Selection criteria is heavily influenced by cost, and least expensive is good. However cost is not the first and/or only factor that should be considered. The hosting service needs to be free of advertisements, and the technical services that it offers must be considered to achieve an objective and unbiased comparison of ISPs and IPPs. Based on this information, a candidate can then be selected from a pool of prospects, that is not only cost effective, but has the features we need and no advertisements.

Therefore, hosting requirements were developed when first considering an Area 92 web site. This not only added creditability for the costing exercise, it also helped in other areas. For example, these requirements aided in understanding the desired qualifications for the Webteam responsible for creating and maintaining the Website.

With that in mind, the below hosting features are listed to aid others who may follow our path, as well as documenting our current thoughts. These requirements may evolve over time as "more is revealed" ... and they should be updated to reflect changes in our understanding.

1. Domain Name (e.g., area92aa.org or wseaa.org): Required.

   Gives presence on the Internet a more professional look. Avoids perceived affiliation with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Makes it easy to relocate the web site to a different ISP (when the need arises) without affecting our visitors.

2. Site Size: Less than 30 MBytes (This should be plenty for an English-only site, but adding more should be cheap and may be needed depending on the extent of Spanish-language pages.)

3. Approximate Bandwidth (used by site): Less Than 2 GBytes/Month (based on 3000 Hits/Month after website becomes fully functional)

4. Fast and Reliable Server, Good Connectivity to Internet (VERY subjective, they'll all claim to meet this.)

5. Responsive Technical Support and On-Line Web Site Authoring Help: Desirable

6. Dial Up Access: Not Required

7. Dial Up Speed: Don't Care (The connection going from the server to the backbone is the important speed, except for those individuals that have accounts with the ISP hosting the web site.)

8. FTP Access: Required (FTP Server: Not Required)

9. E-Mail: Unlimited Aliasing, 40 Aliases or More May Be Needed (POP accounts are a bonus, though not required.)

10. Server-Side Includes: Required

11. Web Site Metrics, Required: Host Traffic Reports (Preferred), Server Log Analysis, or Page Request Counter

12. CGI Scripting: Desirable

13. Domain Hosting: Required

14. Simultaneous Restricted User Access: Desirable [Note: This may not be possible, but it would be nice to have simultaneous upload capability by a number of individuals, and in some cases limited or restricted access to the web space directory structure. For example, District representatives could be responsible for their portions of the site, in their own subdirectory, without sending their updates to an (overworked) Area Webteam.]

15. Web Site User Management Tools: Desirable
    1. Account Access (Password)
    2. Status Info (Account, Billing ...)
    3. POP and E-Mail Forwarding Configurations
    4. Traffic Analysis (Site Statistics/Metrics are Required, see CGI Scripting)

16. Database Capability (For Maintaining Meeting Schedules and Similar Uses): Desirable. For Database Maintenance:
    1. Web-Based Tool (Preferred) or Telnet Access
    2. 24/7 Telephone Technical Support: Desirable

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