An explanation of web hosting

The most primary and regularly used sort of web hosting is the shared web hosting solution. It constitutes a means to host your web page without having to know much about programming and administering a web server. In addition, it's also the most economical form of web page hosting and it's very affordable for everyone. Nevertheless, what is shared web site hosting?

What is shared web hosting?

As the name hints, the shared web site hosting solution is a type of service where a lot of clients share the resources of the same server. This implies that all server components such as CPU, hard disk drives, RAM, NICs etc. are distributed among the users whose accounts are on that very same hosting server. This is typically rendered achievable by creating different accounts for the separate users and fixing given restrictions and usage quotas for each of them. Those limitations are allocated in order to prevent the clients from meddling with each other's accounts and, of course, to hinder the server from overloading. Typically, shared web site hosting customers do not have complete root access to the hosting server's configuration files, which principally signifies that they cannot access anything else on the web hosting server but their own personal shared web hosting account. The web page hosting resources that each account may use are set by the web hosting vendor that owns the server and by the respective hosting package. That leads up to the second important question:

How are the shared web hosting servers split among the clients?

Hosting firms that distribute shared web space hosting solutions commonly have various site hosting plans. Those plans offer diverse quotas of web space hosting resources and specs, which actually define the limits that a site hosting package will include. The client may choose between the separate web hosting plans and sign up for the one that he believes will befit him best. The web site hosting package will then define what restrictions the user's account will involve, once opened. The prices and the specifications of the webspace hosting packages are chosen by the particular web hosting provider. Depending on the policy of the distributor, the shared hosting solution can be divided into 2 types - the free hosting service and the normal shared solution, most recently very popular among "cPanel hosting" corporations as a cloud web hosting one. It's not possible to state, which one is better, since they are very different from each other and they actually are determined by the business strategy of the specific distributor and, of course, the needs of the specific client.

What is the contrast between the free and the popular shared webspace hosting solution?

Of course, the main difference between the free and the paid solution is in the amount of features that they provide. Free web space hosting vendors are not able to maintain a large number of servers, therefore, they plainly host more users on one single web server by lowering the amount of system resources provided by the accounts. This will be efficient only if the web hosting servers are monitored and tackled properly, since the enormous amount of accounts may make the hosting server crash time and time again. Most of the free hosting providers, however, neglect the quality of the service and as a result, it's very difficult to find a free webspace hosting solution that's actually worth the effort. The top free hosting corporations usually offer free technical support even to the free webspace hosting customers, because they want their websites to get bigger so that they eventually migrate to a paid web hosting package, which offers more hosting resources. One such company, for instance, is FreeHostia.com, which is among the largest and eldest free web hosting suppliers worldwide.

On the other hand, established shared web hosting suppliers such as Net For Africa, for instance, are able to maintain lots of servers and hence, they may afford to offer much more powerful web hosting packages. Of course, that reflects on the pricing of the web space hosting plans. Paying a higher fee for a web space hosting account, though, does not necessarily signify that this service has a better quality. The most optimal services are the balanced ones, which involve a price that corresponds to the actual service which you're receiving. The best web site hosting providers that have been around for quite some time are exhibiting their price tags and package specs in an objective manner, so that the client may be aware of what indeed he is getting. Furthermore, some of them give a free extra with the site hosting plan, like the 1-click applications installer, accompanied by hundreds of fee-free design skins that are offered by 'Net For Africa'. Such web space hosting suppliers do look after their good name and that is the reason why if you choose them, you can rest certain that you won't get deceived into paying for a package that you cannot actually avail of.

What should I anticipate from a shared web space hosting solution?

The shared website hosting solution is best for individuals who desire to host an average web portal, which is going to use a small or medium amount of traffic each month. You cannot expect, though, that a shared web page hosting account will last you a lifetime, because as your business grows, your site will become more and more demanding. So, you will have to eventually move to a more feature-rich site hosting service like a semi-dedicated server, a VPS (aka a private virtual web hosting server, or VPS), or why not a dedicated server. So, when selecting a web hosting provider, you should also reflect about how they can be of service to you, or else you might end up transferring your domain name manually to a separate vendor, which can create website complications and even continuous downtime for your web page. Therefore, going with a site hosting provider such as 'Net For Africa', which can supply you with the required domain name and hosting services as you grow bigger, is crucial and will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.