Web hosting is the process of renting or buying space to host a website on the World Wide Web. It involves providing the necessary facilities to create and maintain a site and make it accessible online. Companies that offer web hosting services are sometimes referred to as web servers. To host a website, a person or company would need their own computer or server.
Since not all companies had the budget or experience to do so, web hosting services began to offer the hosting of users' websites on their own servers. The most basic type of web hosting is small-scale page and file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a web interface. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer this service for free to subscribers. Individuals and organizations can also obtain website hosting from alternative service providers. Hosting a single page is usually sufficient for personal websites. Personal website hosting is usually free, ad-sponsored, or inexpensive.
Hosting business websites often has a higher expense depending on the size and type of site. Internet hosting services can run web servers. The scope of web hosting services varies widely. One's website is placed on the same server as many other sites, from a few sites to hundreds of websites. Generally, all domains can share a common set of server resources, such as RAM and CPU. Resellers often sell shared web hosting, and web companies often have reseller accounts to provide hosting to customers.
Also known as a virtual private server (VPS), it divides server resources into virtual servers, where resources can be allocated in a way that does not directly reflect the underlying hardware. Customers are sometimes responsible for applying patches and maintaining the server (unmanaged server) or the VPS provider may provide server administration tasks to the client (managed server). It's similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides the physical space that the server occupies and takes care of the server. Cloud hosting is another type of web hosting service that allows customers powerful, scalable and reliable hosting based on clustered servers with load balancing and utility billing. A website hosted in the cloud may be more reliable than alternatives, since other computers in the cloud can compensate for the fall of a single piece of hardware. Clustered servers are also used for highly available dedicated hosting or creating a scalable web hosting solution. A cluster can separate the web server from the hosting capacity of the base.
Web servers typically use cluster hosting for their shared hosting plans, as massive client management has multiple benefits. This form of distributed hosting is when a cluster of servers acts like a network and is made up of several nodes. A private server can be used to host one or more websites from a broadband connection normally suitable for consumers. Web hosting is an essential part of having an online presence. It provides users with access to their own space on the World Wide Web, allowing them to create and maintain their own websites without having to invest in expensive hardware or software. By understanding how web hosting works, users can make informed decisions about which type of service best suits their needs.
