Web Hosting Tutorial
From HostPedia
Web hosting companies provide services for clients who wish to make their websites or web services accessible on the web. These companies provide their clients with space and internet connectivity on a web server they usually own. Then, people can upload there files to the web server and make their content accessible to everyone.
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Which Hosting service should I use?
There are many types of hosting services in the market; each of them is designed to answer a specific need. In order to find a suitable solution, you would have to decide what are your current and future needs as well as deciding on a pricing range you can afford. Get to know with the common hosting services available:
Free Web Hosting
Many Companies offer free space on their servers for people who wants to build a website with no costs. These services include Blog Hosting, Wiki Hosting, Forum Hosting and regular WebSite Hosting services. The companies who offer Website Hosting services give the user a free account with FTP access or an online file manager allowing the user to upload files to the web server. While most of the big companies allows users to host only html and image files, some smaller companies allows even PHP and ASP scripting languages to be used for building more advanced websites. Pros:
- It's free.
- Good for beginners who wish to learn the basics of html writing as well as to be first acquainted with a web host.
- Using free providers for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes.
Cons:
- No support for advanced features such as scripting languages, databases, domains and sub-domains and many others.
- Companies who do offer advanced services do not always last for a long period of times.
- Slow and unreliable servers, lake of support.
- Most Free hosting accounts comes with advertisements being attached to your website in order to finance their free service.
- Building a full scale website is a really hard work. Paying for a shared hosting account is relatively cheap. Paying for some peace and quite is allowed under the laws of most countries in the world.
Read the Free Web Hosting Tutorial to expand your knowledge about these free services and how to work with them.
Shared Web Hosting
One's Website is hosted on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. While users do not have access to other clients space, the server resources are shared equally between all the websites hosted on that machine.
Now days, shared hosting accounts are quite cheap, ranging from $1 to $15 a month. The recent trend among the big hosting companies is to offer ridiculously huge amounts of space on their servers and practically unlimited bandwidth usage, local companies still tend to offer more modest packages. When registering for a shared hosting package one should realize that the real limits on each package are the CPU and the RAM usage. It is impossible to use hundreds of Gigabytes without crossing the CPU limits set by the hosting company (read the terms & conditions carefully).
Another point one should look into is the number and the kind of websites which are hosted on the your server, doing that is possible only after registration by performing a Reverse IP Search. If your site is hosted with 1000's of other websites, it means that your server resources are being divided by too many websites. Also, if you share an IP address or a mail server with spam web sites (casinos, porno etc.) emails sent from that server will be sent directly to the spam folder. Some would say it has some affects on SEO scores but that is a bit hard to verify. Various companies offer a unique IP address with a shared hosting package, paying the two extra bucks might be worth it. See the Shared Web Hosting Tutorial to know more about shared packages and getting some useful tips before you make a purchase.
Reseller Web Hosting
Reseller hosting allows anyone to provide hosting services to others without actually starting a hosting business. It is done by purchasing a hosting package with the appropriate tools to resell space on a server using your own brand name. The certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to reseller account. In order to achieve that the reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company or resell shared hosting services.
The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and name servers.
Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated server owner configures/secures/updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his/her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased.
See the Reseller Web Hosting Tutorial to know more about reselling hosting services and becoming a hosting service provider.
Virtual Dedicated Server
A virtual private server (VPS, also referred to as "Virtual Dedicated Server" and VDS) is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each server can be independently rebooted. Using a virtual private server is a cheap alternative for dedicated server hosting and a stronger one than shared hosting account. There are various Virtualization Technologies which makes it all possible like VMWare, XEN and others.
Pros:
- Having almost full control over your server configuration. VPS accounts come with Root Access which allows you to make your own customized configuration and the liberty to install any software your heart desires.
- Allows hardware to run at a higher utilization rate – Better performance.
- Hosting an unlimited number of web sites through Apache’s Virtual Hosts.
- You can install or build other services on your server like a mail server, an FTP server, or any other type of server you want.
- VPS is more secure than a shared hosting account since all the system's resources are not shared with other accounts on your server. If another account on your server is hacked, hackers will only have access to that particular file system and would not harm the other accounts.
- A VPS is cheaper than a dedicated server since the companies host more than one account on a server.
Cons:
- More control over your server means exactly that, you will now be responsible for the constant maintenance of your servers. If you are inexperienced with administering a Server and you are unwilling to learn it, that might not be the best option for you.
- The main advantage of using a VPS is more control. But, server resources are still shared with other clients making the machine's performance weaker than a regular dedicated server.
Dedicated Server
A Dedicated Server (or a Managed Hosting Service), is a hosting service where the client leases an entire server without sharing it with anyone. The hosting company is responsible to provide the physical space for the server to be placed in its data center, as well as providing connectivity to the Internet. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.
Pros:
- More flexible than shared hosting, as the client have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc.
- Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service.
- The server is not shared by other clients, that way all of the server's resources are dedicated for one client, promising maximum performance for its current owner.
Cons:
- Dedicated servers are relatively expensive comparing to shared hosting solutions.
- Administering the server is usually the client's responsibility. It requires from the client to be familiar with the work involved with administration issues as well as keeping the server secure.
- When comparing with collocation hosting services the fact that the servers are the property of the hosting company might result with some limitations and lack of flexibly for changes to be made with the hardware and sometimes even the software installed.
Managed Hosting
Managed hosting can be thought of as having the space and freedom of a dedicated server, but with the advantages and services that are provided to shared-server packages. The user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it. However, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools, much like shared hosting. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.
Pros:
- A managed hosting service offers the support and expertise to maintain your web server, performing routine maintenance tasks such as software upgrades. This kind of service can be a viable alternative to hiring your own staff to look after your servers. This ultimately – saves you money and time.
Cons:
- Managed hosting service can be much more expensive than having a dedicated web server and managing it on your own. Despite that, most hosting companies will offer a certain level of support for their dedicated hosting packages.
Collocation Hosting
Much like a dedicated web host, the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. The difference is that the user owns the server. Some clients prefer to buy web servers on their own and configurate them on their own and then to place them on a remote data-center.
Pros:
- Unlike renting a dedicated web server, the client can be certain that the web server includes the components he or she paid for. The client can also be sure that he is not deceived and is actually using a shared account using a virtualization machine.
Cons:
- The hosting company may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the web server.
Clustered hosting
Having multiple servers with the same content for better resource utilization. For example, a visitor from a certain country can access a certain web site faster if the site is hosted on a server that is located physically closer to the visitor. Companies with visitors from around the world can use Clustered hosting services to offer better services for their clients overseas. This type of hosting can also be used on the same location offering high traffic server service which helps them to balance the load of the servers and again – offer better services for their clients.
Grid hosting
This form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple nodes.
Knowing all the various types of web hosting services available on the net, you probably know by now which service is more suitable for your needs. Now you can take the next step by reading the tutorial dedicated to the service of your choice. Links for these tutorials can be found on each section of this page or through the Web Hosting Tutorials page.