Your Guide to Web Hosting

To expand the field of your business world, setting up a website for making your business a part of the online world of business, is definitely an aspect of paramount significance. Having consolidated the foundation, you; fancy of having a domain name and then follow the idea of finding web hosting for the purpose of the website you’re going to have. Primarily, you start thinking about the suitable web hosting that can help you. So, let me begin with the ABC of this world of web hosting.

Can you define web hosting?

Web hosting is far more than just a domain; it is a collection of files that are linked by means of HTML code that enables the text and graphics to come together on a computer to show what a website is truly about. Having a computer with special software will enable you the opportunity to save your made files and let others see, as long as they have internet access. In broad and basic terms, web hosting is when someone rents space that is found on a web server. The web server is where a computer makes the requests for files that have been previously stored there. The server is also able to pass on the files to the internet which enables them to be viewed on a computer that requests them. There are similarities to be drawn between a waiter in a restaurant and the term “server.”

Many services come with a web server. It can generate email addresses on the back of your domain name so others can communicate with you. It can also allow your site to show videos, run programs, maintain and create databases and a lot of other tasks which can be of great benefit. The software is key to this and is more important than the computer when making a server.

As it is a service being provided, there is a fee for purchasing a web host and this money goes towards the general upkeep and maintenance of the software and hardware of the server. This payment is also used to keep the server online, to ensure it is held securely and that a rapid internet connection is maintained. Payment also goes towards paying for the person who maintains this service. It may be possible for the user to do it all themselves but having a dedicated provider do the tasks for you is usually a better idea for most people. Yes, this incurs a charge but it can be worthwhile providing the person does it in reliable form.

Different Kinds of Web Hosting

Shared Hosting- Although there are websites such as Yahoo! which are able to provide access for everyone on the internet, it is more common for a site to have a narrower target market, which means they don’t require an almost infinite amount of pages. This means that the complete services of a web server is not required by the majority of web sites. It is said that in excess of 95% of the websites that are available are hosted on shared hosting sites. This is where more than a single website is held on a specific server and this method costs less than a dedicated hosting service. This is due to the fact that is spreads resources and costs over a number of different users. The reduction in cost is a reason for its popularity and shared, or virtual, hosting allows every client to have an agreed proportion of the resources available on the server. Depending on how much resources are being used, with respect to number of email accounts, amount of disk space being used, size of bandwidth, the price will vary accordingly.

Dedicated Hosting- Having a web server that is dedicated to you is worthwhile if you believe your website will have many visitors or you do not wish to share a server with others or you do not wish to dominate shared resources. This equates to renting out an entire server for you and is known as dedicated hosting. The machine remains the property of the web hosting company as does hardware maintenance and web host software but responsibility for use and configuration of the server is given to the user. A variation on this theme is provided with semi-dedicated hosting and this is where the web hosting service is extended to a few clients, usually between two and four, and there are clear boundaries between the companies. This is viewed as managed hosting as the host company manages and maintains the server. As may be expected, dedicated hosting is dearer than shared hosting.

Server Co-Location- If you must have complete control of your server and domain the option to buy one and control it yourself is an option. However, as tempting as this sounds, it may still be unable to prevent server problems such as power outages, losing power due to leaks, suffering fro thieves and break ins, employees who do not know what to do and many other unforeseen difficulties. There may be difficulties in maintaining your server on an internet speedy connection but this is where a data center can provide assistance. You may want to look for a Co-location which is where a physical and secure place for your server is rented, with continual power and a speedy connection. In this situation the user retains responsibility for maintaining the hardware and software and the data center does not get involved in this issue. If the user has the knowledge, ability and time to maintain their web server, then this facility can be more beneficial and priced better than a dedicated hosting service.

UNIX Hosting- Although a number of web host styles have been talked about so far, it is more accurate to say they have been variants on UNIX as this is what the majority of web severs are operated on. The UNIX operating system was developed by universities as a method of providing access to networks and servers and features in many different forms and designs. This is because this form of operating system was created with ‘open source protocol’ which enabled many amendments and adjustments to be made. There are a great number of variations produced such as FreeBSD, SuSE, Debian and Red Hat Linux all of which stem from Linux and BSD, which are considered to be the popular versions. A huge benefit of using UNIX as a form of hosting is its low cost and the fact that it provides a better alternative to many operating systems. This reduction in costs allows the web host to charge a lower price for their service or allows them to have a larger profit margin. Other benefits in using this style of hosting platform is that the UNIX is considered to have high security, it is considered extremely powerful and it offers great stability. You may hear the phrase ‘UNIX hosting’ used quite a lot and this is because it refers to any platform that originated from the first UNIX.

Windows Hosting- It is no secret that Microsoft offers a huge range of commercial products and services and the Windows Server 2003 is but one of them. This product needs a license for the buyer to operate it and this immediately makes it a costlier system than its competitors. Considering it is dearer, it also provides less power and a lower level of security than UNIX systems, which are ideal for clients who are in a network situation. Many programmers have a preference for ASP, ASP.NET and ColdFusion and these scripting languages have to be run on server that is dedicated to Windows with the Microsoft SQL server or Microsoft Access and its database programs being strong examples. If you like the concept of being able to use these then you will require having a Windows host.

Article published with permission from Web Hosting Madness, a leading provider of comprehensive reviews of web hosting companies. Visit http://www.webhostingmadness.com for more information about Web Hosting Guide and get exclusive web hosting coupons.