A definition of website hosting

As its name signifies, web hosting is a solution, which involves hosting web content. There are different varieties and types of web hosting, based on the aims and on the functions. However, they all entail hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A web host is in fact a hosting server that is linked to the Internet and has its very own IP address, which permits users to have access to it through the World Wide Web. The hosting server's configuration and its system resources are dependent on the form of hosting service it's going to be used for.

What are the different forms of web hosting?

Depending on the function, the web hosting solution may be:

File Web Hosting - this type of web hosting allows the users to stash their files on a given 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 web hosting service generally is associated with backups of computers , documents, private files and even other servers. This solution may also contain given limitations in relation to the server storage space and the root access. There may also be web traffic quota limits, but that depends on the particular provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Nevertheless, in contrast with the file web hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is utilized for disseminating licensed content without the sanction of the patent proprietor. In brief - it entails the unlawful dissemination of files and documents. There are many ways for this to be brought about, but the 2 chief approaches are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through P2P connections. The first approach entails either a specific web page, or, most typically, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download proprietary documents free of charge. The second method entails a peer-to-peer connection, using the so-called Torrent servers, through which people exchange files between each other. There are just a few web site hosting distributors that permit such type of web hosting on their servers, mostly owing to all the judicial entanglements that it entails. Typically such sites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party corporations either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Web Hosting - this service is utilized with both shared web hosting and dedicated servers, depending on the customer's desire. If you wish to build your own private SMTP email server, then you will require either a VPS or a dedicated web server that offers the level of access required to carry out such an operation. For customary mail hosting purposes, though, you can use a plain shared hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely famous, because the site hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by two separate web servers, often owned by different web hosting providers.

Site Hosting - the most widely spread and vastly utilized hosting service as of today. It's utilized for hosting web site files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the web hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files demand different server OSs, otherwise they won't be exhibited appropriately on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may impose disk space and traffic limitations, server root access and CPU usage restrictions.

Based on the purpose and on the functions, the customer should select the type of web hosting server that he demands for his work, and, of course, the web site hosting vendor that's going to furnish it. There are various kinds of servers, depending on the specs and the website hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web space hosting server offers a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, is reflected on the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small scale and middle size online portals, which do not require vast quantities of data storage and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they perform on the very same principle as the shared web site hosting servers. Nevertheless, there are much less users hosted on the same web hosting server. Because of that, each of them will have a bigger quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, data storage space, traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting bulky web portals that do not need full root-level access.

Virtual Private Server - the VPSs are ideal for middle scale web portals, which do require root access to the web server's configuration files. Commonly, there are a number of private virtual web server accounts situated on the same machine. In spite of that, each of them is insulated from the others and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Servers Hosting - a completely dedicated physical server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a vast amount of system resources. It also offers root-level access, which makes it an excellent solution for any sort of website that needs a hosting service.

The only question that remains is:

Which web space hosting supplier should I settle on?

As stated above, there are very few web hosting providers providing warez hosting solutions because of judicial predicaments. Such hosting providers are being closed down almost every month. That is why, if you wish to launch such a service, you should do it on your own PC. The shared web space hosting service is the most famous type of hosting service. Because of that, each hosting company provides it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as private virtual servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the smaller site hosting vendors do not have the means required for maintaining those services. That is the reason why it's always best to choose a bigger web hosting company that can provide its clients with all the solutions that they request. You can effortlessly identify such web hosts by the types of services that they are providing and by the manner in which they present them to the clientele. For instance, certain web hosts permit you to commence with a small scale web space hosting account and afterwards upgrade to a more advanced one, if you deem it obligatory to do so. This is extremely suitable, since you do not need to move web sites between servers and there is no possibility of experiencing network downtime due to all the problems that may appear. Web hosting providers such as My hosting company provide all kinds of solutions and possess the adequate web hosting server resources and personnel to assure that their customers will not come across any problems when changing services, which is what a top hosting vendor is actually all about.