A description of website hosting

As its name hints, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting web content. There are different varieties and kinds of hosting, depending on the goals and on the usage. Even so, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a hosting server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which permits people to have access to it via the World Wide Web. The hosting server's architecture and its limitations are determined by the sort of web hosting service it will be used for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Depending on the purpose, the professional web hosting service may be:

File Storage Web Hosting - this form of hosting permits the customers to accommodate their files on a specific hosting server. With the normal file hosting solution, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the individual that's utilizing the service. This hosting solution traditionally is connected with backups of personal computers , docs, private files and even other web servers. This service may also contain certain limitations in terms of the server storage and the root-level access. There may also be traffic limitations, but that depends on the actual provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is very similar to the previous hosting service type. Yet, unlike the file storage hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is utilized for circulating patented materials without being given the green light by the licence owner. To put it briefly - it entails the prohibited transmission of files and materials. There are multiple methods for this to be carried out, but the two chief ways are - through simple HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first approach entails either a specific website, or, most often, simply a directory on a server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download copyrighted materials free of cost. The second way entails a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, via which people transmit files between each other. There aren't many webspace hosting firms that permit that form of hosting on their servers, mostly due to all the legal entanglements that it presupposes. Generally such web sites are hosted on private dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared website hosting and dedicated servers, based on the user's intention. If you want to have your very own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will need either a private virtual server or a dedicated web server that provides the access level required to carry out such an operation. For traditional mail web hosting ends, though, you can avail of an average shared web site hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's very popular, because the web site hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, often belonging to separate hosts.

Web Site Hosting - the most popular and vastly utilized hosting service nowadays. It's used for hosting site files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the hosting server is using - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files demand concrete web server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be shown properly on the World Wide Web. This kind of hosting may have disk storage space and bandwidth limitations, server root access and CPU usage restrictions.

Depending on the purpose and on the functions, the customer should select the kind of server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the web space hosting distributor that's going to provide it. There are different types of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the web site hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web page hosting server supplies a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small and medium scale websites, which do not need large quotas of server storage and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated - they operate on the same principle as the shared hosting servers. Yet, there are much less users sharing the same server. Therefore, each of them will get a larger quota of the server's resources like RAM, disk storage space, web traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting popular websites that do not demand server root access.

Virtual Private Server - the virtual private web servers are ideal for medium web sites, which do demand root-level access to the server's configuration files. Normally, there are a few VPS web hosting server accounts placed on the same machine. However, each of them is insulated from the rest and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server - a completely dedicated server configured and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a vast amount of system resources. It also gives server root access, which renders it an excellent platform for any type of site that demands a site hosting solution.

The only question that's left is:

Which web hosting company should I select?

As mentioned above, there are very few companies offering warez hosting services due to legal predicaments. Such companies are being closed down virtually every month. Therefore, if you want to create such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared hosting solution is the most widely spread type of web hosting service. That is why, every site hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, though, provide services such as private virtual web servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the smaller web space hosting firms do not have the resources needed for maintaining those services. That's why it's invariably best to go with a larger hosting company that can supply its customers with all the services that they want. You can easily recognize such companies by the kinds of services that they are providing and by the way that they present them to the customers. For instance, some web hosting companies permit you to kick off with a low-end web site hosting account and subsequently move to a bigger one, if you deem it compulsory to do so. This is extremely convenient, since you do not have to transmit web sites between web servers and there is no chance of facing outages because of all the predicaments that may crop up. Hosting providers like Castle Host provide all types of solutions and possess the adequate web server resources and personnel to guarantee that their clients will not face any predicaments when swapping services, which is what a top hosting distributor is in fact all about.