Page 97 - GIGW2

Guidelines

for Indian Government Apps & Websites

Website Hosting

8.1
Website Hosting

The fundamental purpose of a Government website is to deliver the information and
services to the citizens and other stakeholders using the medium of Internet. Generally,
websites/portals/web applications are hosted on special purpose servers in a Data Centre.
Data Centre is a facility equipped with controlled power, cooling systems, physical
security and access control. Generally, a large number of servers are hosted in a Data
Centre, powered by high speed networking infrastructure, storage system along with a
storage network. Provision for back-ups of data/information residing in Data Centres
is also an important service of Data Centre. Multi-tier security infrastructure is also a
crucial component of Data Centres.

While it is extremely important to develop websites using state-of-the-art technologies,
hosting infrastructure plays a crucial role in the performance, availability and accessibility
of these websites to end users with varying set-ups.

Hence, configuration of hosting server infrastructure as well as facilities at Data Centres
are important aspects to review, prior to hosting. Following section details the kinds
of facilities and services that the Department should expect from their hosting service
providers.

8.2

Hosting Service Provider

8.2.1 Indian Government websites must be accessible to the public in a fast and secure
manner on 24x7 basis. It is important that the Web Hosting Service Provider
(HSP) for a government department be chosen with extreme caution and care,
keeping the following in mind:

a. The HSP MUST possess state-of-the-art multi tier security infrastructure at
both, physical and network level as well as security policies to ensure the best
possible security to Government websites.

b. The Web Hosting Service Provider MUST also use devices such as firewall
and intrusion prevention systems to make the website more secure.

©2017,NIC 83