An interpretation of webspace hosting
As its name hints, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and kinds of web hosting, based on the goals and on the functions. Still, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A host is in fact a hosting server that is linked to the Internet and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which permits people to get access to it through the Web. The hosting server's architecture and its resources are subject to the type of web hosting service it will be used for.
What are the various forms of hosting?
Depending on the goal, the web hosting service may be:
File Web Hosting - this type of hosting allows the customers to stash their files on a specific web server. With the normal file storage web hosting service, the files that are hosted may only be accessed by the person that's using the service. This web hosting service normally is associated with backups of PCs , docs, personal files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also have given restrictions when it comes to the data storage and the root access. There may also be bandwidth quota limits, but that depends on the given web hosting service provider.
Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is comparable with the previous hosting service form. Nevertheless, unlike the file storage hosting service, the warez hosting solution is utilized for distributing proprietary materials without being okayed by the licence owner. To cut a long story short - it involves the unlawful circulation of files and docs. There are numerous ways for this to be performed, but the two essential approaches are - via plain HTTP downloading and via P2P connections. The first one involves either some web site, or, most typically, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download patented docs for free. The second method entails a P2P connection, using the so-called Torrent web servers, via which people swap files between each other. There are not many web page hosting companies that allow that form of web hosting on their web servers, mainly because of all the legal problems that it entails. Generally such sites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
E-mail Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared website hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the customer's desire. If you wish to set up your very own personal SMTP server, then you will require either a private virtual web server or a dedicated server that offers the access level required to carry out such an operation. For normal e-mail hosting purposes, however, you can utilize a normal shared hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely used, since the site hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, often owned by different web hosting providers.
Website Hosting - the most widespread and frequently utilized hosting service now. It's used for hosting site files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the web server is making use of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files demand concrete web server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited appropriately on the World Wide Web. This sort of web hosting may impose data storage and traffic limitations, root-level access and central processing unit usage limits.
Depending on the goals and on the usage, the client should select the type of server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the site hosting distributor that's going to supply it. There are several kinds of web hosting servers, based on the specifications and the webspace hosting solutions that they provide. These are:
Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web site hosting server includes a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, reflects on the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and middle size web portals, which do not need immense quotas of disk storage space and bandwidth.
Semi-Dedicated - they perform on the very same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. Even so, there are much less clients sharing the same hosting server. For that reason, each of them will get a greater share of the web server's resources like RAM, disk storage, web traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting heavy websites that do not require complete root-level access.
Virtual Servers - the VPS web hosting servers are excellent for medium size web sites, which do need root access to the server's config files. Typically, there are several virtual server web hosting accounts placed on the same machine. Even so, each of them is independent from the rest and has its own OS.
Dedicated Servers - a fully dedicated hosting server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a considerable quantity of resources. It also offers complete server root access, which makes it the optimal environment for any sort of online portal that necessitates a web site hosting solution.
The only question that remains is:
Which webspace hosting company should I pick?
As stated above, there are very few web hosts providing warez hosting services because of legal entanglements. Such hosts are being closed down practically every month. Because of that, if you desire to start such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared web page hosting solution is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. Therefore, each web hosting company provides it. Not all of them, however, offer solutions such as virtual hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting corporations do not have the means required for offering those solutions. Because of that it's always best to pick a larger web host that can supply its clients with all the services that they require. You can easily ID such hosting companies by the kinds of solutions that they are supplying and by the manner in which they introduce them to the clients. For example, certain web hosting companies allow you to begin with a small sized site hosting package and afterwards upgrade to a more powerful one, if you find it obligatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not have to migrate web portals between hosting servers and there is no danger of experiencing network downtime due to all the predicaments that may appear. Web hosting companies like Net For Africa are offering all kinds of solutions and possess the adequate server resources and personnel to assure that their clients will not face any complications when swapping services, which is what a top hosting provider is actually all about.