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Web hosting, web host, web hosting plans
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Guide to Hosting
What is
Web Hosting?
Web hosting providers rent out web space on a
monthly or yearly basis just like office space. So, the definition of web
hosting is directly in its name - it is the process of hosting web data.
Essentially web hosting is the real estate industry of the web. When you have a
web site or store data online, it is stored on a server. A server is nothing
more than a computer: generally a high powered machine optimized for internet
usage. Some companies or individuals setup their own hosting operations from
scratch, however this can be a costly and time consuming process. This is why
people turn to web hosting providers to store web sites and data. A web hosting provider
is able to purely focus on proper technical maintenance of the server and its
connection to the internet. Instead of worrying about up-keeping complicated
server technology, clients can focus on their business and leave the technical
work to web hosting professionals.
General Types of Web
Hosting:
While there are many specific types of
web hosting, all hosting solutions fit into one of these three technical
categories:
Shared Hosting - Shared hosting is when you
rent a portion of a server - like renting an office room in an office building.
Usually shared hosting packages are sufficient for basic web sites. If
requested, your hosting provider will reserve your own domain name
(www.yourname.com) and provide you with email at your domain name yourname@yourname.com. Or if you
reserved your own domain name in advance, your web host will provide you with
the information necessary to "hook it up" to your web server. Pricing in the
category of shared web hosting can range from free to over $100/month dependent
on the service offerings.
Dedicated Hosting - This is when you rent an
entire server - like renting an entire office building. Once you have your
server you can put whatever you would like on it, your choice of applications,
your choice of data. You can store whatever you need on a dedicated server with
fewer restrictions than that of a shared hosting solution. Low end dedicated
servers start around $100/month, and go up from there.
Co-located Hosting - This is when you
actually buy the server, hardware, and software. Your server is then monitored
and connected to the web from a data center. This gives you the most control of
your server - not only do you choose what to put on your server, but what
technology will be hardwired to the physical machine itself. Frequent clients
of co-located services are web hosting providers, because they want 100% control
and ownership of their servers. Co-located services are for companies or
individuals in need of mission-critical hosting operations. Co-located web
hosting prices are not usually based on specific pricing plans as the prices
vary greatly on each individual client's needs.
Client-Specific
Hosting:
Listed below are common client goals,
and the type(s) of hosting solutions that best match those goals:
Choosing an
OS:
For most basic shared hosting; the
operating system should not make a big difference. UNIX and Linux are stable and
more affordable than Windows. Microsoft FrontPage is supported on the Windows
OS, UNIX, and Linux.
Also, here are the official definitions of the
different operating systems:
Operating System -
Windows NT - Windows 2000
- UNIX - Linux
What to Expect From
a Good Web Host:
Keep in mind budget web hosts cannot
always provide all of this, but at minimum all web hosting providers should
supply some kind of money-back guarantee and responsive support. Even pure email
support can sometimes be quick and responsive.
| 24 Hour Support (preferably
telephone) |
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| Money-Back Guarantee (at
least a 14 day minimum) |
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| 99.9% Uptime
Guarantee |
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| Server
backups |
Reliable web hosts will always have backups of your data in
case they or you lose or delete data. |
| High Levels of
Bandwidth |
Click here for Webopedia's
definition of bandwidth. |
| Backup Power
Supplies |
Also referred to as a UPS, or uninterruptible
power source. |
| A T3 Connection or better to
a primary internet backbone |
- What is a T3?
-
What is an Internet
bckbone? |
| Redundancy |
Redundancy is simply more than one
connection to the internet in case one fails. |
Getting a
Domain Name
(www.yourname.com):
A domain is simply the web address you
type into your browser. For instance you would type www.google.com in your browser to go to
Google's web site. The most common extensions are ".com - .net - .org.",
however there are many more. Today, domain names are easy and affordable to
reserve. The average price for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $30. Domain
names are officially managed by the worldwide organization ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers). When you purchase a domain name you purchase it through a
registrar that has been accredited by ICANN. A list of these companies are
available at their web site www.icann.com.
Many web hosts will reserve your name for you, but the advantage to reserving
your domain through a pure domain registrar is in the versatility of being able
to switch hosting providers, and most likely get a better price.
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