Web Site Hosting
Web hosting service refers to a kind of internet hosting service that makes it possible for individuals as well as organizations to make their own website accessible through the World Wide Web. Web hosts are the companies that make available space on the server that they own to be used by the clients. They also provide internet connectivity, generally in a data center.
The scope of web hosting services is varied. The very basic is web page and small-scale file hosting. This allows the files to be uploaded through File transfer protocol or a web interface. The files are sent to the web with hardly any processing. A lot of internet service providers make this service available to the subscribers free of cost. Individuals can also procure their web hosting services from alternative service providers. There are basically two kinds of web site hosting. While the personal web hosting is cheap or even free, the business web hosting involves higher costs.
For personal web pages single page hosting is sufficient. A complex site on the other hand requires a larger package that makes available database support as well as application development platforms such as PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, ASP.NET and ColdFusion,. These make it possible for the customers to write scripts for applications such as forums as well as content management.
There are different types of web site hosting services that are provided to the customers.
Free web hosting: This is free and at times, advertisement sponsored web hosting. The scope is limited in comparison to paid hosting.
Shared hosting: It is one wherein one’s website is kept on the same server as others.
Reseller hosting: In this the client can become web hosts. The accounts may differ in size.
Virtual dedicated server: A server is divided and each user thinks that he/she is on their own server when they are actually sharing the server.
Dedicated web hosting: The user does not own the server but gets good control over it.
Managed web hosting: It is when the user is given his/ her own server but is not given control over it. They are, however permitted to control their data through FTP or any other remote management tools.
Colocation hosting service: This is like the dedicated hosting service. In this case the user is the owner of the colo server. The hosting company makes available the physical space required by the server. This is one of the most expensive types of hosting services.
Clustered hosting: In this there are many servers who are hosting the same content so as to provide better resource utilization.
The host also makes available control panel or interface to manage the web server and install scripts together with other services such as e-mail. Some hosts make available specialized services in certain services such as e-commerce. Web hosting is made available in the internet access plan. There are free as well as paid providers who offer these services. A customer would have to note the requirements of the applications to know what type of hosting would be suitable. To know about a web hosting company and its services, the internet provides an inexhaustible resource. One can find many web hosting forums and message boards that contain feedback on the kind of web hosting company that would fulfill his/her requirements
