A definition of web site hosting
As its name suggests, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various varieties and kinds of hosting, based on the aims and on the usage. However, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the Internet. A host is in fact a server that is linked to the Internet and has its own IP address, which allows users to access it through the Internet. The hosting server's configuration and its system resources depend on the sort of hosting solution it's going to be used for.
What are the different forms of hosting?
Depending on the objective, the web hosting solution may be:
File Storage Web Hosting - this type of web hosting allows the users to deposit their files on a particular hosting server. With the typical file storage web hosting solution, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the user that's utilizing the service. This web hosting service normally entails backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also impose certain limitations in relation to the data space and the root access. There may also be traffic limitations, but that depends on the given provider.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is comparable with the previous web hosting service type. Even so, in contrast with the file web hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is used for transmitting licensed materials without being okayed by the patent keeper. To cut a long story short - it is related to the unauthorized transmission of files and documents. There are many approaches for this to be completed, but the two essential approaches are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via P2P connections. The first method entails either a specific site, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download licensed files free of cost. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transmit files between each other. There are very few web space hosting companies that permit that type of web hosting on their web hosting servers, chiefly because of all the judicial troubles that it entails. Usually such sites are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.
E-mail Hosting - this solution is used with both shared web page hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the customer's wish. If you wish to launch your very own private SMTP mail server, then you will require either a virtual private web hosting server or a dedicated web server that offers the level of access required to perform such an assignment. For routine mail hosting ends, though, you can utilize a simple shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely famous, since the web site hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by two different web servers, often owned by separate hosting providers.
Web Site Hosting - the most famous and regularly used hosting service at the moment. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose sort is determined by the OS the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files demand different web server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be shown appropriately on the Internet. This form of hosting may have disk storage and traffic quota limits, root access and central processing unit usage limitations.
Depending on the goals and on the functions, the client should pick the type of server that he needs for his project, and, of course, the webspace hosting supplier that's going to supply it. There are different kinds of servers, depending on the specs and the hosting services that they provide. These are:
Shared Hosting Server - a shared hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small and medium web portals, which do not need immense quantities of server space and bandwidth.
Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they work on the same principle as the shared web site hosting servers. Even so, there are much less customers sharing the same web server. Because of that, each of them will obtain a larger share of the web server's resources like RAM, data storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Perfect for hosting bulky sites that do not demand root privileges.
Virtual Servers - the virtual web hosting servers are ideal for medium sized web sites, which do demand root-level access to the web hosting server's config files. Normally, there are a number of VPS server hosting accounts located on the same machine. Yet, each of them is autonomous from the rest and runs its own OS.
Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated hosting server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees an enormous amount of resources. It also provides root-level access, which renders it an ideal solution for any type of online portal that requires a site hosting service.
The only question that remains is:
Which web site hosting supplier should I opt for?
As mentioned, there are not many companies offering warez web hosting services because of judicial troubles. Such hosting providers are being closed down practically every month. Because of that, if you would like to establish such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared hosting solution is the most popular kind of hosting service. Hence, each web hosting company offers it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as VPS web servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the small sized web hosting distributors do not have the means required for maintaining those services. For that reason it's always best to go with a larger hosting company that can furnish its clients with all the solutions that they need. You can easily ID such companies by the types of solutions that they are providing and by the manner in which they present them to the customers. For example, some hosting companies permit you to commence with a small sized web site hosting account and subsequently upgrade to a more advanced one, if you consider it obligatory to do so. This is extremely suitable, because you do not have to transfer websites between web hosting servers and there is no danger of suffering outages because of all the complications that may arise. Hosting providers such as SupremeServer offer all kinds of services and possess the needed server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not suffer any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting corporation is in fact all about.