An explanation of web site hosting

As its name indicates, web hosting is a solution, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and types of hosting, depending on the purpose and on the objectives. In spite of that, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the Web. A web host is in fact a web server that is connected to the Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which allows users to have access to it through the World Wide Web. The hosting server's configuration and its limitations are dependent on the form of hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the various types of web hosting?

Depending on the purpose, the business hosting service may be:

File Hosting - this form of web hosting enables the users to keep their files on a given hosting server. With the classic file web hosting service, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the client that's using the service. This hosting solution generally involves backups of personal computers , docs, private files and even other web hosting servers. This service may also contain certain limitations when it comes to the data storage space and the root access. There may also be web traffic restrictions, but that depends on the given host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is quite similar to the previous hosting service type. However, unlike the file hosting service, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for disseminating copyrighted content without being given the OK to do so by the licence bearer. In brief - it is related to the criminal dissemination of files and docs. There are lots of methods for this to be realized, but the two chief methods are - via plain HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a specific website, or, most often, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download proprietary docs for free. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, through which users swap files between each other. There are just a few site hosting suppliers that permit such form of web hosting on their web hosting servers, mainly due to all the legal predicaments that it involves. Generally such web pages are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.

E-mail Hosting - this service is applicable with both shared hosting and dedicated hosting servers, depending on the user's intention. If you would like to launch your own personal SMTP e-mail server, then you will require either a VPS or a dedicated web server that provides the level of access required to execute such a task. For standard email hosting ends, though, you can use a normal shared hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a solution that's very famous, because the web hosting and the email hosting services are being served by two separate servers, usually belonging to separate hosting providers.

Site Hosting - the most widely spread and commonly used hosting service as of now. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose kind is dependent on the Operating System the hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files need different web server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be displayed correctly on the Internet. This sort of web hosting may impose server space and bandwidth limits, root access and central processing unit usage restrictions.

Based on the mission and on the functions, the user should pick the kind of hosting server that he requires for his work, and, of course, the website hosting corporation that's going to furnish it. There are several kinds of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the webspace hosting services that they provide. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared site hosting server offers a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and medium scale web sites, which do not need vast quantities of server space and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they function on the same principle as the shared web page hosting servers. Even so, there are much less clients accommodated on the same web hosting server. Therefore, each of them will get a bigger quota of the server's resources like RAM, web storage, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting bulky web portals that do not require full root access.

Virtual Servers - the virtual private hosting servers are ideal for middle sized websites, which do demand root access to the hosting server's configuration files. Generally, there are several VPS hosting server accounts hosted on the same server. Nevertheless, each of them is independent from the other ones and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Server - a completely dedicated physical server configured and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a tremendous amount of system resources. It also gives complete server root access, which renders it an ideal environment for any kind of web page that requires a site hosting service.

The sole question that remains is:

Which web space hosting vendor should I settle on?

As already mentioned, there are just a few web hosts providing warez web hosting solutions due to legal problems. Such hosting companies are being closed down practically every month. For that reason, if you want to offer such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared webspace hosting service is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. Hence, every web site hosting company provides it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting vendors do not have the means demanded for maintaining those solutions. Because of that it's always best to opt for a bigger web host that can provide its customers with all the services that they want. You can easily recognize such web hosts by the types of solutions that they are supplying and by the manner in which they introduce them to the customers. For instance, certain hosting providers allow you to start with a small sized web site hosting plan and afterwards shift to a more advanced one, if you find it obligatory to do so. This is quite convenient, because you do not need to transmit websites between servers and there is no risk of facing network downtime due to all the predicaments that may appear. Companies such as W3 For All are offering all types of services and have the needed server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not suffer any complications when changing services, which is what a top hosting company is in fact all about.