Articles on Hosting | Topics: hosting, web, host
by Endora E. York
What is web hosting? Why should you be a web host? What do you need to be a web host? What different types of web hosting are there? All of these questions can overwhelm the erstwhile beginner. Some will stumble over these terms, and others will flat-out give up. However, there is a way to make sense of all of this supposed mumbo-jumbo, and that's what this article is for. After reading through it, you may not know everything, but you'll know enough to get started.
First things first – what is web hosting? Web hosting is quite simply just a place where various customers can store files that will be shared on the Internet. To be specific, there is a server (computer), which is in a secure data center, which will host the files you store and present them to visitors of your web page. As you can imagine, having your own webs site, you're going to need some form of web hosting.
What are some of the important features that have to do with web hosting? Every web hosting company is going to offer different features, with different ranges in each one. There are some features that almost everyone looks for above everyone else, and here they are: A large amount of disk space. This is first and foremost in any potential customer's mind. The reason for that is that the more space you have, the more people who can visit your site, and the more files they can see. Once you run out of room, your site is toast. In a similar vein there is bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred through your website, be it text, files, music or video. You're going to want at the very least fifty gigabytes per month. Some hosts offer you unlimited bandwidth – be careful with those, and read the fine print. Other things are too in-depth to go over in detail, but they are: databases, Front Page Extensions, perl/php and personal CGI-BIN, a control panel, and POP3 email. Most web hosting accounts include a massive amount of POP3 email, which allows you to read any email directed to your domain name.
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There are several different types of web hosting that you have to know about before you choose one. The best looking option isn't always the one you want, and that can really mess up beginners. Most beginners will look right away for the cheapest web hosting that they can get, and who can blame them? Cheap web hosting is perfect for those that have smaller web sites that aren't going to get a huge amount of visitors. These usually cost between $5.00 and $10.00 a month. The next type of web hosting is known as shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is a hosted account that is located on a server with a bunch of other, different accounts. Most web hosting companies are setup in this manner. Once you become more advanced, you may delve into windows web hosting. This allows some of the software that is Windows based to run. UNIX web hosting is used to run a variety of different types of software, other than the Windows software. Ecommerce web hosting is almost self-explanatory. It allows customers to sell products and services on their web page, and usually includes a merchant account and a free shopping cart.
Once you become more serious, you'll want to learn about things like dedicated servers. A dedicated server is incredibly powerful, but it has the additional benefit of no one else using that particular computer to host their website, which means no one else can screw up your website. Unfortunately, dedicated servers are very expensive. Managed web hosting is an expansion of dedicated hosting. The web host will manage your server for you, and sometimes they'll do it with no extra charge. However, some other companies charge a huge amount for this, so you have to read the fine print. Co-location is when you rent a secure space with good connectivity while maintaining your own server. You have your own equipment and only use the web host for the connection, bandwidth and security. Reseller web hosting is popular among those interested in starting up their own web hosting company with only a fraction of the cost. Lastly there is cold fusion web hosting, which is required for a variety of applications like the Macromedia Dynamic web server application.
Whatever type of web hosting service you choose, always be sure to read the fine print. You would not sign a contract for your house if you didn't know exactly what it meant, and it should be the same with web hosting.
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