A description of web site hosting

As its name indicates, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting online content. There are various forms and kinds of web hosting, based on the goals and on the usage. However, they all entail hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A host is actually a hosting server that is connected to the Web and has its own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to gain access to it via the World Wide Web. The web server's architecture and its limitations are dependent on the sort of hosting solution it's going to be used for.

What are the different types of hosting?

Depending on the objective, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Hosting - this form of web hosting allows the customers to lodge their files on a specific server. With the ordinary file web hosting solution, the files that are saved may only be accessed by the person that's utilizing the service. This web hosting solution mainly refers to backups of personal computers , documents, personal files and even other hosting servers. This solution may also impose certain limitations with regard to the server space and the root privileges. There may also be traffic limitations, but that is dependent on the given web hosting provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is very similar to the previous web hosting service type. In spite of that, in contrast with the file web hosting solution, the warez hosting service is used for circulating patented materials without being given the OK to do so by the copyright holder. In brief - it is connected with the illegitimate distribution of files and materials. There are a lot of methods for this to be carried out, but the 2 main methods are - through plain HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first one entails either a certain website, or, most often, just a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download proprietary content for free. The second approach involves a peer-to-peer connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There are not many web hosting vendors that permit such type of web hosting on their servers, chiefly because of all the judicial problems that it presupposes. Generally such web sites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by third-party corporations either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Web Hosting - this service is applicable with both shared web site hosting and dedicated web servers, based on the user's wish. If you would like to set up your own personal SMTP email server, then you will require either a virtual server or a dedicated web server that provides the access level needed to execute such a procedure. For ordinary email web hosting ends, though, you can avail of a plain shared web hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's widely popular, since the site hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, usually belonging to different web hosts.

Site Hosting - the most widely spread and widely used hosting service today. It's used for hosting site files, whose type depends on the OS the server is making use of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files request specific hosting server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited properly on the Web. This form of web hosting may have server storage space and traffic limits, root access and CPU usage limits.

Based on the aims and on the objectives, the user should select the sort of web hosting server that he needs for his project, and, of course, the webspace hosting provider that's going to furnish it. There are different types of servers, based on the specifications and the hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared web server includes a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and medium sized web portals, which do not require large quotas of data storage and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they are based on the same principle as the shared website hosting servers. However, there are much fewer users sharing the same web server. Therefore, each of them will enjoy a greater share of the web server's resources like RAM, disk space, web traffic and CPU. Excellent for hosting enormous websites that do not require root access.

VPS - the virtual private web servers are ideal for medium sized web portals, which do require root access to the web hosting server's config files. Traditionally, there are a number of VPS accounts sharing the same physical server. Even so, each of them is isolated from the others and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Servers - a completely dedicated machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a tremendous amount of system resources. It also offers full root access, which makes it an ideal solution for any sort of web portal that demands a web hosting service.

The only question that remains is:

Which website hosting supplier should I select?

As mentioned above, there are not many hosts offering warez hosting solutions due to legal predicaments. Such web hosting providers are being closed down practically every month. For that reason, if you desire to provide such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared web site hosting service is the most popular kind of web hosting service. That is why, each site hosting provider provides it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as private virtual web servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the smaller site hosting vendors do not have the means required for offering those services. That is the reason why it's always best to settle on a bigger web host that can supply its customers with all the services that they seek. You can easily identify such web hosting companies by the kinds of solutions that they are offering and by the manner in which they introduce them to the customers. For instance, certain web hosts allow you to commence with a low-end website hosting account and afterwards move to a more powerful one, if you deem it compulsory to do so. This is very suitable, because you do not need to migrate sites between web servers and there is no chance of facing network outages due to all the predicaments that may take place. Companies such as AIDA Host offer all types of services and have the necessary web server resources and personnel to ensure that their customers will not stumble upon any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting supplier is actually all about.