A definition of website hosting
As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various varieties and kinds of hosting, based on the aims and on the objectives. In spite of that, they all refer to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A host is actually a web server that is connected to the Internet and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which permits users to have access to it through the World Wide Web. The hosting server's architecture and its limitations depend on the sort of hosting solution it's going to be used for.
What are the various types of hosting?
Based on the function, the business hosting service may be:
File Storage Hosting - this form of hosting enables the clients to deposit their files on a given server. With the ordinary file hosting service, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the individual that's using the service. This hosting service normally refers to backups of PCs , documents, personal files and even other hosting servers. This solution may also include certain restrictions in terms of the server storage space and the root privileges. There may also be web traffic limits, but that depends on the given provider.
Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is quite similar to the previous hosting service type. However, unlike the file hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is used for disseminating licensed content without the permission of the license holder. In brief - it is connected with the illicit distribution of files and materials. There are lots of approaches for this to be completed, but the two chief methods are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through P2P connections. The first method entails either a specific web site, or, most typically, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download patented files free of cost. The second approach involves a P2P connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transfer files between each other. There aren't many website hosting corporations that allow such form of web hosting on their web servers, chiefly due to all the judicial predicaments that it entails. Generally such web pages are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.
Email Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web servers, depending on the user's wish. If you desire to set up your own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a private virtual web hosting server or a dedicated hosting server that offers the access level required to perform such a task. For conventional mail web hosting purposes, though, you can create a plain shared web space hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a solution that's widely popular, because the website hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, often owned by separate firms.
Web Page Hosting - the most widely spread and widely utilized hosting service today. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose kind is dependent on the Operating System the web server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require concrete server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be exhibited correctly on the World Wide Web. This form of web hosting may impose server storage space and web traffic quota limitations, root access and central processing unit usage limitations.
Depending on the goals and on the objectives, the client should select the sort of web server that he requires for his project, and, of course, the web site hosting distributor that's going to provide it. There are different kinds of web servers, based on the configuration and the website hosting services that they provide. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web space hosting server includes a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small size and medium sized online portals, which do not require considerable quantities of server storage space and web traffic.
Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they operate on the very same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. However, there are much less customers sharing the same hosting server. Hence, each of them will receive a bigger share of the server's resources like RAM, web storage space, web traffic and CPU. Excellent for hosting heavy websites that do not demand full server root privileges.
VPS - the VPS servers are perfect for medium scale web sites, which do demand root access to the web server's config files. Normally, there are a number of private virtual server web hosting accounts accommodated on the same physical server. Even so, each of them is autonomous from the rest and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Servers - a fully dedicated server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures an enormous amount of system resources. It also offers root access, which renders it the optimal platform for any sort of website that needs a hosting service.
The only question that remains is:
Which site hosting vendor should I settle on?
As already mentioned, there are very few web hosting companies providing warez web hosting services because of judicial predicaments. Such companies are being shut down almost every month. For that reason, if you wish to set up such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared website hosting service is the most widespread type of hosting service. For that reason, each and every web space hosting distributor offers it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as VPS hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the smaller web hosting firms do not have the resources required for offering those solutions. Hence it's always best to choose a larger company that can furnish its customers with all the services that they require. You can effortlessly recognize such companies by the types of solutions that they are supplying and by the manner in which they present them to the customers. For example, some web hosts allow you to kick off with a small scale website hosting account and afterwards move to a more advanced one, if you consider it compulsory to do so. This is quite suitable, since you do not have to transmit web sites between web servers and there is no possibility of facing service downtime due to all the complications that may crop up. Hosting providers like Exclusive Hosting offer all kinds of services and possess the required server resources and staff to assure that their customers will not encounter any predicaments when swapping services, which is what a top hosting vendor is in fact all about.