The reason I ask this question is that I've noticed in recent times that quite a few of the websites I regularly check each morning and throughout the day are not always working.

Earlier in the week I pointed out the problems that stuff.co.nz was obviously having, then the site I mentioned at geekpages.co.nz was down, yesterday I discovered the DMA's site having a spaz-attack and this morning the NZ Netguide site was sulking.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not suggesting that any of these sites are bad or that their hosting companies are lemons -- even the most professional hosting operation will still have hardware failures and connectivity issues beyond their control.

While this may not seem like a big deal, and Net users expect that sometimes websites will be unavailable, the increased pressure for websites to maximise revenues means that any outages can be expensive to your reputation and your bank balance.

US Congress May Endorse Human Cloning Scientists warn that current-day cloning technology is not good enough to allow the safe genetic replication of humans. They caution that attempts to clone humans at this time could produce tragic results. To date, the federal government has not legislated to control research or attempts at human cloning -- why not? And why are pro-cloning researchers meeting with a House Committee today? Find out more at 7amNews/ShockHorrorProbe...

It's unfortunate that many companies seem to do little research on the subject of where their website should be hosted -- often just relying on web design company or "consultant" who built their pages to provide either the service or a recommendation.

Now I'm not suggesting that web designers don't have their clients' best interests in mind when they make recommendations or provide hosting services -- but some have a vested interest in the residual income associated with providing this service and, with the Internet becoming a critical part of many marketing strategies, it pays to be informed and explore a range of options.

Readers Say (updated hourly) Nothing yet... Have Your Say

One problem I've noticed with a number of locally hosted sites, particularly when the webserver is actually administered by the company itself, is that any failures outside of working hours often don't get detected or fixed until the next morning. That means the information on that server completely disappears during what might be normal business hours elswhere in the world -- where such an outage may be extremely frustrating to potential or existing customers.

Even many of the local web designers who offer hosting services don't have or use around-the-clock monitoring of their client's sites -- witness yesterday's DMA site failure that wasn't fixed (I suspect) until somebody woke up, read Aardvark and said "bugger"

Okay, if you're only interested in reaching the local marketplace during normal business hours then maybe it's quite acceptableto operate your own webserver on your own premises or use semi-professional hosting company -- but if 24/7 up-time is important to the owners of a website then they really ought to start asking some hard questions before settling on a hosting option.

There are some very good hosting companies in New Zealand -- and there are some not-so-good. The same goes if you choose to locate your website off-shore -- an option that is becoming less attractive with the deteriorating NZ dollar.

The bottom line: don't spend a fortune on a fancy "state-of-the-art" website and then compromise that investment by not properly identifying the right hosting option.

Shop around and ask for references before laying down your cash and entrusting the reliability of your website to any hosting company.

If you think you might run your webserver in-house then closely scrutinise the real costs of this option and the potential risks (how will you know the system has crashed at 2am and do you really want to locate, install and restore a new hard drive to fix a problem at that hour?)

As always, your feedback is welcomed.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!

There are 2 Vacancies In The Job Centre

There are 10 Domain Names for sale