Finding the Best Hosting Service for your Websites
When you open your Internet browser, how does it "know" how to go and fetch the site whose web address you enter? When you direct your browser to a certain site, your computer accesses a "server" - a computer whose purpose is to "serve up" web sites. Web hosts generally have fast Internet connections, and they may actually have many servers hosting thousands of web sites. If you want your website to be available to Internet surfers, you can rent space on one or more servers. This gives people on the Internet access to your website.
Different servers have different types of server software. Common server software types are Windows 2000 Server, Linux, and Unix. The type of server software generally only makes a significant difference to you, the customer, if you have a complex website with features like databases and dynamic pages.
There are many types of web hosting services with different features and a wide range of prices that depend on what features you need. The basic types of web hosting are free web hosting, shared hosting, dedicated hosting, colocation hosting, and reseller hosting.
Free web hosting caters to the operators of small web sites and blogs. Some free accounts allow you to use the domain name of your choice, and some make your domain a sub-domain of the hosting company, e.g. http://www.yourwebsite.thefreehosts.com .
Free web hosting may work for you if:
- You don't mind having banner ads at the top of every page on your site
- The performance and reliability of the web site is not necessarily crucial
- You don't need or want customer support
- You don't plan on major growth of your web site
Shared web hosting is the most common kind of paid web hosting because it is the least expensive. It is also a good choice for smaller sites. With shared hosting, you pay a monthly fee, generally between $5 and $20 per month, for your own little chunk of a server. Because these are fairly low budget services, you won't be given much in the way of disk space or bandwidth, but again, for small, relatively simple sites, this should not pose problems. But again, for small, uncomplicated sites, shared serving may be the best option.
Dedicated hosting means there is a full server dedicated to your website. This means that you could host dozens, or even hundreds of your own websites. With dedicated hosting, you will have access to the server. This type of hosting is best for large commercial websites, sites that have high traffic, and for those who want to start their own hosting service and sell hosting downstream.
Dedicated hosting can cost in the $100 per month range. There are two basic types of dedicated hosts: managed and unmanaged. Managed dedicated hosting is better for people who want to focus on the business aspect of their site rather than computer issues. Types of managed dedicated services include security updates, software updates, and general maintenance of the server itself.
Unmanaged dedicated servers cost less than managed servers, but these services generally only provide storage, reboots, and physical security of the hardware. Failed hardware will be replaced, but additional services will cost extra.
If dedicated hosting is the luxury apartment of web hosting, then co-located hosting is the condominium. With co-located hosting, you own the server that resides in the data center and which is given a fast Internet connection. With co-located hosting, you pay a monthly fee for maintenance and bandwidth.
Reseller hosting allows you to run your own hosting company under your company's name. You can set your own prices for hosting, and you are responsible for your own hosting management software. Hosting management software can often be purchased through the company from whom you bought your reseller account. You will also be responsible for billing your customers, providing technical support either yourself, or by hiring technical help on a per-hour basis. You will, however, be able to add unlimited domains to your reseller accounts in most cases.
Reseller hosting can be shared, or it can be dedicated. Again, shared hosting is less expensive than dedicated hosting.
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