An explanation of web hosting

As its name indicates, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting online content. There are different varieties and kinds of hosting, depending on the purpose and on the usage. Nevertheless, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the Web. A host is in fact a server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its very own IP address, which allows users to gain access to it via the Web. The web hosting server's architecture and its limitations are determined by the sort of hosting solution it's going to be utilized for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Based on the mission, the professional hosting service may be:

File Storage Hosting - this type of web hosting allows the users to keep their files on a certain hosting server. With the traditional file hosting solution, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the person that's utilizing the service. This hosting service typically is related to backups of personal computers , docs, personal files and even other servers. This service may also contain given restrictions when it comes to the server storage space and the root access. There may also be bandwidth restrictions, but that is dependent on the particular hosting provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Nonetheless, in contrast with the file web hosting solution, the warez hosting service is utilized for transmitting licensed work without the blessing of the licence keeper. In brief - it is connected with the criminal dissemination of files and docs. There are a lot of approaches for this to be performed, but the 2 principal approaches are - through simple HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first way involves either a particular site, or, most commonly, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download patented documents free of cost. The second method entails a P2P connection, making use of the so-called Torrent web servers, via which people exchange files between each other. There are very few hosting distributors that allow such form of hosting on their web servers, mainly because of all the legal problems that it presupposes. Typically such websites are hosted on private dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by third-party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Web Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared website hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the client's wish. If you want to set up your own personal SMTP e-mail server, then you will require either a private virtual hosting server or a dedicated web server that provides the level of access needed to execute such an assignment. For customary mail hosting ends, however, you can create an average shared web site hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's very used, since the website hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by two different servers, often belonging to separate web hosting providers.

Web Site Hosting - the most widely spread and widely used hosting service now. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose kind depends on the OS the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files need specific server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited appropriately on the Internet. This kind of hosting may include web space and web traffic limitations, server root access and central processing unit usage limitations.

Based on the goals and on the functions, the user should choose the sort of hosting server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web hosting firm that's going to furnish it. There are various kinds of servers, depending on the specifications and the website hosting solutions that they provide. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared website hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and middle sized web sites, which do not need huge amounts of server space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they work on the same principle as the shared hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much less customers sharing the same hosting server. Therefore, each of them will obtain a bigger quota of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, server storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Perfect for hosting big websites that do not demand full root-level access.

VPS - the private virtual servers are perfect for medium scale web portals, which do require root-level access to the web server's config files. Traditionally, there are a number of private virtual server web hosting accounts hosted on the same machine. Still, each of them is independent from the rest and runs its own Operating System.

Dedicated Hosting - a fully dedicated web server configured and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a considerable amount of resources. It also provides full server root access, which makes it the optimal environment for any type of site that necessitates a hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which site hosting firm should I choose?

As mentioned above, there are just a few hosting companies providing warez web hosting services due to judicial complications. Such hosts are being shut down practically every month. Because of that, if you want to set up such a service, you should do it on your very own computer. The shared web site hosting service is the most popular kind of web hosting service. Hence, each and every hosting distributor offers it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as virtual web servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the small scale webspace hosting suppliers do not have the means needed for maintaining those solutions. Therefore it's invariably best to settle on a bigger hosting company that can furnish its customers with all the services that they are looking for. You can easily recognize such hosts by the kinds of solutions that they are making available and by the way that they present them to the customers. For instance, some web hosting providers allow you to start with a low-end web site hosting account and then move to a more advanced one, if you consider it mandatory to do so. This is very convenient, since you do not need to transmit websites between hosting servers and there is no risk of facing service outages due to all the predicaments that may take place. Web hosts such as First and Best Hosting offer all sorts of solutions and possess the necessary web hosting server resources and personnel to guarantee that their clients will not chance upon any predicaments when changing services, which is what a top hosting provider is in fact all about.