As its name suggests, hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are various varieties and kinds of web hosting, based on the purpose and on the usage. Still, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a hosting server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which enables users to have access to it via the World Wide Web. The hosting server's architecture and its limitations depend on the kind of hosting service it will be used for.
What are the different types of web hosting?
Based on the purpose, the web hosting service may be:
File Storage Hosting - this form of web hosting permits the users to lodge their files on a given server. With the customary file web hosting service, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the customer that's utilizing the service. This web hosting service mainly concerns backups of PCs , documents, private files and even other servers. This solution may also include certain limitations when it comes to the disk space and the root privileges. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that depends on the particular service provider.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is comparable with the previous hosting service type. However, unlike the file hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is utilized for propagating licensed materials without being okayed by the license proprietor. In short - it is associated with the criminal distribution of files and docs. There are numerous methods for this to be done, but the two principal approaches are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a certain web portal, or, most typically, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download licensed docs free of charge. The second way involves a P2P connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent servers, via which people share files between each other. There are very few web site hosting corporations that allow such form of web hosting on their web servers, mainly owing to all the legal complications that it involves. Generally such web pages are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
E-mail Web Hosting - this service is used with both shared hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the client's wish. If you wish to run your very own personal SMTP mail server, then you will require either a VPS hosting server or a dedicated web server that offers the access level needed to accomplish such an operation. For typical mail web hosting purposes, though, you can create a normal shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a solution that's very famous, since the web site hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by two different servers, often belonging to separate web hosts.
Web Site Hosting - the most famous and broadly used hosting service at present. It's used for hosting website files, whose type is determined by the OS the hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different types of files need concrete server OSs, otherwise they won't be displayed accurately on the World Wide Web. This type of hosting may involve disk storage and web traffic quota limitations, server root access and central processing unit usage limitations.
Depending on the aims and on the functions, the customer should choose the sort of hosting server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the hosting corporation that's going to provide it. There are different kinds of servers, based on the specs and the site hosting services that they offer. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Servers - a shared web server provides a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and middle scale web pages, which do not need big amounts of server storage space and web traffic.
Semi-dedicated Servers - they operate on the very same principle as the shared web hosting servers. Even so, there are much fewer customers sharing the same server. For that reason, each of them will get a greater quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, data storage space, traffic and CPU. Excellent for hosting bulky web sites that do not demand server root access.
Virtual Private Servers - the virtual private hosting servers are ideal for middle sized web portals, which do require root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are a handful of VPS hosting accounts located on the same server. Nonetheless, each of them is insulated from the rest and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Servers - a fully dedicated web hosting server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a considerable quantity of resources. It also provides full root access, which makes it an excellent platform for any type of site that requires a website hosting solution.
The only question that's left is:
Which web hosting firm should I select?
As mentioned above, there are just a few providers providing warez hosting services because of legal troubles. Such web hosts are being closed down practically every month. Because of that, if you desire to offer such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared website hosting solution is the most popular kind of web hosting service. Because of that, every web hosting supplier provides it. Not all of them, though, offer services such as virtual private web servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the smaller hosting distributors do not have the means required for maintaining those solutions. Therefore it's invariably best to settle on a bigger web host that can provide its clients with all the services that they necessitate. You can easily identify such companies by the kinds of services that they are offering and by the way that they present them to the clientele. For instance, some hosting companies permit you to kick off with a low-end webspace hosting plan and subsequently shift to a bigger one, if you consider it compulsory to do so. This is quite suitable, because you do not need to transfer web sites between web servers and there is no risk of facing service interruptions due to all the predicaments that may take place. Companies such as '100WebSpace.com' are offering all types of solutions and have the required web server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not come across any hassles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting firm is actually all about.
Compare 100WebSpace.com's Hosting Plans
| Features | FREE Hosting | Bannerless | Personal package | Personal Pro | Business package |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Fee |
$0.00 per month
|
$0.99 per month
|
$2.95 per month
|
$7.95 per month
|
$9.95 per month
|
| Web Server Storage | 0.1 GB | 0.25 GB | 1 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Web Bandwidth | 3 GB | 5 GB | 10 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Hosted Hostnames | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 9999 |
| Parked Domains | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email Mailboxes | 3 | 6 | 30 | 1200 | Unlimited |
| FTPs | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 25 |
| One-click PHP Script Installer | |||||
| Web Page Installation Tool | |||||
| Free Domain Name Registration | |||||
| InnoDB | |||||
| Node.js | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Memcached | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Uninterrupted Web Service Operation |