A definition of web site hosting
As its name signifies, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are different forms and kinds of web hosting, depending on the mission and on the functions. Nonetheless, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Web. A web host is in fact a web server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which enables users to access it through the Web. The server's configuration and its limitations are dependent on the form of hosting solution it's going to be used for.
What are the different forms of web hosting?
Depending on the usage, the professional web hosting service may be:
File Web Hosting - this form of web hosting allows the customers to stash their files on a certain hosting server. With the conventional file storage web hosting service, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the person that's using the service. This hosting service usually refers to backups of computers , documents, private files and even other web hosting servers. This service may also involve certain limitations in relation to the data storage and the root access. There may also be web traffic limitations, but that is dependent on the actual host.
Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is very similar to the previous hosting service type. Nevertheless, in contrast with the file storage web hosting solution, the warez hosting solution is utilized for spreading licensed content without the blessing of the copyright holder. To put it briefly - it entails the illegitimate propagation of files and documents. There are multiple ways for this to be attained, but the 2 chief ways are - via simple HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first approach entails either a given website, or, most often, simply a directory on a web server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download patented documents free of cost. The second approach involves a P2P connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people share files between each other. There are a few webspace hosting suppliers that permit such form of hosting on their servers, mainly because of all the legal troubles that it involves. Usually such web portals 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 utilized with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the customer's intention. If you would like to establish your own personal SMTP e-mail server, then you will need either a VPS hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the access level needed to execute such an operation. For customary e-mail hosting ends, though, you can use an ordinary shared web hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's widely popular, since the web page hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, usually belonging to different web hosts.
Website Hosting - the most widespread and universally used hosting service these days. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose kind depends on the Operating System the hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different types of files request different hosting server OSs, or else they won't be shown appropriately on the World Wide Web. This form of hosting may involve server space and bandwidth limitations, root access and CPU usage limits.
Based on the mission and on the functions, the user should pick the sort of hosting server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the webspace hosting company that's going to furnish it. There are different kinds of servers, based on the configuration and the webspace hosting services that they provide. These are:
Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared web hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and middle sized web portals, which do not need vast amounts of data storage and web traffic.
Semi-Dedicated Servers - they are based on the same principle as the shared webspace hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much fewer users accommodated on the same web server. Therefore, each of them will get a greater share of the server's resources like RAM, data space, traffic and CPU. Excellent for hosting bulky online portals that do not demand complete root-level access.
Virtual Servers - the virtual private web servers are excellent for middle scale web sites, which do demand root-level access to the hosting server's config files. Usually, there are a handful of private virtual web hosting server accounts situated on the same physical server. However, each of them is isolated from the rest and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated web hosting server configured and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a mammoth amount of resources. It also offers full server root privileges, which makes it an excellent environment for any sort of web site that necessitates a web space hosting service.
The sole question that remains is:
Which site hosting firm should I select?
As already stated, there are just a few companies providing warez hosting services due to judicial troubles. Such hosting companies are being closed down almost every month. Because of that, if you would like to start such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared web site hosting service is the most famous kind of hosting service. Hence, every site hosting distributor provides it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting firms do not have the resources required for maintaining those solutions. Hence it's invariably best to pick a larger web host that can provide its customers with all the services that they necessitate. You can quickly recognize such web hosts by the sorts of solutions that they are providing and by the manner in which they introduce them to the customers. For example, some providers allow you to begin with a small sized website hosting package and subsequently move to a more advanced one, if you deem it obligatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not need to move web pages between web servers and there is no chance of facing service interruptions due to all the predicaments that may take place. Hosting companies like BLUE RIBBON HOSTING provide all types of services and have the necessary server resources and personnel to ensure that their clients will not suffer any troubles when changing services, which is what a top hosting distributor is in fact all about.