Introduction to Web Hosting
Web Hosting allows you to upload and store documents, files and web sites on to a web server. This service makes it possible for all these files to be available on the World Wide Web (WWW) and thus allow general viewing to all people surfing the Internet from anywhere.
The World Wide Web is thus the virtual forum where all such web sites are stored. These sites are hosted on special computers called web servers all across the globe through WWW and can be accessed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This web of servers consists of computer systems installed with Web-server software and connected to the Internet. You can pay for a 24/7 dedicated Internet connection to an in-house web server. The process of operating and maintaining such servers is called Web hosting.
There are several web hosting providers who offer people to host their sites for them. The web hosting clients only have to upload their web sites to a shared or dedicated web server where an ISP ensures a fast and secure connection to the Internet.
The companies providing web hosting are generally WPPs with one or more data-center facilities that are connected to the Internet. They vary widely with respect to service, quality and cost. While there are providers who work from a room in the basement of a house and a tier-1 (T1) line connected to the local ISP there are others with state-of-the-art hosting centers, These contain sophisticated redundant electrical power sources, dry pipe-fire suppression systems, experienced operations group and a 24/7 service with redundant fiber paths for high-speed Internet connections.
There exist many types of Web Hosting services catering to diverse range of customers.
- Shared Hosting - is the most basic and essential of all services where several web sites are put on a single powerful machine. This is best used for web sites with standard HTML codes and small number of visitors.
- Dedicated hosting - permits a webmaster to rent an entire server exclusively. The webmaster thus has full control over the server, including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. and is more flexible. This is best for web sites with complex common gateway interface (CGI) scripts and proprietary programs as well as a large number of visitors.
- Managed hosting – is the extension of a dedicated hosting service where the web host will manage your dedicated server for you.