Web hosting can be defined as renting of space on the web server. A site is a set of files that are linked together by the HTML code to show the graphics and text on your computer. But a website is not fully complete till the time it is displayed on the World Wide Web and for this, the site requires web server and disk space.
web host
A reliable web hosting company will offer you the opportunity to have a space for your site on the web. It will further help you to make a site of your own and so, your website will be established on a web server offered to you by the web host. This way, the site you will create will become the place where you will be able to locate all types of data- be it official or personal and the information that you wish to share with your customers, visitors or clients.
Most web hosting companies help the customers to decide the amount of disk space and bandwidth they will require for their site to work properly by offering appropriate plans like Personal,Small Business,Business etc.
Common Web Hosting Types Explained.
Shared Web Hosting : A website that you host is situated on the same server and disk which has many other websites hosted and they all share the same resource.
Reseller Web Hosting : Allows you to become a web host yourself by offering the web hosting service to your clients. They are offered under different categories depending on the size and needs of reseller clients.
Virtual Private Server : Virtual Private Server is also known as Virtual Dedicated Server, In this type of hosting the server rack shares server resources into virtual servers, where resources can be allocated in a way that does not directly reflect the underlying hardware.
- Managed VPS – Its the responsibility of the customer to maintain and update the VPS operating system. The host doesn’t interfere once you hire the server. The host only keeps the network node running.
- Unmanaged VPS – The host takes care of the OS security, patching and updates and allows you to stay free from all those hassles.
Cloud Hosting : A cloud hosted website may be more reliable than others as other computers in the cloud can compensate when a single piece of hardware goes down. Also power disruptions or even natural disasters are less problematic for cloud hosted sites, as cloud hosting is decentralized and your data is located across the globe on different nodes.
Common Web Hosting Terms Explained.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the total data that can be transferred from the site to end user in format of text, pages and media like videos and images. The web hosts provide a number of bandwidth plans as per the customer requirements and budget.
Usually served as : 1GB/mnth , 5GB/mnth or Unlimited Bandwidth etc.
cPanel
cPanel is a Control Panel for your website, It is a program installed on the Unix platform. It has features to alter, update and review your website files. cPanel regarded as one of the most popular control panels because of it’s user friendly and powerful features. It incudes Database Management, Domain Management and Auto Software Install Scripts.
Popular features : Fantastico/Softaculous – Script installers, Email Setup/Forwared, File Manager with Compress/Extract features.
Alternatives : Pleask, Dot Net, vDeck etc.
Database
Databases are files on your server that are used to manage huge amounts of data effectively and in organized manner. For example if you install a blog using WordPress then all your articles, drafts and plugin information will be stored in a database created when setting up WordPress.
Disk Space
Disk Space is simple the amount of Space allotted by your service provider on the server where you can store your files. Its just like a disk on your Computer where you store your files.
Usually served as : 1GB,10GB,Unlimited etc.
FTP
FTP is the acronym used for File Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol used to Upload/Download files to and from the Internet. Usually if your webhost doesn’t have a cPanel or another File Manager, FTP is the only way to access your files. A popular Free FTP Client is FileZilla.
Common formats :SSH/ SFTP (Secure FTP) , FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Now that you are aware of the basic terms and common web hosting technologies, You can get started with your own website or a Blog. Do read our Beginners Guide To Blogging.
About the Author:
This is guest post by Kate. She is technology blogger and provides services such as VPS Hosting and Cloud hosting.
