An explanation of web hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting web content. There are different forms and types of hosting, depending on the aims and on the usage. In spite of that, they all pertain to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the Internet. A host is actually a web server that is linked to the Web and has its own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to gain access to it through the Web. The web server's configuration and its resources are dependent on the kind of hosting solution it's going to be used for.

What are the various types of hosting?

Depending on the function, the web hosting service may be:

File Storage Hosting - this form of web hosting permits the customers to lodge their files on a particular web hosting server. With the typical file web hosting solution, the files that are kept may only be accessed by the individual that's using the service. This hosting solution typically is associated with backups of computers , documents, personal files and even other web servers. This solution may also contain certain restrictions in terms of the disk storage and the root-level access. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that is dependent on the particular host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is comparable with the previous hosting service form. In spite of that, unlike the file storage web hosting service, the warez hosting solution is used for spreading licensed work without being okayed by the license possessor. To put it briefly - it is connected with the unlawful transmission of files and docs. There are numerous methods for this to be executed, but the two chief methods are - through plain HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first way entails either a certain web portal, or, most often, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download licensed documents for free. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, via which people transfer files between each other. There are a few hosting firms that permit such form of hosting on their servers, mostly due to all the judicial predicaments that it involves. Commonly such web portals are hosted on personal dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Electronic Mail Hosting - this solution is applicable with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, based on the user's intention. If you would like to establish your own private SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a virtual private web server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the level of access needed to execute such an assignment. For routine electronic mail hosting ends, however, you can avail of a regular shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's very used, since the web page hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 different web servers, usually owned by different hosts.

Site Hosting - the most widely spread and vastly utilized hosting service now. It's used for hosting website files, whose kind is dependent on the Operating System the hosting server is making use of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files need different web server OSs, or else they won't be displayed accurately on the Internet. This kind of hosting may include data space and traffic quota limits, root-level access and central processing unit usage limits.

Based on the aims and on the objectives, the client should select the sort of server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web site hosting vendor that's going to supply it. There are several sorts of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the web hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web server includes a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and medium size online portals, which do not require big quantities of disk space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they are based on the same principle as the shared web hosting servers. Nonetheless, there are much fewer customers sharing the same web hosting server. Therefore, each of them will have a bigger quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, data storage, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting bulky web sites that do not demand root access.

Virtual Private Server - the VPSs are perfect for middle size websites, which do demand root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Typically, there are a few virtual web hosting server accounts accommodated on the same physical machine. Yet, each of them is autonomous from the others and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a fully dedicated machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a tremendous amount of resources. It also offers full server root access, which makes it an ideal environment for any sort of web portal that demands a hosting service.

The sole question that remains is:

Which web space hosting distributor should I select?

As already stated, there are not many hosts providing warez web hosting services due to legal entanglements. Such hosting companies are being shut down almost every month. For that reason, if you would like to run such a service, you should do it on your very own PC. The shared website hosting solution is the most widespread type of hosting service. Therefore, each and every web hosting firm offers it. Not all of them, though, offer services such as private virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the smaller website hosting companies do not have the resources needed for maintaining those solutions. For that reason it's invariably best to settle on a bigger web hosting company that can furnish its clients with all the solutions that they want. You can quickly identify such hosting companies by the types of services that they are making available and by the manner in which they introduce them to the clients. For instance, certain web hosting companies allow you to kick off with a smaller site hosting package and afterwards shift to a more advanced one, if you find it obligatory to do so. This is quite suitable, since you do not need to relocate web portals between web hosting servers and there is no chance of facing network outages due to all the complications that may crop up. Providers such as WebHost-ing.com are offering all sorts of services and possess the required web server resources and staff to ensure that their clients will not stumble upon any predicaments when swapping services, which is what a top hosting provider is actually all about.