Many websites are now being created dynamicaly using Microsofts ASP.NET language,resulting in web hosts rushing to provide custoymers with ASP web hosting. ASP web hosting should be based on the Microsoft Windows Server operating system (Windows 2003 Server) which ASP.NET was designed for.
Most ASP web hosting providers will provide you with a control panel to fully manage your ASP web hosting, running on Windows servers. Popular Windows based control panels at the moment are Parallels Plesk control panel and Helm which both allow you to manage all aspects of your ASP.NET based web applications.
Both Control Panels also provided you with access to the installed of Microsoft SQL Server, ensuring full integration between your ASP.NET applications and MS-SQL. From the online control panel you will be able to create and delete your remotely hosted databases, create users, set passwords and define permissions and security settings.
Like standard web hosting your host will provide you with FTP access to your ASP Web Hosting account to allow you to upload your web data. Popular software such as the Microsoft Visual Web Developer have a built FTP in upload function, whereby you enter your FTP settings and upload.
Virtually every web hosting package allows access via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to allow files to be uploaded to their public web space with ease. Also its possible to upload files using the Control Panel’s built in File Manager, which has an “Explorer” like interface allowing your browse, drag and drop files from your desktop to server.
ASP and ASP.NET should really ideally run on Microsoft Windows Server. Please note some hosts do offer “ASP Hosting” running on Linux servers, using using the Sun Chilisoft ASP Environment. It can be slightly frustrating to host your Microsoft developed scripts on a Linux host, as there are a few subtle differences between Linux and Windows hosts (such as file and case sensitivity).
ASP has been around for quite a while nowand was only recently replaced by Microsoft’s improved ASP.NET platform. ASP web hosting was originally a “niche market” with just a few hosting specialists, but has increased in popularity, partly due to ready developed applications. Backwards compatibility was maintained so your older asp applications should work on servers running the newer scripting environment.
You should only choose a Windows based ASP web hosting package if your scripts or applications required ASP and ASP.NET. If your web site only needs static html pages, or perhaps open source scripting technologies such as PHP, Perl or Python then a standard Linux shared hosting package should suffice.
Some people, simply choose Windows Web Hosting because thats what their desktop PC runs. The choice of your home PC operating system has no bearing on your choice of Linux our Windows Hosting, unless you are using your own PC to develop Windows applications. If all your web site requires is static html pages, then you would be wasting money on an ASP Web Hosting package.
