A description of web site hosting
As its name hints, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting web content. There are various forms and kinds of web hosting, depending on the aims and on the usage. Nonetheless, they all entail hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the Web. A host is actually a server that is connected to the Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which permits users to get access to it via the Web. The web server's configuration and its resources are dependent on the form of hosting service it will be used for.
What are the different forms of hosting?
Based on the purpose, the web hosting service may be:
File Hosting - this type of web hosting enables the users to host their files on a particular hosting server. With the standard file web hosting service, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the customer that's utilizing the service. This hosting solution traditionally is related to backups of PCs , docs, personal files and even other hosting servers. This service may also impose given limits with regard to the server storage space and the root privileges. There may also be web traffic restrictions, but that depends on the given web host.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is quite similar to the previous web hosting service type. Still, in contrast with the file storage web hosting service, the warez web hosting service is utilized for transmitting patented content without being given the OK to do so by the license holder. To cut a long story short - it is connected with the unauthorized distribution of files and documents. There are numerous ways for this to be carried out, but the two principal ways are - via plain HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first approach entails either a certain site, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a web server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download licensed files free of cost. The second method involves a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There aren't many web hosting vendors that allow such form of web hosting on their hosting servers, mostly owing to all the judicial predicaments that it involves. Commonly such sites are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
E-mail Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared website hosting and dedicated servers, based on the customer's intention. If you desire to build your very own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a virtual web server or a dedicated web server that offers the level of access needed to carry out such an operation. For conventional email hosting purposes, though, you can avail of a simple shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely famous, since the web hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 different web servers, often owned by different web hosts.
Web Page Hosting - the most famous and universally utilized hosting service as of today. It's utilized for hosting web site files, whose kind is dependent on the OS the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files require different hosting server OSs, or else they won't be shown correctly on the Internet. This form of web hosting may include server storage and bandwidth limits, root-level access and CPU usage limitations.
Based on the purpose and on the functions, the user should choose the kind of web server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web space hosting company that's going to supply it. There are several kinds of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the web hosting services that they offer. These are:
Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared web space hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small scale and medium websites, which do not demand large quotas of server storage and traffic.
Semi-Dedicated - they operate on the same principle as the shared hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much less clients sharing the same hosting server. That is why, each of them will have a bigger share of the web server's resources like RAM, data space, traffic and CPU. Excellent for hosting popular web pages that do not demand full server root privileges.
VPS hosting - the VPS web hosting servers are ideal for middle sized web sites, which do require root access to the web server's configuration files. Usually, there are a bunch of VPS server hosting accounts accommodated on the same server. However, each of them is isolated from the other ones and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Hosting - a fully dedicated physical server set up and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a huge amount of system resources. It also offers complete root access, which renders it an excellent solution for any kind of web site that requires a hosting solution.
The only question that's left is:
Which site hosting supplier should I settle on?
As already mentioned, there aren't many hosts providing warez web hosting services due to judicial predicaments. Such hosting companies are being closed down practically every month. Therefore, if you wish to launch such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared webspace hosting service is the most widely spread kind of web hosting service. Because of that, every webspace hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as virtual private hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the smaller web space hosting firms do not have the means needed for offering those solutions. That's why it's invariably best to pick a larger hosting company that can supply its customers with all the solutions that they need. You can effortlessly recognize such web hosting companies by the kinds of solutions that they are making available and by the manner in which they present them to the clientele. For example, some hosts allow you to kick off with a small sized web space hosting plan and subsequently move to a bigger one, if you find it mandatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not need to move web portals between web hosting servers and there is no chance of experiencing downtime due to all the problems that may occur. Web hosts like Lord Web Solutions offer all kinds of services and possess the necessary server resources and personnel to assure that their customers will not encounter any complications when swapping services, which is what a top hosting provider is actually all about.