A definition of web page hosting
As its name signifies, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting web content. There are different varieties and kinds of web hosting, depending on the goals and on the usage. In spite of that, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A web host is in fact a server that is linked to the Internet and has its very own IP address, which permits people to have access to it via the Internet. The hosting server's architecture and its resources are determined by the kind of hosting solution it will be used for.
What are the various forms of hosting?
Based on the function, the professional hosting solution may be:
File Storage Hosting - this form of web hosting allows the customers to keep their files on a particular server. With the traditional file web hosting solution, the files that are kept may only be accessed by the individual that's using the service. This hosting solution traditionally is related to backups of personal computers , documents, personal files and even other web servers. This solution may also impose given restrictions in relation to the disk storage and the root access. There may also be traffic quota limitations, but that depends on the given hosting provider.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Even so, unlike the file storage hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for distributing copyrighted work without being green-lighted by the license bearer. To cut a long story short - it entails the illicit propagation of files and documents. There are multiple approaches for this to be fulfilled, but the 2 essential ways are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through P2P connections. The first approach entails either some web site, or, most often, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download patented files free of charge. The second method involves a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, through which users transfer files between each other. There are not many webspace hosting suppliers that permit such type of web hosting on their web servers, mostly owing to all the legal entanglements that it involves. Generally such sites are hosted on personal dedicated web servers that are registered by 3rd party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
Email Web Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, based on the client's wish. If you desire to establish your own personal SMTP mail server, then you will need either a virtual web hosting server or a dedicated server that provides the level of access required to execute such an operation. For ordinary email web hosting purposes, however, you can create a conventional shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely popular, since the web site hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, usually owned by different companies.
Web Page Hosting - the most popular and vastly used hosting service as of now. It's used for hosting website files, whose sort is dependent on the OS the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files need different hosting server OSs, or else they won't be displayed correctly on the Web. This kind of web hosting may have web storage space and traffic limits, root-level access and central processing unit usage limits.
Depending on the goals and on the objectives, the customer should select the sort of web server that he requires for his project, and, of course, the website hosting supplier that's going to furnish it. There are different sorts of servers, based on the specs and the website hosting services that they provide. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared website hosting server provides a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small size and medium size sites, which do not demand big quotas of storage space and bandwidth.
Semi-Dedicated Servers - they function on the same principle as the shared web hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much fewer clients accommodated on the same server. That is why, each of them will enjoy a bigger share of the web server's resources like RAM, data storage, bandwidth and CPU. Perfect for hosting bulky online portals that do not demand complete root access.
Virtual Private Server - the private virtual servers are ideal for medium size websites, which do demand root-level access to the web server's config files. Normally, there are a bunch of Virtual Private Server accounts accommodated on the same physical server. Even so, each of them is independent from the others and runs its own Operating System.
Dedicated Hosting - a fully dedicated physical machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a large amount of system resources. It also provides full server root access, which renders it the optimal platform for any kind of site that requires a site hosting service.
The only question that remains is:
Which web hosting corporation should I choose?
As already stated, there are not many hosting companies offering warez hosting solutions due to judicial problems. Such web hosting providers are being shut down virtually every month. Because of that, if you would like to establish such a service, you should do it on your very own PC. The shared site hosting solution is the most famous kind of hosting service. Therefore, each web space hosting company offers it. Not all of them, though, offer solutions such as VPSs, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the small sized hosting distributors do not have the means required for offering those services. For that reason it's always best to choose a larger hosting company that can furnish its customers with all the services that they seek. You can easily identify such hosts by the sorts of solutions that they are providing and by the manner in which they present them to the clientele. For example, some hosting companies allow you to start with a small sized web hosting plan and subsequently move to a more advanced one, if you consider it mandatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not need to relocate sites between web servers and there is no risk of experiencing network downtime because of all the complications that may arise. Hosting providers such as NTC Hosting offer all types of solutions and have the necessary web hosting server resources and personnel to ensure that their customers will not chance upon any complications when changing services, which is what a top hosting firm is in fact all about.