A definition of web site hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting web content. There are various varieties and types of hosting, depending on the goals and on the functions. Even so, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the Internet. A web host is in fact a server that is linked to the Internet and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which enables people to have access to it via the World Wide Web. The web server's architecture and its limitations are subject to the form of web hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the different forms of hosting?

Depending on the objective, the business hosting solution may be:

File Hosting - this type of web hosting enables the clients to store their files on a certain hosting server. With the routine file hosting service, the files that are saved may only be accessed by the person that's using the service. This hosting service traditionally concerns backups of computers , docs, private files and even other hosting servers. This solution may also involve certain limits when it comes to the web storage space and the root-level access. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that is dependent on the particular web hosting provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is resembling the previous web hosting service type. Even so, in contrast with the file hosting solution, the warez hosting service is utilized for circulating licensed content without being given the go-ahead by the copyright possessor. In short - it is connected with the prohibited dissemination of files and documents. There are lots of methods for this to be achieved, but the 2 principal approaches are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first method involves either a given web portal, or, most often, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download copyrighted docs free of cost. The second way entails a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transmit files between each other. There are not many web space hosting firms that permit such form of hosting on their hosting servers, mainly owing to all the legal predicaments that it presupposes. Generally such web portals are hosted on private dedicated web servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared web page hosting and dedicated hosting servers, depending on the user's intention. If you desire to create your own private SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a Virtual Private Server or a dedicated hosting server that provides the level of access required to complete such a task. For typical mail hosting purposes, though, you can utilize an average shared web space hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's widely used, since the web page hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, often belonging to separate firms.

Website Hosting - the most famous and commonly utilized hosting service as of today. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the web hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require concrete web server OSs, or else they won't be shown appropriately on the Web. This type of web hosting may contain server storage and traffic limits, root-level access and central processing unit usage limitations.

Based on the aims and on the functions, the customer should choose the sort of server that he requires for his work, and, of course, the web hosting company that's going to furnish it. There are different kinds of web servers, depending on the specs and the web space hosting services that they provide. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared hosting server offers a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is reflected on the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small size and middle scale web sites, which do not demand enormous amounts of disk space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they function on the very same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. Yet, there are much less customers accommodated on the same web server. Therefore, each of them will enjoy a bigger share of the server's resources like RAM, web space, bandwidth and CPU. Perfect for hosting big web sites that do not demand full server root access.

Virtual Servers - the virtual web hosting servers are ideal for medium size web pages, which do require root access to the web hosting server's configuration files. Usually, there are a handful of private virtual web server hosting accounts located on the same physical server. Even so, each of them is insulated from the others and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a completely dedicated server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a considerable amount of resources. It also provides root privileges, which renders it an excellent solution for any kind of web portal that needs a webspace hosting service.

The sole question that's left is:

Which web site hosting firm should I select?

As stated above, there are very few hosts offering warez web hosting solutions due to judicial entanglements. Such hosting providers are being shut down practically every month. For that reason, if you want to set up such a service, you should do it on your own PC. The shared website hosting service is the most famous kind of web hosting service. So, each and every website hosting supplier provides it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as virtual private web servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the smaller site hosting suppliers do not have the means required for maintaining those solutions. Therefore it's invariably best to go with a larger hosting company that can furnish its clients with all the services that they need. You can easily identify such hosts by the kinds of services that they are providing and by the manner in which they present them to the customers. For instance, certain companies allow you to begin with a small sized web space hosting account and then move to a more advanced one, if you find it compulsory to do so. This is extremely convenient, since you do not need to transfer web portals between web servers and there is no risk of experiencing network outages due to all the complications that may take place. Providers such as Hostomedia are offering all types of services and have the necessary server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not encounter any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting distributor is in fact all about.