support departments at 2am.  Don't test this by emailing their sales departments - they will almost always respond quickly.
• Redundency
  Your host should provide redundency in their connections to the internet.  At the very least they should have multiple connections, preferably through more than one vendor, to the internet.  Some of the better, and generally much more expensive, hosts will have accounts hosted on duplicate servers.  This is probably overkill for most needs, but is an option.
• Backups
  The host should make regular backups of all data, and those backups should be available to you at any time.  Once you're with a host, double check the backups to make sure they're working.  Of course, you still should backup your stuff yourself.
• Power
  Most hosting companies provide backup power in case of a power failure at their data center. 
  
• Server Software
  Software on the server should be kept up to date.  Again, this can be a difficult thing to judge.  Looking at the server headers can give you a general idea on versions, although the latest version is not always the best.  Up to date is not the same as latest version.  Up to date means they are patching security problems.  Programs like Apache have two separate versions - in the case of Apache both 1.3 and 2.0 are current versions.