A definition of hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting web content. There are different forms and types of web hosting, based on the purpose and on the functions. Still, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A host is in fact a server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its own personal IP address, which permits people to access it through the World Wide Web. The web server's architecture and its system resources are dependent on the kind of web hosting solution it will be utilized for.

What are the various types of hosting?

Based on the function, the web hosting service may be:

File Storage Web Hosting - this type of web hosting allows the users to store their files on a certain hosting server. With the traditional file hosting service, the files that are deposited may only be accessed by the user that's availing of the service. This hosting solution traditionally is associated with backups of personal computers , documents, personal files and even other servers. This solution may also include given restrictions in relation to the disk storage space and the root-level access. There may also be web traffic limits, but that depends on the particular web hosting service provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is resembling the previous web hosting service form. Yet, unlike the file web hosting service, the warez hosting service is utilized for transmitting licensed work without the sanction of the licence bearer. To put it briefly - it appertains to the criminal dissemination of files and docs. There are lots of ways for this to be realized, but the two main ways are - via simple Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via P2P connections. The first way entails either a particular website, or, most typically, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download copyrighted materials free of cost. The second method entails a peer-to-peer connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent web servers, via which people swap files between each other. There are not many hosting corporations that permit such form of hosting on their web hosting servers, mostly because of all the legal entanglements that it presupposes. Typically such web portals are hosted on private dedicated web servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Web Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared site hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the user's desire. If you wish to establish your own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a VPS or a dedicated hosting server that offers the access level needed to complete such an assignment. For typical mail web hosting purposes, however, you can open a conventional shared web hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely popular, because the web page hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, usually owned by different web hosting providers.

Web Page Hosting - the most widespread and extensively utilized hosting service now. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose sort depends on the Operating System the web server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files necessitate different server Operating Systems, or else they won't be exhibited properly on the World Wide Web. This kind of web hosting may have disk storage and bandwidth limitations, root-level access and CPU usage restrictions.

Based on the mission and on the objectives, the customer should select the type of web server that he requires for his project, and, of course, the website hosting supplier that's going to provide it. There are several types of web hosting servers, depending on the specs and the web space hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web server provides a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, is reflected on the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small and medium online portals, which do not require immense amounts of data storage and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they perform on the same principle as the shared web servers. However, there are much less clients hosted on the same server. Therefore, each of them will enjoy a bigger share of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, data space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting big web sites that do not need root access.

Virtual Servers - the private virtual hosting servers are perfect for medium scale websites, which do need root access to the server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are a number of VPS hosting server accounts placed on the same physical server. In spite of that, each of them is isolated from the others and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated physical server set up and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a large amount of resources. It also provides full root access, which renders it the optimal environment for any sort of web site that needs a site hosting solution.

The sole question that remains is:

Which webspace hosting corporation should I pick?

As mentioned, there are very few web hosting providers offering warez hosting solutions due to legal entanglements. Such web hosting companies are being closed down almost every month. For that reason, if you would like to offer such a service, you should do it on your own PC. The shared web space hosting solution is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. Therefore, each and every website hosting vendor offers it. Not all of them, however, offer solutions such as virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting providers do not have the means needed for offering those solutions. That is the reason why it's invariably best to go with a bigger web hosting company that can supply its customers with all the services that they request. You can quickly ID such hosting companies by the types of services that they are making available and by the way that they introduce them to the customers. For instance, certain hosting companies allow you to commence with a low-end web site hosting plan and subsequently move to a more advanced one, if you consider it necessary to do so. This is very convenient, since you do not have to move websites between web hosting servers and there is no danger of experiencing service outages due to all the problems that may show up. Companies like WebCenter Hosting are offering all types of services and possess the required server resources and personnel to guarantee that their clients will not stumble upon any predicaments when swapping services, which is what a top hosting firm is actually all about.