A definition of web site hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and types of web hosting, depending on the mission and on the usage. Nevertheless, they all entail hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a web server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its own personal IP address, which enables users to access it via the World Wide Web. The server's architecture and its system resources are determined by the type of web hosting service it's going to be used for.

What are the different forms of web hosting?

Based on the mission, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Storage Hosting - this type of web hosting permits the users to keep their files on a specific web server. With the typical file storage hosting solution, the files that are hosted may only be accessed by the customer that's using the service. This web hosting service generally pertains to backups of PCs , documents, personal files and even other web servers. This service may also impose certain limitations with regard to the data storage and the root access. There may also be traffic quota limitations, but that depends on the particular host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is comparable with the previous web hosting service type. Nevertheless, in contrast with the file hosting service, the warez web hosting service is utilized for transmitting proprietary content without being given the OK to do so by the patent holder. In brief - it appertains to the unlawful transmission of files and documents. There are lots of ways for this to be completed, but the 2 principal ways are - through simple HTTP downloading and via P2P connections. The first approach involves either a certain website, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download copyrighted docs free of charge. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent web servers, via which users share files between each other. There are not many web hosting vendors that permit that type of hosting on their servers, mainly due to all the judicial entanglements that it entails. Usually such websites are hosted on private dedicated web servers that are registered by third-party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the client's intention. If you want to build your very own personal SMTP server, then you will require either a Virtual Private Server or a dedicated server that offers the level of access required to complete such a procedure. For regular email web hosting ends, however, you can open a plain shared hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely famous, because the web page hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, usually belonging to separate web hosts.

Site Hosting - the most widely spread and vastly used hosting service at the moment. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose sort is determined by the Operating System the server is running - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require specific web hosting server OSs, or else they won't be displayed correctly on the Web. This kind of hosting may involve server space and web traffic restrictions, root access and CPU usage limitations.

Depending on the aims and on the usage, the user should select the kind of server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the site hosting distributor that's going to supply it. There are different types of servers, depending on the specs and the hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared website hosting server includes a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and medium sites, which do not require enormous quantities of storage space and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they are based on the same principle as the shared web servers. Still, there are much less users accommodated on the same web server. For that reason, each of them will obtain a larger quota of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, web storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting big sites that do not demand full root privileges.

VPS - the virtual private web servers are excellent for medium sized web portals, which do demand root access to the web hosting server's configuration files. Commonly, there are several private virtual web hosting server accounts sharing the same physical machine. However, each of them is insulated from the rest and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated server set up and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a vast quantity of system resources. It also provides complete root access, which makes it an excellent solution for any type of website that demands a website hosting solution.

The sole question that's left is:

Which web space hosting firm should I pick?

As mentioned, there aren't many companies providing warez web hosting solutions because of legal problems. Such web hosting providers are being closed down practically every month. That is why, if you wish to establish such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared webspace hosting solution is the most famous type of hosting service. Because of that, each and every website hosting corporation provides it. Not all of them, however, provide services such as private virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the small sized site hosting providers do not have the means demanded for maintaining those solutions. For that reason it's always best to select a bigger web host that can supply its clients with all the services that they need. You can effortlessly recognize such hosting companies by the types of services that they are supplying and by the manner in which they introduce them to the clients. For example, some web hosting providers permit you to start with a low-end web hosting account and then upgrade to a more advanced one, if you deem it compulsory to do so. This is quite convenient, since you do not have to migrate sites between hosting servers and there is no risk of experiencing network downtime due to all the predicaments that may occur. Companies such as Exclusive Hosting offer all kinds of solutions and possess the adequate web server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not encounter any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting corporation is in fact all about.