A description of web hosting

As its name suggests, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting web content. There are different varieties and types of hosting, based on the mission and on the functions. Nevertheless, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A host is in fact a server that is linked to the World Wide Web and has its own IP address, which allows users to access it through the Web. The server's architecture and its system resources are determined by the form of web hosting service it's going to be used for.

What are the various forms of hosting?

Depending on the function, the hosting solution may be:

File Web Hosting - this type of hosting permits the clients to host their files on a certain web hosting server. With the typical file storage web hosting service, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the person that's availing of the service. This hosting service usually appertains to backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other hosting servers. This service may also contain certain limitations when it comes to the data storage and the root-level access. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that depends on the particular hosting provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is comparable with the previous web hosting service form. However, in contrast with the file storage web hosting service, the warez hosting solution is used for distributing patented content without being given the okay to do so by the license holder. To cut a long story short - it is related to the unlawful propagation of files and materials. There are many approaches for this to be fulfilled, but the two essential approaches are - through plain HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a certain web portal, or, most often, just a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download patented documents free of charge. The second method entails a P2P connection, availing of the so-called Torrent web servers, via which people share files between each other. There are very few web page hosting distributors that allow that form of web hosting on their servers, chiefly because of all the legal complications that it presupposes. Generally such web pages are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Electronic Mail Web Hosting - this service is used with both shared website hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the customer's wish. If you would like to launch your very own private SMTP server, then you will require either a virtual private web hosting server or a dedicated web server that provides the level of access required to perform such a procedure. For ordinary e-mail web hosting purposes, though, you can avail of a normal shared hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's very famous, since the web site hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 separate servers, often owned by different web hosting providers.

Site Hosting - the most famous and vastly utilized hosting service as of now. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose type depends on the OS the web server is utilizing - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files request concrete server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be shown properly on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may impose server storage and web traffic quota limits, server root access and central processing unit usage restrictions.

Based on the goals and on the objectives, the user should choose the type of server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the web space hosting firm that's going to furnish it. There are various types of web hosting servers, depending on the specifications and the website hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web site hosting server includes a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and middle scale web portals, which do not require big amounts of disk storage space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they are based on the same principle as the shared webspace hosting servers. Nevertheless, there are much fewer users hosted on the same hosting server. Therefore, each of them will get a greater quota of the server's resources like RAM, server storage, bandwidth and CPU. Perfect for hosting huge websites that do not demand root privileges.

VPS - the virtual private web hosting servers are perfect for medium online portals, which do require root access to the hosting server's configuration files. Normally, there are a bunch of VPS web hosting accounts situated on the same physical machine. In spite of that, each of them is isolated from the rest and has its own OS.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a fully dedicated machine configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a large quantity of system resources. It also gives complete root access, which makes it the optimal solution for any sort of web site that necessitates a hosting solution.

The sole question that's left is:

Which web hosting vendor should I choose?

As already stated, there are very few web hosting companies providing warez web hosting solutions because of judicial problems. Such hosts are being shut down virtually every month. For that reason, if you would like to start such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared web site hosting solution is the most famous kind of hosting service. For that reason, every webspace hosting firm offers it. Not all of them, though, offer solutions such as VPS web servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the smaller site hosting firms do not have the means needed for maintaining those solutions. That's why it's always best to select a bigger company that can supply its clients with all the services that they seek. You can quickly ID such web hosts by the sorts of services that they are supplying and by the manner in which they present them to the clientele. For instance, certain web hosting companies permit you to start with a smaller hosting package and afterwards move to a more powerful one, if you deem it necessary to do so. This is extremely suitable, because you do not have to transfer web sites between hosting servers and there is no risk of experiencing service interruptions because of all the predicaments that may arise. Providers like Electro-Host provide all types of solutions and possess the necessary server resources and staff to ensure that their clients will not run into any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting company is in fact all about.