spineinteractive.com

run by 'Spinal Cord'

An explanation of web hosting

As its name implies, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting online content. There are different forms and kinds of web hosting, based on the aims and on the objectives. Yet, they all refer to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the Web. A host is in fact a hosting server that is connected to the Internet and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which allows people to gain access to it via the World Wide Web. The hosting server's configuration and its system resources depend on the kind of web hosting service it's going to be utilized for.

What are the different forms of web hosting?

Depending on the application, the hosting service may be:

File Hosting - this form of hosting permits the customers to host their files on a certain server. With the conventional file storage hosting solution, the files that are deposited may only be accessed by the person that's utilizing the service. This web hosting service traditionally is connected with backups of computers , docs, private files and even other web servers. This service may also involve given restrictions in relation to the data storage space and the root access. There may also be web traffic restrictions, but that depends on the particular service provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is resembling the previous hosting service form. In spite of that, unlike the file hosting solution, the warez hosting solution is utilized for transmitting proprietary work without being given the OK to do so by the copyright owner. In short - it is connected with the unlawful circulation of files and materials. There are numerous ways for this to be brought about, but the two essential methods are - through plain HTTP downloading and via P2P connections. The first way entails either a certain web page, or, most commonly, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download copyrighted content for free. The second way involves a P2P connection, using the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transmit files between each other. There aren't many hosting companies that allow that type of hosting on their web servers, chiefly owing to all the legal problems that it involves. Generally such websites are hosted on private dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Electronic Mail Web Hosting - this service is relevant with both shared webspace hosting and dedicated servers, based on the customer's wish. If you wish to launch your own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a VPS web hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the access level required to complete such an operation. For ordinary mail web hosting ends, however, you can create a simple shared web page hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely used, since the web page hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 different web servers, usually owned by different web hosting providers.

Site Hosting - the most popular and immensely utilized hosting service now. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose type depends on the OS the hosting server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files necessitate different hosting server Operating Systems, or else they won't be displayed accurately on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may involve disk storage space and web traffic quota limits, root-level access and central processing unit usage limitations.

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

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web site hosting server offers a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, reflects on the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small size and medium web pages, which do not demand immense amounts of data storage and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they function on the same principle as the shared hosting servers. Yet, there are much fewer customers hosted on the same server. Because of that, each of them will get a larger share of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, server storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting huge sites that do not need complete server root access.

Virtual Servers - the private virtual servers are perfect for medium size web portals, which do need root-level access to the web server's config files. Typically, there are a handful of virtual server accounts sharing the same server. However, each of them is autonomous from the rest and has its own OS.

Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated machine configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a considerable amount of system resources. It also includes full root-level access, which makes it a perfect solution for any kind of web page that needs a site hosting solution.

The sole question that's left is:

Which web site hosting vendor should I choose?

As already mentioned, there aren't many hosting providers providing warez hosting solutions due to legal problems. Such hosting companies are being closed down almost every month. That is why, if you want to provide such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared hosting solution is the most widely spread kind of web hosting service. Because of that, each hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as virtual private hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the small sized site hosting providers do not have the resources needed for maintaining those services. For that reason it's invariably best to opt for a larger host that can provide its clients with all the services that they need. You can quickly identify such hosting companies by the sorts of services that they are offering and by the way that they introduce them to the clientele. For example, certain companies permit you to commence with a small scale website hosting package and afterwards upgrade to a bigger one, if you find it mandatory to do so. This is extremely convenient, because you do not have to transfer web portals between hosting servers and there is no risk of facing outages because of all the complications that may show up. Web hosts like Spinal Cord are offering all types of services and have the needed hosting server resources and personnel to ensure that their clients will not face any predicaments when changing services, which is what a top hosting supplier is in fact all about.