Servlet and Database Hosting

Many organizations and individuals opt for hosting their Website on a remote server, which involves servlet and database hosting. Remote hosting a Website provides several advantages, major ones being lesser cost and time involved as against setting up the necessary infrastructure at the organizations' premises. These same advantages have guided remote server hosting for niche services, such as Servlet and database hosting.

Regular Web hosting also provides some form of Servlet and database hosting. However, certain Web hosting companies do cater to specialized needs of users specific to Servlet and database hosting. Servlet hosting allows you to deploy your servlet-based sites and run your servlet applications developed in Java on the remote Web server. Database hosting enables you to have a database on a remote Web server, and you have full control over its deployment, configuration, and administration.

While selecting a servlet and database hosting Web server to run your servlet-based site and applications and database, there are certain features to keep in mind. These servlet and database hosting features are:

• Virtual Servers : Virtual servers simulate the presence of a dedicated Web server for running your servlet-based applications. You can control the functioning of your virtual server just the way you can manage a server at you own site – you can install, uninstall, reconfigure, and customize the virtual server just as you want to make your servlet applications run optimally. Ensure, for servlet and database hosting, virtual servers are a standard feature and not something offered under premium plans.
  
• Private Java Virtual Machine (JVM) : A JVM enables you to run your servlet applications on the virtual server. Complete control over JVM should also be provided – you should be able to start and stop JVM anytime and perform configurations to make it customizable. A JVM could be used for more than one virtual server if you are hosting more than one web site, thereby having multiple Web sites becomes more cost effective. In regular Web hosting, a single JVM is used to serve all the Web sites being hosted on the server. For servlet and database hosting, ensure that you have a private and dedicated JVM for your Website(s). You can even opt for dedicated JVM for each of your sites.
  
• Security support : Security is ensured for your servlet applications by having a private and dedicated JVM and SSL support. With shared JVMs, it is possible for other clients being hosted on the Web server to access your servlets and run them for their own Website. However, with private JVM, no one else can have access to your servlets, thereby making them secure. SSL support ensures that if your servlet applications are being used for E-commerce transactions, the transactions are safe and secure, ensured by strong encryption and third party digital certificates.
  
  
• Database support : Servlet and database hosting often includes robust and comprehensive database support for servlet-based Web applications. Database requirements in such cases are usually much higher than regular Web hosting. Most companies offer support for MySQL, the world's leading open source database. In addition, support for other database, such as PostgreSQL, MS Access, and MS SQL is also provided, albeit at higher prices. Ensure that you have complete control over the installation, configuration, and administration of your Website, and interactive, easy-to-use tools are provided for administration of your database. In addition, you should also be able to use the database at the Web server with a wide variety of clients at the front end.

Other desirable features with servlet and database hosting include Struts support, JSP support, a large number of e-mail accounts, scalable storage, and bandwidth requirements, and Web site statistics tools.