A definition of hosting
As its name indicates, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are different varieties and kinds of hosting, based on the mission and on the functions. Nonetheless, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the Internet. A host is actually a web hosting service that is linked to the Web and has its very own IP address, which enables people to have access to it through the Internet. The server's configuration and its limitations are subject to the sort of hosting service it's going to be utilized for.
What are the different types of hosting?
Based on the function, the web hosting service may be:
File Storage Web Hosting - this type of hosting allows the clients to accommodate their files on a certain server. With the typical file hosting service, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the individual that's availing of the service. This web hosting service normally is connected with backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other servers. This solution may also involve given limitations in terms of the web storage and the root-level access. There may also be traffic quota limits, but that depends on the particular host.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is quite similar to the previous hosting service form. Nevertheless, unlike the file hosting service, the warez hosting solution is used for distributing licensed work without being given the go-ahead by the patent possessor. In brief - it pertains to the criminal circulation of files and docs. There are multiple methods for this to be fulfilled, but the 2 essential approaches are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first one involves either a specific web page, or, most commonly, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download licensed files free of cost. The second method entails a peer-to-peer connection, using the so-called Torrent web servers, through which users share files between each other. There are not many web hosting firms that allow that type of hosting on their web servers, mostly owing to all the judicial problems that it involves. Generally such web sites are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.
Mail Web Hosting - this solution is applicable with both shared site hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, based on the user's wish. If you wish to build your very own private SMTP email server, then you will need either a virtual private hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that provides the access level needed to accomplish such a task. For conventional mail web hosting ends, though, you can avail of a simple shared hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a service that's very used, since the website hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate servers, often belonging to separate companies.
Web Page Hosting - the most widespread and universally utilized hosting service today. It's used for hosting site files, whose kind is determined by the OS the hosting server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files necessitate different hosting server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited accurately on the Web. This form of hosting may have data storage space and traffic quota limits, root-level access and CPU usage limits.
Depending on the mission and on the objectives, the user should pick the kind of hosting server that he needs for his project, and, of course, the web site hosting firm that's going to provide it. There are different types of servers, depending on the specifications and the web site hosting services that they offer. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared site hosting server provides a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and medium sized web sites, which do not demand immense quantities of web storage and web traffic.
Semi-Dedicated Servers - they operate on the same principle as the shared hosting servers. Still, there are much fewer clients accommodated on the same web hosting server. That is why, each of them will get a bigger share of the web server's resources like RAM, disk storage space, traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting huge web pages that do not demand server root access.
Virtual Private Server - the Virtual Private Servers are excellent for medium scale web sites, which do require root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Generally, there are a few private virtual web hosting server accounts located on the same physical server. Yet, each of them is isolated from the other ones and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Server Hosting - a fully dedicated server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a large amount of system resources. It also provides full server root privileges, which makes it an ideal environment for any type of web site that demands a website hosting service.
The only question that remains is:
Which website hosting corporation should I settle on?
As stated above, there aren't many companies offering warez web hosting services due to judicial troubles. Such hosts are being shut down almost every month. That is why, if you would like to set up such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared web space hosting service is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. For that reason, every website hosting firm provides it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the small scale web hosting firms do not have the means demanded for offering those solutions. Hence it's invariably best to go with a larger host that can provide its clients with all the services that they necessitate. You can quickly recognize such hosts by the types of solutions that they are making available and by the way that they introduce them to the clients. For example, some hosting providers permit you to commence with a smaller site hosting plan and then shift to a more advanced one, if you deem it mandatory to do so. This is quite convenient, because you do not have to transmit web portals between web servers and there is no danger of suffering network outages due to all the complications that may show up. Web hosts like WebHost-ing.com offer all types of services and possess the needed web server resources and personnel to guarantee that their customers will not run into any problems when changing services, which is what a top hosting provider is in fact all about.