A definition of web hosting

As its name suggests, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting web content. There are different varieties and types of web hosting, depending on the mission and on the usage. Still, they all pertain to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible through the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a hosting server that is linked to the World Wide Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which permits users to access it via the Internet. The hosting server's configuration and its limitations are subject to the form of hosting service it will be used for.

What are the various types of web hosting?

Based on the function, the professional web hosting service may be:

File Storage Web Hosting - this form of web hosting enables the clients to accommodate their files on a given hosting server. With the ordinary file storage hosting service, the files that are deposited may only be accessed by the client that's availing of the service. This web hosting solution generally involves backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other hosting servers. This solution may also have given restrictions in relation to the web space and the root access. There may also be web traffic limitations, but that depends on the particular web host.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is resembling the previous hosting service form. However, in contrast with the file hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is used for propagating licensed materials without being green-lighted by the copyright keeper. In short - it involves the illegitimate propagation of files and documents. There are many methods for this to be executed, but the 2 principal methods are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via P2P connections. The first approach involves either a certain site, or, most often, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download proprietary materials for free. The second way entails a P2P connection, using the so-called Torrent servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There are just a few website hosting providers that permit that type of hosting on their web hosting servers, mainly owing to all the legal problems that it entails. Usually such sites are hosted on private dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by 3rd party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Hosting - this solution is applicable with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web servers, depending on the user's wish. If you want to establish your very own private SMTP e-mail server, then you will need either a private virtual web server or a dedicated server that offers the level of access needed to perform such an assignment. For customary e-mail web hosting ends, however, you can set up a normal shared web hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's very popular, because the web site hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, usually owned by separate web hosts.

Web Site Hosting - the most famous and commonly utilized hosting service at the moment. It's utilized for hosting web site files, whose type is determined by the OS the hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files require specific hosting server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be exhibited accurately on the Web. This form of hosting may include storage space and traffic quota limits, root access and CPU usage limits.

Depending on the aims and on the usage, the customer should select the type of web server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the web space hosting distributor that's going to supply it. There are several sorts of web hosting servers, based on the specifications and the web space hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared web page hosting server includes a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, reflects on the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small size and middle scale web sites, which do not need considerable amounts of web storage space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they perform on the same principle as the shared site hosting servers. However, there are much less clients hosted on the same web server. Because of that, each of them will enjoy a larger quota of the web server's resources like RAM, disk storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Excellent for hosting immense online portals that do not demand root privileges.

VPS - the private virtual hosting servers are ideal for middle scale web portals, which do demand root-level access to the web hosting server's configuration files. Traditionally, there are a few private virtual server web hosting accounts hosted on the same machine. Nevertheless, each of them is independent from the rest and has its own OS.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a completely dedicated physical machine set up and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees a huge quantity of system resources. It also gives full server root access, which makes it an ideal solution for any sort of website that demands a web site hosting service.

The only question that's left is:

Which web space hosting company should I choose?

As mentioned above, there are very few hosts providing warez hosting solutions because of legal predicaments. Such web hosting companies are being shut down practically every month. Because of that, if you wish to create such a service, you should do it on your very own computer. The shared web space hosting solution is the most widespread kind of web hosting service. Hence, every web site hosting vendor provides it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as Virtual Private Servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small scale web space hosting distributors do not have the resources demanded for maintaining those solutions. That's why it's invariably best to select a bigger host that can supply its clients with all the solutions that they want. You can easily ID such web hosts by the types of services that they are offering and by the manner in which they present them to the clients. For example, some web hosting companies permit you to start with a low-end hosting package and then upgrade to a bigger one, if you find it necessary to do so. This is extremely convenient, since you do not have to migrate websites between web servers and there is no danger of experiencing network downtime due to all the problems that may arise. Hosting providers like Exclusive Hosting are offering all kinds of services and have the necessary web hosting server resources and personnel to assure that their clients will not suffer any hassles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting provider is in fact all about.