A definition of website hosting
As its name suggests, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and kinds of hosting, based on the goals and on the usage. Yet, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A web host is in fact a server that is linked to the Internet and has its very own IP address, which enables people to get access to it via the Internet. The web hosting server's configuration and its limitations are determined by the sort of hosting service it's going to be used for.
What are the various forms of web hosting?
Based on the function, the web hosting solution may be:
File Web Hosting - this type of hosting enables the users to keep their files on a given server. With the customary file web hosting service, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the client that's using the service. This hosting service generally is connected with backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also have certain limitations in terms of the data storage and the root privileges. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that is dependent on the particular web hosting provider.
Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Nonetheless, unlike the file storage hosting solution, the warez hosting solution is used for distributing patented work without the sanction of the patent bearer. To put it briefly - it is connected with the illicit distribution of files and docs. There are lots of ways for this to be done, but the two chief ways are - via plain HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first one involves either a specific website, or, most often, simply a directory on a server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download patented documents free of cost. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent web servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There aren't many hosting firms that allow that form of web hosting on their web servers, mainly because of all the legal predicaments that it presupposes. Typically such websites are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.
Electronic Mail Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared web site hosting and dedicated web servers, depending on the customer's desire. If you desire to set up your own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a virtual hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the level of access required to perform such an assignment. For conventional email web hosting ends, though, you can open an average shared site hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's very popular, since the web hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two separate web servers, often belonging to separate firms.
Web Page Hosting - the most widely spread and regularly used hosting service as of now. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose kind is dependent on the Operating System the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files need concrete web hosting server OSs, otherwise they won't be displayed properly on the Web. This type of web hosting may contain disk space and traffic limits, root access and CPU usage limits.
Depending on the aims and on the functions, the customer should choose the sort of web server that he requires for his project, and, of course, the site hosting firm that's going to supply it. There are several types of hosting servers, depending on the specifications and the web site hosting solutions that they provide. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web hosting server supplies a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small scale and middle size sites, which do not demand immense quantities of data space and web traffic.
Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they work on the same principle as the shared web site hosting servers. However, there are much fewer users sharing the same server. Therefore, each of them will enjoy a greater quota of the server's resources like RAM, disk space, web traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting huge sites that do not demand full root-level access.
VPS hosting - the VPS servers are excellent for medium scale websites, which do demand root access to the web server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are several virtual server accounts situated on the same physical machine. Nonetheless, each of them is insulated from the others and has its own Operating System.
Dedicated Hosting - a fully dedicated server set up and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a mammoth amount of resources. It also offers full root access, which makes it an excellent platform for any sort of web page that requires a web space hosting solution.
The only question that's left is:
Which web space hosting company should I choose?
As already stated, there are very few companies providing warez hosting solutions due to judicial entanglements. Such companies are being shut down almost every month. Therefore, if you want to offer such a service, you should do it on your own PC. The shared web space hosting service is the most popular type of web hosting service. That is why, every webspace hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as private virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small sized hosting providers do not have the resources required for maintaining those solutions. Hence it's invariably best to settle on a larger host that can supply its clients with all the services that they necessitate. You can quickly recognize such hosts by the kinds of services that they are supplying and by the manner in which they introduce them to the clients. For example, certain hosting providers allow you to start with a small sized web site hosting package and then move to a more powerful one, if you deem it compulsory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not need to transfer websites between hosting servers and there is no danger of facing service disturbances due to all the predicaments that may take place. Companies such as EdRic Hosting are offering all types of services and possess the required server resources and staff to ensure that their clients will not stumble upon any troubles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting supplier is in fact all about.