A definition of web hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a solution, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and types of hosting, depending on the mission and on the functions. Yet, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the Web. A host is actually a hosting server that is connected to the Web and has its own IP address, which permits people to access it through the Web. The server's architecture and its resources are subject to the type of hosting service it will be utilized for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Based on the function, the hosting service may be:

File Hosting - this type of web hosting permits the users to stash their files on a certain web server. With the routine file storage web hosting solution, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the client that's availing of the service. This web hosting service typically concerns backups of personal computers , documents, personal files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also contain certain restrictions with regard to the web storage and the root access. There may also be bandwidth restrictions, but that is dependent on the given web host.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Yet, in contrast with the file storage web hosting solution, the warez hosting solution is used for disseminating licensed materials without the permission of the licence possessor. To put it briefly - it is associated with the prohibited transmission of files and docs. There are a lot of ways for this to be realized, but the two principal ways are - via simple Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a given site, or, most often, just a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download copyrighted files free of charge. The second method entails a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent web servers, through which users swap files between each other. There are very few web hosting corporations that permit that type of hosting on their web servers, mainly due to all the legal entanglements that it presupposes. Commonly such sites are hosted on personal dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Web Hosting - this service is utilized with both shared webspace hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the customer's intention. If you want to build your very own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a Virtual Private Server or a dedicated web server that offers the level of access required to carry out such a task. For standard email web hosting purposes, however, you can set up a regular shared website hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a solution that's very famous, because the web hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate servers, often owned by different providers.

Site Hosting - the most famous and vastly used hosting service as of now. It's utilized for hosting web site files, whose kind is determined by the OS the web server is utilizing - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files need concrete web server Operating Systems, or else they won't be exhibited properly on the Internet. This sort of web hosting may have data storage space and web traffic restrictions, root-level access and central processing unit usage limits.

Based on the goals and on the functions, the user should pick the kind of web hosting server that he requires for his work, and, of course, the webspace hosting firm that's going to provide it. There are different kinds of web servers, based on the specs and the web space hosting solutions that they provide. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared webspace hosting server supplies a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small scale and medium size web pages, which do not need immense quotas of disk storage and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they function on the same principle as the shared site hosting servers. Yet, there are much less users accommodated on the same web server. Because of that, each of them will enjoy a bigger quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, server space, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting popular online portals that do not need full server root access.

Virtual Private Server - the virtual servers are ideal for medium web sites, which do need root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Commonly, there are a handful of virtual hosting server accounts situated on the same server. Still, each of them is isolated from the others and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated machine configured and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a considerable amount of resources. It also includes full root access, which makes it an excellent environment for any type of web page that demands a webspace hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which website hosting distributor should I choose?

As already mentioned, there aren't many hosts offering warez hosting services due to judicial entanglements. Such hosting companies are being closed down virtually every month. Because of that, if you would like to establish such a service, you should do it on your very own PC. The shared web site hosting solution is the most popular kind of web hosting service. For that reason, every web hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as private virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the small sized webspace hosting companies do not have the means required for offering those services. Because of that it's invariably best to opt for a bigger host that can provide its customers with all the solutions that they request. You can quickly recognize such web hosting companies by the kinds of solutions that they are offering and by the manner in which they present them to the clients. For example, some web hosting providers permit you to start with a low-end site hosting account and afterwards upgrade to a bigger one, if you deem it mandatory to do so. This is quite convenient, since you do not need to transmit websites between servers and there is no possibility of facing service outages because of all the problems that may arise. Web hosting providers like Server Hosting are offering all sorts of solutions and possess the required web server resources and staff to guarantee that their customers will not encounter any problems when changing services, which is what a top hosting company is in fact all about.