A description of web site hosting
As its name hints, web hosting is a service, which entails hosting online content. There are different forms and types of hosting, based on the purpose and on the objectives. However, they all pertain to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the Web. A web host is in fact a web server that is linked to the Internet and has its own Internet Protocol address, which enables users to have access to it via the Internet. The server's configuration and its resources are determined by the kind of hosting solution it's going to be utilized for.
What are the various types of hosting?
Depending on the purpose, the professional web hosting solution may be:
File Hosting - this type of hosting permits the customers to accommodate their files on a certain web server. With the routine file storage web hosting solution, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the user that's utilizing the service. This hosting solution traditionally appertains to backups of computers , docs, personal files and even other web hosting servers. This service may also contain certain restrictions in terms of the disk storage and the root access. There may also be web traffic quota limits, but that depends on the given hosting provider.
Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is comparable with the previous web hosting service type. However, unlike the file web hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for disseminating copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder. In short - it is related to the forbidden dissemination of files and materials. There are many methods for this to be carried out, but the two principal methods are - through simple HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first way entails either some web site, or, most typically, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download proprietary docs free of cost. The second method entails a P2P connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transmit files between each other. There are not many web hosting corporations that allow that form of web hosting on their web servers, mainly owing to all the judicial complications that it involves. Usually such web sites are hosted on personal dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by third-party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
E-mail Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared site hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, based on the client's wish. If you would like to create your very own private SMTP email server, then you will require either a virtual hosting server or a dedicated web server that provides the access level required to accomplish such an assignment. For customary e-mail web hosting purposes, however, you can utilize a regular shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's widely used, because the site hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two different servers, often owned by separate web hosts.
Web Site Hosting - the most popular and frequently utilized hosting service today. It's used for hosting site files, whose kind is determined by the Operating System the web server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different sorts of files demand concrete hosting server OSs, otherwise they won't be exhibited accurately on the Web. This type of hosting may involve web storage and web traffic limitations, root-level access and central processing unit usage restrictions.
Based on the mission and on the objectives, the customer should choose the kind of web server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the site hosting provider that's going to supply it. There are several types of web servers, based on the configuration and the hosting services that they offer. These are:
Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared site hosting server provides a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small scale and middle size sites, which do not need enormous quantities of web storage space and bandwidth.
Semi-Dedicated - they are based on the very same principle as the shared web hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much fewer customers sharing the same web server. That is why, each of them will get a greater quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, disk storage, web traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting enormous online portals that do not require root privileges.
Virtual Servers - the private virtual web servers are excellent for middle size websites, which do demand root access to the server's configuration files. Typically, there are a handful of private virtual server web hosting accounts located on the same physical server. Nevertheless, each of them is isolated from the others and runs its own Operating System.
Dedicated Server Hosting - a completely dedicated physical server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a colossal amount of resources. It also gives root-level access, which makes it the optimal solution for any type of online portal that requires a web hosting service.
The sole question that remains is:
Which web space hosting firm should I pick?
As already stated, there are very few hosting providers providing warez hosting solutions due to judicial problems. Such hosting providers are being shut down almost every month. Therefore, if you desire to set up such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared hosting service is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. Therefore, each web hosting provider provides it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as VPS web servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small scale web space hosting vendors do not have the resources required for maintaining those services. That's why it's invariably best to settle on a larger web host that can provide its customers with all the solutions that they need. You can quickly identify such web hosts by the sorts of solutions that they are making available and by the way that they present them to the clientele. For instance, some providers permit you to start with a smaller web space hosting package and afterwards move to a more advanced one, if you consider it compulsory to do so. This is quite convenient, since you do not have to transmit web sites between web hosting servers and there is no chance of suffering downtime due to all the complications that may appear. Providers such as MTBN.NET offer all kinds of services and possess the necessary server resources and staff to ensure that their clients will not chance upon any hassles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting firm is actually all about.