What are web hosting sites? Web Hosting Made Easy

What are web hosting sites, what are web hosting service, what are web hosting companies or even what does a hosting company do?

All of these are technical questions one often wonders. You aren’t the only one. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this article since even in my relation circle, some people doesn’t understand what type of company I’m working for nor even its nature.

First off, you are right now on a web hosting site. So look around as it would give you a grasp of what it is about. But let’s dive into the true meaning of the web hosting industry.

 

What does hosting mean

Initially, Hosting or Web Hosting is a service provided to a third party meant to store its website while making it available to the world. A website is built with files and these files need to be stored on a server. Once, a server they can be made available to the world. A server is no different from a computer tailored to serve a type of content. In the present, case we are referring mainly to a web server type. Its purpose is simply to connect visitors to the websites files through a web browser.

A web hosting company’s mission is to host the server in a datacenter. A datacenter is a physical facility exclusively made to host servers. The datacenter is connected to the internet and an electrical network. Both are required to be of outstanding quality to sustain the massive flux of network and electricity usage.

 

So what are web hosting sites

A web hosting site is website selling web hosting services. There are many of such provider across  the world.  Once, you are ready to publish your website online or if you would like to develop your website directly using tools brought by hosting companies (1 Click Site Installer for example), you need a web hosting provider. It is one of the first provider to look for upon making a website.  Choosing a suitable partner for such venture is key to ensure a proper web hosting experience. The web hosting provider is responsible of your website uptime. It gives you access to premium expensive features and according to the provider would maximise the website performances. The latter is a key indicator for search engines (SEO) to give you traffic to your website.

The hosting provider would also provide you with a lot of commodities to build your website such as:

• 1 Click Software Installation for different type of pre made websites
• File Manager
• 24/7 Support & Monitoring
• Automated Backups
• Email Hosting &  Vanity Email (anything@yourdomain.com) For example if you are called John Smith from the US, and you purchase a hosting account + the domain name smith.us. You’d be able to get an email such as john@smith.com. Don’t you think, it would cost much. For instance on the minimal plan with us, it would cost you less than $15 a year for this email feature + all the web hosting features as well.

 

What are the technologies available to host a website or an application?

To host a website using a server you have several options at your disposal. It servers different needs for different clients. The technology backing up the different range of hosting are widely different and are as follows:

• Shared Web Hosting

  A shared hosting is a server hosting all the clients with a directory based isolation. and some security measures to protect the confidentiality of each customer. It is the ideal entry plan for a new website conception or even an end user based website. Some companies such as us expands the isolation with a resources allowance further to maximise the reliability of the service and harden the security of our clients.

• Linux VPS Hosting

  A Linux VPS hosting can be either Managed or Unmanaged. It is a dedicated server with generous specifications also called a node. It comes with a virtualisation layer which separates the clients from each other. The virtualisation layer is to “simulate” a physical server. The client receives the access as if it was a physical remote server with administrator rights (root in linux). On a Managed Service with us, the client will benefit from all the shared hosting convenience but with additional features such as:

  • Increased security & Privacy
  • Dedicated Environment & Resources
  • Better Performances

  On Unmanaged service, the user may configure the server as he sees fit. Indeed, there are more than one way to configure a server. It would depend on the nature of the content to host or the preference in technology. An Unmanaged service generally requires some level of expertise in server administration.

• Windows VPS Hosting

  A Windows VPS provides the same technologies as a Linux VPS while running Windows OS. It is generally application hosting oriented and can also be used as a Remote Desktop to make any Windows application available worldwide. Giving the resources overhead due to Windows nature, hosting a website on Linux is preferable. However, a field of expertise or technical contraint (ASP.net websites) will make Windows an optimal solution to host a website. It remains the Windows VPS are the ultimate solution to host an application.

• Dedicated Server

  A dedicated server is renting a physical machine accessed remotely. Just like the VPS it comes either Managed (preinstalled solution) or Unmanaged. It comes with a full and unrestricted access to the physical resources of the machine. The hosting company provides administration tool as well for a better remote management.