What do I need for ASP: Part 2

Finding the Right Host

Most ISPs offer you connection to the internet, email accounts and web space. But most of this web space is of the static variety, this will not be what you require. You are going to have to find yourself a web host on the internet who can host your pages and provide you with all the facilities you need. (Search for an ASP enabled Web Host)

For example, is your ASP site making use of SQL Server or MS Access? Are you going to try for your own domain name (so does your web host provide support for virtual domains)? There could be more consideration as well. You will need a host to provide all of your requirements, the more you have the greater the premium you will have to pay.....

....but that is where this site comes into it's own. In fact to make your life as easy as possible we have created a quick search for hosts offering ASP, just click here and find the one that meets your needs.

Once you have got a machine you can use to develop your ASP pages and have found a host who can handle your particular requirements, then you are ready to start developing your pages, in fact you are ready to look at the rest of the pages on this site.

ChilliSoft Bring ASP to the Masses

Microsoft first developed ASP and have been responsible for driving it forward as a technology. Up until recently if you wanted to use ASP you have been tied to a WinPC platform running a Microsoft web server (which is not viewed as one of the best in some quarters; besides some people resent having to change from what they currently use to a pure Microsoft solution because the product is not cross-platform). ChilliSoft are putting paid to all that; you can now purchase from ChilliSoft components that mean you can use ASP even if you don't use (or don't want to use) Internet Information Server, or even a Win/NT platform; yep you can now use ASP under Win/NT and Linux and some flavours of UNIX.

The down side is that ChilliSofts ASP is not free unlike the original Microsoft version; although how free ASP really is, is a whole web site in itself. You need IIS to really run it commercially, which means you need NT which costs and places certain demands on your box and kinda ties you to Microsoft, so unless you already have all the kit ASP is never going to be free; if you ever hear Microsoft offering you something for free you need to look at things like the total cost of ownership; the facilities offered in comparsion to other products; actual startup costs etc. etc. before actually buying the Microsoft product regardless (because that is what everone does any way, even if they should know better!).

The upside is that there is an increasing range of web servers and platforms that can support ASP (including some free servers like apache); and therefore you can use the most suitable tools/servers to meet you solutions. So if you are using Netscape Web Servers and want to plug into the increasing range of skills offered in ASP, you can do so using the ChilliSoft additions; which means this guide is useful to you as well.