Web hosting in simple terms is an online service that enables you to publish your website or web application on the Internet. It’s the space, or server, where all of your website files are stored and then sent to users as they access your site.
You’ll also need web hosting if you have email accounts through your domain name since web hosting services often provide email addresses and can help you set them up and manage them well. Here’s what you need to know about web hosting so you can make an informed decision when shopping around for yours.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting, otherwise known as Internet hosting, is the provision of hardware and software resources on which to publish your website or web application to the Internet. If you’re looking to get your own website online or start selling products through an e-commerce site, you will need web hosting in order to make this happen. This guide explains everything you need to know about web hosting in simple terms.
Start with a domain name. If you’re just getting started, pick an easy-to-remember web address to associate with your site. Once you register your domain name, let your chosen web host take care of hosting that site on their servers. But what exactly does a web host do, and how do they enable users to get their websites online? Well, web hosting can refer to different things depending on who you ask or where you look for information.
Types of Web Hosting
There are basically many types of web hosting services, Shared hosting and dedicated hosting is the most popular. Let’s first discuss shared web hosting. This type of web service provides you with a common server or an operating system for you to use for your website/web application. However, in terms of features, functionality, security, technical support, etc.
Shared hosting
VPS hosting
Cloud hosting
WordPress hosting
Dedicated hosting
Shared web hosting services are less superior when compared to dedicated web servers because sharing a server means limited resources (storage space/memory, etc.). Also, there can be performance issues due to high traffic load on a single server resulting in downtime of your website/web application.
Shared hosting
Most people who use a web host don’t require much out of their service provider. This makes shared hosting a great option for small businesses, blogs, hobby sites, or anyone with basic needs. But what exactly is shared hosting? Shared hosting works by placing your site on a server that’s already equipped to handle multiple sites. For example, if you have 10 sites on your shared server and one of them has an influx of traffic at a given time, all of your other sites will slow down as well since they share resources with that busy site.
With shared hosting, there are also limitations when it comes to filing size and bandwidth; however, these can be increased by upgrading to a dedicated or virtual private server (VPS) hosting.
VPS Hosting
VPS hosting (virtual private server hosting) enables you to host a website or application on a server while getting the same level of control over that server as you would have over a dedicated, physical one. Think of VPS hosting as halfway between shared web hosting and dedicated web hosting. If you choose VPS hosting, your website or application will share physical resources with other virtual servers, but you'll have more control than with shared web hosting.
In fact, many people choose VPS to run their e-commerce sites because they're looking for greater security than shared plans offer.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting has gained popularity over conventional hosting because of its affordable pricing and ease of deployment. Cloud hosting doesn’t require you to download or install any software on your computer, so you can get a website up and running in just a few clicks. Cloud hosting providers take care of all aspects of IT infrastructure management for you, from keeping your server online 24/7 to providing regular backups.
A dedicated server offers you full control over your website or web application, but that comes at a cost: You must purchase, configure and maintain all related software—including operating systems (OS) like Linux or Windows—which often requires hiring an outside expert.
WordPress hosting
Essentially, hosting refers to your website's physical location on a server. All websites need a place to live online and if you're using WordPress, you'll need web hosting. If you’re just starting out with WordPress, web hosting can seem like a scary thing. You don't know much about how it works or what's involved in choosing one over another. The truth is that there are hundreds of different types of hosts and thousands of different plans available for every type of site imaginable; finding one that suits your specific needs can be downright confusing. Here's what you need to know about choosing a host.
Dedicated hosting
In dedicated hosting, your website isn’t sharing its server with anyone else. This means that when you host a site on a dedicated server, you get to use all of its resources for as long as you need them. With shared hosting, on the other hand, there are hundreds of sites on one physical server. When too many of those sites become busy at once (for example, after a posting goes viral), others will be forced to wait until their resources become available again before they can load in visitors' browsers. One more thing: Dedicated servers usually cost far more than virtual servers or shared servers — especially if they're purchased directly from an Internet service provider (ISP).
Conclusion
You don’t need to hire a web hosting service. You can buy your own hardware, store it in a secure location, install an operating system on it (such as Linux or Windows), and use that as your own dedicated server. There are some downsides to going down that route, of course: you’ll have to build out a stable Internet connection; you’ll have to shell out for equipment.
You’ll need to learn about how all that stuff works, and you might need additional skills—such as configuring operating systems—to get everything up and running. But if you want total control over your website hosting environment or expect extremely high volumes of traffic, owning and managing your own hardware may be the best option for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment