An assessment of Starlight

We, at abiglove.com, have chosen 'Starlight' to be our current domain name and hosting supplier. Therefore we think that this brief assessment of 'Starlight' is perhaps going to be quite helpful for other folks from all over the Globe who need domain name and web hosting solutions. We state folks from all around the Globe, because the simple fact is that 'Starlight' presently delivers domain and hosting services in numerous data center sites: in the United States of America (Chicago, IL), in England (Maidenhead, 20 miles outside London), in Sweden (Stockholm) and in Australia (Sydney). Thus, embracing practically the whole Earth. At least as far as the Internet is concerned. So, here is what you could anticipate from 'Starlight' in short:

Shared Website Hosting Accounts

The first detail we, at abiglove.com, have spotted is the inexpensive prices of the shared web site hosting accounts delivered by 'Starlight'. Shared doesn't seem very good, does it? Well, that's what it is referred to as: shared web hosting. The good news here is that the web hosting packages delivered by 'Starlight' are powered by a custom built, innovative cloud web hosting platform (each web hosting service, like electronic mail, databases, hosting Control Panel, disk storage, DNS, stats, etc., is being dealt with by a different group of web hosting servers in a cluster). This is a circumstance EVERY cPanel web hosting company in the World will have big difficulties with, since cPanel is a one single server based site hosting environment (each web hosting service, such as email, databases, web space hosting CP, disk storage, DNS, stats, etc., is being served by one and the same web server), cPanel is not open source (hence the cPanel website hosting companies are not able to add additional functionality and handle it the way they want it) and there is no open source file system (they need to invent their own file platform), which is the precondition of any cloud web hosting service. Let's go back to the shared web hosting plans, which are powered by a genuine clustered hosting solution. With a shared website hosting package, each client pays solely for his/her plan, thus maintaining the hosting price very low (since numerous clients share one and the same web server). To cut a long story short, a shared hosting account, which is being served by a cloud web site hosting solution, permits you to pay solely for the resources that you actually demand, precluding a scenario where you pay for a high-end web hosting package that you cannot actually use, or for a small web hosting plan that cannot shelter your site. The ability to upgrade your account from one plan to another with only two clicks of the mouse grants you the flexibility to start with a low-end package and upgrade as your website grows. So, you save money that you can expend on advertising the web site while it is still new. Each and every web site hosting package delivered by 'Starlight' sports an online site building tool and more than 40 popular script-driven platforms including WordPress, Joomla, Zen Cart and Moodle that will save you 100s of dollars for site design services. 'Starlight' provides shared website hosting solutions in several different countries across the Globe. There is one server farm in Chicago covering the US and Canada; two European data center facilities - in the United Kingdom and in Scandinavia; and another one in Australia, which encompasses the Asia Pacific region. Thus, practically the entire Globe is covered to provide you and your website's visitors with a stable and reliable webspace hosting solution at a desired place. On the whole, the shared hosting plans provided 'Starlight' are quite well equipped and come at an affordable price (beginning from €2.59 for the LimitedOffer package).

Semi-dedicated Servers

To customers with little or no experience, a VPS may seem complicated to handle. That's perhaps why 'Starlight' also hosts semi-dedicated servers in its principal North American server farm facility in Chicago. Administering these packages is similar to managing a standard shared site hosting account via a web page hosting Control Panel GUI. They have all the features of a shared web space hosting account such as a free-of-charge site builder and a PHP script installation tool, but the amount of system resources typical of a semi-dedicated web server plan is many times bigger than that of a shared web space hosting account. For example, the CPU power that can be utilized is approximately FIVE times as much as compared to the shared web site hosting plans. When compared to a shared webspace hosting account, the quota of database queries added within the semi-dedicated hosting accounts is huge: 90 000 / hour. An unlimited hosted Top-Level Domain allowance is a principle too. The semi-dedicated web hosting packages do not ship with full server root access (we, at abiglove.com, count this as a slight weak point), but the good point is that they are administered through the very same web site hosting CP user interface as the shared site hosting plans. This implies that a recognizable graphical user interface is available to all clients who do not feel confident enough to administer a Virtual Private Server, but at the same time need more power and reserves than a Virtual Private Server can offer. This is so because the semi-dedicated web servers share the reserves of the same powerful top-class servers as the ones which accommodate the VPS server accounts, however, the number of the semi-dedicated web hosting servers is very small (somewhere between twenty to thirty per physical machine), whereas the virtual hosting servers can reach a much higher number (80 to a hundred and twenty per server). Having that information in mind, the semi-dedicated servers delivered by 'Starlight' can be classified as being very cheap (as far as cost is concerned), beginning from €19.23 for the Semi Dedicated 1 plan.

Dedicated Web Hosting Servers

According to abiglove.com, big websites such as social networks, community and business web portals or popular online stores with thousands of clients call for a much more powerful website hosting solution. It appears that the chaps from 'Starlight' have come to the same conclusion as well. To meet its users' expectations, 'Starlight' provides a number of dedicated web servers that can manage millions of daily hits. That estimate is based on the hardware specifications the servers include: Dual and Quad-core processors, up to 4 GB of RAM, two thousand gigabytes of disk space and Gigabit NICs will no doubt ensure the quick and stable work of any kind of site. In 'Starlight's opinion, the primary hardware specs can be upgraded for more system resource-requiring sites. We, from abiglove.com, believe that all dedicated server solutions furnished by 'Starlight' are also suitable for beginning a hosting reseller business as each dedicated server offers free-of-cost invoicing transaction software and a cost-free domain reseller account. Sadly, the dedicated web servers delivered by 'Starlight' are all unmanaged. We, at abiglove.com, deem this a slight disadvantage, which can be adjusted by paying a monthly tax of €31.61 EUR. So, if you require aid, the Managed Services upgrade offers a bunch of additional services such as a regular backup, software installation, dedicated hosting server monitoring and troubleshooting operations. A handful of website hosting Control Panel (CP) GUIs are offered with each of the servers - Hepsia, cPanel and DirectAdmin. Our (abiglove.com's) forecast is that the excellent drag and drop File Manager included in the Hepsia web page hosting Control Panel will possibly render the utilization of any FTP software futile. Our (abiglove.com's) inference is that the dedicated servers furnished by 'Starlight' don't appear to be very affordably priced (yet the Hepsia Control Panel and the unlimited hosted domain quotas will no doubt make you smile), commencing from €59.69 for the Xeon E3 v3 package.