A description of web hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are different varieties and kinds of hosting, depending on the goals and on the usage. Yet, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A host is actually a server that is linked to the Internet and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to gain access to it through the World Wide Web. The web server's architecture and its resources are determined by the form of web hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Depending on the goal, the hosting service may be:

File Web Hosting - this form of hosting enables the customers to deposit their files on a particular hosting server. With the normal file storage hosting solution, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the person that's using the service. This web hosting solution mainly entails backups of personal computers , docs, personal files and even other hosting servers. This service may also have given limitations with regard to the server storage and the root privileges. There may also be traffic restrictions, but that depends on the particular provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is quite similar to the previous web hosting service form. In spite of that, in contrast with the file storage web hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is used for circulating proprietary materials without the authorization of the license keeper. In brief - it involves the prohibited distribution of files and materials. There are a lot of approaches for this to be accomplished, but the 2 chief ways are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via P2P connections. The first one entails either a specific site, or, most typically, simply a directory on a server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download copyrighted materials for free. The second method entails a peer-to-peer connection, using the so-called Torrent web servers, through which people swap files between each other. There are not many web page hosting providers that permit that type of hosting on their web hosting servers, mainly due to all the legal problems that it involves. Generally such web pages are hosted on private dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

E-mail Web Hosting - this solution is utilized with both shared webspace hosting and dedicated hosting servers, depending on the customer's desire. If you would like to launch your very own personal SMTP email server, then you will need either a VPS web hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the level of access needed to carry out such an operation. For common mail web hosting purposes, however, you can avail of a plain shared site hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a service that's very used, since the website hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, often owned by different web hosts.

Web Page Hosting - the most widespread and commonly used hosting service now. It's used for hosting web site files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the hosting server is making use of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require specific web server OSs, otherwise they won't be exhibited properly on the Internet. This type of web hosting may include data storage space and traffic quota limitations, root-level access and CPU usage limits.

Based on the aims and on the usage, the customer should choose the type of hosting server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web space hosting company that's going to furnish it. There are various kinds of hosting servers, depending on the specifications and the hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared site hosting server offers a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and medium scale sites, which do not require vast amounts of web space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated - they are based on the same principle as the shared web hosting servers. However, there are much less customers sharing the same server. That is why, each of them will receive a bigger quota of the web server's resources like RAM, disk storage, traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting popular web portals that do not need full server root access.

Virtual Servers - the private virtual servers are perfect for middle scale online portals, which do require root access to the server's configuration files. Generally, there are a few virtual web server accounts accommodated on the same physical machine. Nevertheless, each of them is autonomous from the rest and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated physical server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a big amount of system resources. It also offers server root access, which renders it a perfect solution for any kind of site that requires a web space hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which web space hosting vendor should I pick?

As mentioned above, there are just a few hosting providers providing warez web hosting services because of legal complications. Such hosting providers are being shut down practically every month. For that reason, if you desire to create such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared hosting service is the most popular kind of hosting service. Because of that, each site hosting supplier provides it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the smaller webspace hosting companies do not have the means required for maintaining those services. Because of that it's always best to go with a larger company that can provide its customers with all the services that they seek. You can easily identify such hosting companies by the kinds of services that they are making available and by the manner in which they present them to the clients. For example, certain companies allow you to commence with a low-end site hosting plan and subsequently upgrade to a more advanced one, if you deem it compulsory to do so. This is very convenient, because you do not have to transfer sites between hosting servers and there is no danger of suffering network outages because of all the complications that may crop up. Web hosting companies like Lime Server provide all kinds of solutions and have the required web server resources and personnel to assure that their clients will not experience any predicaments when changing services, which is what a top hosting supplier is actually all about.