An explanation of web hosting

As its name hints, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are different varieties and types of web hosting, depending on the aims and on the objectives. In spite of that, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A web host is actually a web hosting service that is linked to the World Wide Web and has its very own IP address, which allows people to gain access to it via the Web. The server's configuration and its limitations are dependent on the sort of hosting service it's going to be used for.

What are the various forms of web hosting?

Based on the goal, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Web Hosting - this form of hosting allows the clients to save their files on a specific web server. With the customary file storage hosting service, the files that are kept may only be accessed by the user that's using the service. This web hosting solution mainly concerns backups of computers , docs, personal files and even other servers. This service may also contain certain limits in relation to the data space and the root privileges. There may also be web traffic limits, but that is dependent on the actual host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is comparable with the previous hosting service type. Nonetheless, in contrast with the file web hosting service, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for circulating proprietary work without being given the okay to do so by the licence owner. In short - it appertains to the unauthorized transmission of files and docs. There are many methods for this to be accomplished, but the 2 main approaches are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via P2P connections. The first way entails either some site, or, most typically, simply a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download copyrighted documents for free. The second method entails a P2P connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There are not many webspace hosting companies that permit such type of hosting on their hosting servers, mainly owing to all the judicial entanglements that it entails. Typically such websites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by third-party corporations either in the Middle East or in Asia.

E-mail Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared web site hosting and dedicated web servers, depending on the user's intention. If you want to have your own private SMTP server, then you will require either a virtual private hosting server or a dedicated hosting server that offers the access level required to accomplish such a procedure. For standard electronic mail web hosting purposes, however, you can utilize an average shared site hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely popular, because the web hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by two different web servers, often owned by different companies.

Web Page Hosting - the most widespread and broadly utilized hosting service at the moment. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose sort is dependent on the OS the server is running - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files require concrete server OSs, otherwise they won't be shown properly on the World Wide Web. This kind of hosting may include disk storage and web traffic quota limits, root-level access and CPU usage limitations.

Based on the purpose and on the functions, the customer should select the kind of web hosting server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the web space hosting corporation that's going to supply it. There are various kinds of web hosting servers, based on the specifications and the site hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared website hosting server offers a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and middle scale web pages, which do not require vast quotas of storage space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers - they perform on the same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. Yet, there are much fewer users sharing the same web server. That is why, each of them will enjoy a greater quota of the server's resources like RAM, web storage, web traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting popular web sites that do not demand full server root access.

VPS hosting - the virtual private hosting servers are excellent for medium size online portals, which do need root-level access to the server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are a few private virtual web server hosting accounts located on the same server. Even so, each of them is isolated from the rest and has its own OS.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a fully dedicated machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a gigantic amount of system resources. It also includes full server root access, which makes it an ideal environment for any kind of web site that requires a web site hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which web space hosting company should I choose?

As mentioned, there are just a few companies offering warez web hosting services because of judicial problems. Such web hosting companies are being closed down virtually every month. That is why, if you want to create such a service, you should do it on your own PC. The shared site hosting service is the most popular kind of hosting service. Hence, each site hosting distributor offers it. Not all of them, though, offer solutions such as Virtual Private Servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the smaller web site hosting corporations do not have the resources required for offering those solutions. That is the reason why it's always best to opt for a larger host that can furnish its clients with all the services that they seek. You can quickly recognize such web hosts by the kinds of solutions that they are providing and by the way that they introduce them to the clients. For example, certain providers allow you to start with a low-end web hosting plan and afterwards move to a more powerful one, if you consider it necessary to do so. This is quite suitable, because you do not have to move web pages between servers and there is no risk of suffering network outages due to all the problems that may crop up. Providers such as The Gate provide all sorts of services and possess the required web server resources and personnel to guarantee that their customers will not encounter any problems when swapping services, which is what a top hosting vendor is actually all about.