Choosing a server platform

Renting space with an ISP --questions to ask

• price (per month, KB, hit)
• performance, particularly network bandwidth?
• does it include a shell account for maintenance?
• CGI support? What programming languages? Who compiles?
• commerce support?
• virtual domain name? Who registers?

Buying your own

• price
• performance
• maintainability
  • hardware support
  • software support
  • system management
• integration with your publishing process
  ("traditional" static web pages)
• integrability with existing databases