Web Hosting Services

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.

More simply put — The scope of hosting services varies widely. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol File Transfer (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web “as is” or with little processing. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal website hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business website hosting often has a higher expense.

Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, ColdFusion, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is highly recommended.

The host also may provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts, as well as other services like email. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company.

Dedicated Servers are one option you can consider when choosing a website hosting package. But, what exactly are dedicated servers? Simply put, when you opt for a dedicated server, you are leasing the entire server; you do not share this hosting with anyone else. This option may be of interest to organizations that have some knowledge of web hosting and would like to exercise a bit more control over their hosting services. What other options are available for your consideration?

Virtual/Shared Servers are another option for you to consider when looking for a hosting service provider. What are shared servers? When you choose to store your website on a shared server, you are sharing a server with other websites. On this shared server, each website has a separate place, it is completely safe. Unlike dedicated servers, this option is best suited for those of us who do not know much about hosting and prefer the provider to take care of things for you.

Reseller Hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host’s services wholesale and then sells them to customers for a profit. A certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to the reseller account. The reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company, or resell shared hosting services. In the latter case, the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from the web hosting company.