Web Hosting
As its name signifies, hosting is a solution, which entails hosting online content. There are different varieties and kinds of web hosting, based on the goals and on the objectives. Nonetheless, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the Web. A web host is in fact a hosting server that is linked to the Web and has its own personal IP address, which allows people to access it via the World Wide Web. The hosting server's configuration and its limitations depend on the kind of hosting service it will be used for.
What are the various forms of hosting?
Depending on the usage, the hosting solution may be:
File Storage Hosting - this type of web hosting permits the users to accommodate their files on a particular server. With the average file storage hosting solution, the files that are hosted may only be accessed by the customer that's utilizing the service. This web hosting service normally refers to backups of personal computers , documents, private files and even other hosting servers. This service may also impose certain restrictions in terms of the data space and the root-level access. There may also be traffic quota limitations, but that is dependent on the actual web hosting provider.
Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is quite similar to the previous hosting service type. Yet, in contrast with the file web hosting service, the warez hosting service is used for spreading proprietary content without being given the green light by the copyright holder. In short - it refers to the unlawful dissemination of files and documents. There are a lot of methods for this to be fulfilled, but the 2 principal methods are - through plain HTTP downloading and through P2P connections. The first way involves either a particular web page, or, most typically, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download copyrighted materials free of cost. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent web servers, via which users swap files between each other. There are not many website hosting vendors that allow such form of web hosting on their web servers, mainly due to all the legal problems that it involves. Generally such web pages are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.
Email Web Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared web hosting and dedicated server hosting, depending on the client's desire. If you desire to have your very own private SMTP e-mail server, then you will need either a virtual server or a dedicated web hosting server that provides the access level needed to perform such a procedure. For normal email hosting purposes, however, you can avail of an average shared webspace hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely famous, since the website hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, often belonging to different hosting providers.
Website Hosting - the most famous and largely utilized hosting service these days. It's used for hosting website files, whose kind is determined by the OS the hosting server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files need concrete web server OSs, otherwise they won't be exhibited properly on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may impose storage space and traffic quota limits, root-level access and CPU usage restrictions.
Based on the purpose and on the functions, the client should select the kind of hosting server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the webspace hosting supplier that's going to provide it. There are different sorts of servers, depending on the configuration and the webspace hosting solutions that they provide. These are:
Shared Hosting Servers - a shared website hosting server offers a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and middle size sites, which do not require big amounts of web storage space and web traffic.
Semi-dedicated Servers - they function on the same principle as the shared web site hosting servers. Nonetheless, there are much less clients accommodated on the same server. For that reason, each of them will get a bigger share of the web server's resources like RAM, disk space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting big sites that do not need root access.
Virtual Private Servers - the Virtual Private Servers are perfect for medium scale online portals, which do need root access to the hosting server's config files. Generally, there are several VPS hosting server accounts placed on the same physical server. In spite of that, each of them is autonomous from the rest and runs its own OS.
Dedicated Servers - a completely dedicated machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a colossal amount of system resources. It also gives root access, which makes it the optimal platform for any kind of web portal that requires a hosting service.
The sole question that remains is:
Which hosting firm should I select?
As mentioned, there are just a few companies offering warez hosting services due to legal troubles. Such hosting providers are being closed down virtually every month. For that reason, if you wish to establish such a service, you should do it on your very own PC. The shared hosting service is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. Therefore, every website hosting company provides it. Not all of them, though, offer solutions such as private virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the smaller site hosting providers do not have the resources required for offering those services. For that reason it's always best to go with a larger hosting company that can furnish its customers with all the solutions that they need. You can quickly recognize such companies by the sorts of services that they are offering and by the manner in which they present them to the customers. For instance, some hosting companies permit you to start with a low-end web space hosting account and subsequently move to a more powerful one, if you consider it compulsory to do so. This is quite convenient, because you do not need to transfer web sites between web servers and there is no danger of facing service outages due to all the predicaments that may arise. Web hosts like 'Exclusive Hosting' provide all sorts of solutions and possess the adequate web server resources and staff to assure that their clients will not chance upon any troubles when changing services, which is what a top hosting company is actually all about.