A description of web hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are various varieties and kinds of hosting, depending on the mission and on the objectives. Even so, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the Internet. A web host is in fact a server that is linked to the Internet and has its own Internet Protocol address, which allows people to have access to it via the Internet. The server's configuration and its limitations depend on the sort of web hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Based on the function, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Hosting - this type of web hosting enables the clients to keep their files on a particular server. With the ordinary file storage web hosting solution, the files that are kept may only be accessed by the user that's using the service. This hosting solution mainly is associated with backups of computers , documents, personal files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also contain certain limits with regard to the server space and the root privileges. There may also be traffic limits, but that is dependent on the particular service provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is resembling the previous hosting service form. Yet, in contrast with the file storage hosting service, the warez web hosting service is used for distributing proprietary content without the blessing of the license holder. In short - it is associated with the criminal circulation of files and materials. There are numerous approaches for this to be accomplished, but the 2 chief approaches are - via simple HTTP downloading and via P2P connections. The first one entails either a specific website, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download copyrighted files free of charge. The second way involves a P2P connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transmit files between each other. There are very few site hosting providers that allow that form of hosting on their web servers, chiefly owing to all the judicial problems that it involves. Commonly such web sites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared web site hosting and dedicated servers, based on the client's wish. If you would like to create your own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a virtual web server or a dedicated server that offers the access level needed to complete such an operation. For routine e-mail web hosting ends, however, you can set up an average shared web hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a solution that's widely famous, since the web hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two separate web servers, usually belonging to different providers.

Web Site Hosting - the most widespread and extensively used hosting service as of today. It's used for hosting web site files, whose type depends on the OS the web hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require different server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited correctly on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may have data space and traffic quota limits, server root access and CPU usage limits.

Based on the mission and on the usage, the client should choose the type of web hosting server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web site hosting distributor that's going to provide it. There are various types of web servers, based on the specifications and the hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and middle sized websites, which do not require huge amounts of server space and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they function on the same principle as the shared web page hosting servers. Still, there are much less customers accommodated on the same hosting server. Because of that, each of them will receive a larger quota of the web server's resources like RAM, web space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting enormous websites that do not require full root-level access.

VPS - the private virtual web hosting servers are perfect for middle sized sites, which do demand root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are a number of virtual web server hosting accounts located on the same physical machine. However, each of them is independent from the other ones and runs its own Operating System.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated physical machine configured and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a big amount of resources. It also offers complete root-level access, which makes it an ideal solution for any sort of website that necessitates a site hosting solution.

The sole question that's left is:

Which website hosting company should I settle on?

As stated above, there are very few providers offering warez web hosting solutions due to judicial troubles. Such web hosting providers are being closed down practically every month. For that reason, if you desire to offer such a service, you should do it on your very own computer. The shared site hosting solution is the most famous type of web hosting service. Because of that, each and every hosting supplier offers it. Not all of them, however, offer solutions such as virtual private hosting servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small scale website hosting suppliers do not have the resources required for maintaining those services. That's why it's invariably best to settle on a bigger web host that can furnish its customers with all the services that they want. You can easily recognize such hosts by the types of services that they are providing and by the manner in which they present them to the clients. For example, some web hosting providers allow you to begin with a smaller website hosting account and subsequently shift to a bigger one, if you consider it obligatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, since you do not need to transmit web portals between hosting servers and there is no possibility of facing service downtime due to all the complications that may crop up. Hosting companies like HD Web Hosting provide all kinds of solutions and have the required server resources and personnel to ensure that their clients will not encounter any troubles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting corporation is in fact all about.