A definition of web space hosting

As its name implies, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and kinds of hosting, based on the aims and on the objectives. Nonetheless, they all involve hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a server that is linked to the World Wide Web and has its own personal IP address, which allows users to gain access to it through the Internet. The web hosting server's architecture and its system resources are determined by the kind of web hosting service it will be used for.

What are the various types of web hosting?

Depending on the goal, the professional hosting service may be:

File Storage Hosting - this type of hosting enables the customers to accommodate their files on a particular web hosting server. With the standard file storage web hosting solution, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the client that's availing of the service. This web hosting service mainly concerns backups of personal computers , documents, personal files and even other web hosting servers. This service may also include certain limits with regard to the server storage and the root privileges. There may also be traffic limits, but that depends on the particular service provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is resembling the previous hosting service form. Nevertheless, unlike the file storage hosting service, the warez hosting solution is utilized for circulating proprietary materials without the authorization of the licence proprietor. To put it briefly - it refers to the prohibited transmission of files and docs. There are a lot of methods for this to be attained, but the two chief approaches are - through simple HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a particular website, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download copyrighted documents free of charge. The second method involves a P2P connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, via which users swap files between each other. There are just a few hosting suppliers that permit such type of hosting on their web servers, mostly due to all the judicial entanglements that it involves. Typically such websites are hosted on personal dedicated servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Hosting - this solution is used with both shared hosting and dedicated hosting servers, depending on the user's intention. If you wish to set up your very own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a private virtual web hosting server or a dedicated hosting server that provides the level of access required to carry out such a procedure. For conventional electronic mail web hosting ends, however, you can set up a regular shared web space hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a solution that's very famous, because the web page hosting and the email hosting services are being served by two different web servers, often owned by different hosts.

Site Hosting - the most famous and regularly used hosting service as of now. It's used for hosting website files, whose type depends on the Operating System the hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different types of files require concrete server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be displayed accurately on the World Wide Web. This sort of hosting may impose web storage space and traffic limitations, server root access and central processing unit usage limits.

Based on the goals and on the objectives, the client should pick the sort of server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the web hosting corporation that's going to supply it. There are several types of web servers, depending on the configuration and the web space hosting services that they provide. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web space hosting server supplies a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small and medium scale web sites, which do not demand huge amounts of disk storage and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they work on the very same principle as the shared webspace hosting servers. Nonetheless, there are much fewer customers hosted on the same server. That is why, each of them will have a larger share of the web server's resources like RAM, web storage space, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting huge online portals that do not need root privileges.

VPS - the private virtual web servers are ideal for middle size online portals, which do require root-level access to the hosting server's configuration files. Usually, there are a number of private virtual web server hosting accounts placed on the same physical server. In spite of that, each of them is independent from the rest and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated hosting server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a considerable quantity of resources. It also gives full root access, which renders it an excellent solution for any kind of web page that necessitates a website hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which web site hosting vendor should I choose?

As already mentioned, there are not many web hosting providers providing warez hosting solutions due to judicial troubles. Such hosting providers are being shut down practically every month. Because of that, if you wish to offer such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared web space hosting solution is the most famous kind of web hosting service. Because of that, each and every web space hosting vendor provides it. Not all of them, though, offer solutions such as VPSs, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small scale web space hosting distributors do not have the means demanded for offering those solutions. That's why it's always best to go with a bigger host that can supply its customers with all the services that they request. You can quickly identify such web hosts by the kinds of services that they are providing and by the way that they introduce them to the customers. For example, some hosts permit you to begin with a small sized web space hosting account and subsequently upgrade to a bigger one, if you deem it mandatory to do so. This is quite convenient, since you do not need to transmit web pages between web servers and there is no danger of facing service outages due to all the problems that may show up. Web hosting companies like Duty Free Hosting offer all types of services and have the necessary hosting server resources and staff to assure that their clients will not run into any complications when changing services, which is what a top hosting vendor is in fact all about.