Understanding the Basics of Website Hosting
This first paragraph will explain briefly what ‘website hosting' actually is… For a Website to be seen across the world it needs to be ‘hosted' by a ‘provider'. These providers basically have several ‘web servers'; which are basically really big and complex computer hubs - from here they connect everything on the web servers to the internet so that the information can be seen around the world.
There are many types of ‘hosting providers' from personal to multi national business models, but for personal and small business there are two main options …
A Free web hosting service, this is free, advertisement-supported (sometimes) web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.
The other is Shared Hosting … Which is both the most popular and the most confusing... is a type of hosting where many web sites are hosted on same physical server. It is the cheapest and easiest way to get a web site up and running. Shared web hosting is perfect for web blogs, personal web pages, small forums, small business and e-commerce sites. Shared web hosting is ideal for establishing both simple websites up to medium sized complex websites.
Shared hosting can be explained using an example of a leased space in a office building. A specific part the building is yours, where you can place your own name or company name on the door. Building manager will provide you security, maintenance, and facilities management.
Shared hosting is also alike. You leased or purchased a hosting plan from a shared hosting provider. He gives you disk space, bandwidth, and all the other essentials from a specific server at a certain cost. The features of that server are also shared with others.
The shared web hosting provider is responsible for the security, maintenance of the server, network uptime and all the other important things. More than one websites are hosted on one server having different and unique domain names. This is called "shared" hosting because your home page has its own domain name. Shared hosting can also be called ‘virtual hosting'.
So let's just recap … Shared hosting is when a web host divides up a server so that it can host multiple websites in virtual directories. This is the most common type of hosting available on the internet today. For most sites, a quality shared hosting setup will get the job done.
Most shared hosting plans will suffice for 80% of business and 99% of personal use, but beware of Hosting Providers as they will describe complex offers which may open a can of worms surrounding restrictions and limits. Most web hosts have limits to encourage you to upgrade to their more expensive plans. Don't forget that should you need more of ‘whatever they are offering' you can upgrade at a later stage; it is a tad more difficult to downgrade.
I hope this has explained the basics. Should you need either hosting, or hosting for multiple websites, you can achieve this for $7.95 per month. For more information please visit my website: http://www.GlobalTop5.com/Web-Hosting.html
Mr. A. Bolton
Senior Internet Advisor / Analyst
Multiple Website Hosting
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
