A definition of web hosting

As its name implies, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are different varieties and kinds of hosting, based on the purpose and on the functions. Nevertheless, they all are related to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A host is actually a web server that is linked to the Web and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which permits people to access it via the Web. The web server's architecture and its system resources depend on the form of hosting service it will be used for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Based on the mission, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Web Hosting - this type of hosting enables the clients to deposit their files on a given hosting server. With the customary file storage web hosting service, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the customer that's utilizing the service. This hosting service normally entails backups of personal computers , documents, private files and even other servers. This solution may also include certain limitations in terms of the data storage and the root access. There may also be web traffic quota limitations, but that depends on the actual hosting service provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting solution is comparable with the previous hosting service type. In spite of that, in contrast with the file storage web hosting service, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for distributing copyrighted work without being given the go-ahead by the license possessor. In brief - it involves the illegitimate dissemination of files and documents. There are many methods for this to be fulfilled, but the two essential ways are - through plain HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first way involves either a given web portal, or, most commonly, simply a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download licensed files free of charge. The second method involves a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, via which people share files between each other. There are a few site hosting distributors that permit such type of hosting on their web hosting servers, mostly owing to all the legal problems that it involves. Commonly such web portals are hosted on personal dedicated servers that are registered by third-party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Hosting - this service is applicable with both shared hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the customer's desire. If you desire to run your own personal SMTP server, then you will need either a private virtual server or a dedicated hosting server that offers the level of access needed to accomplish such an assignment. For traditional electronic mail hosting purposes, though, you can set up a plain shared website hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a solution that's very famous, because the web site hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two different web servers, usually owned by separate companies.

Web Site Hosting - the most popular and widely utilized hosting service nowadays. It's used for hosting website files, whose kind is determined by the Operating System the hosting server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files request specific web hosting server Operating Systems, otherwise they won't be exhibited correctly on the Internet. This type of hosting may include storage space and traffic quota limitations, root access and central processing unit usage restrictions.

Based on the purpose and on the objectives, the customer should select the sort of server that he needs for his project, and, of course, the web site hosting firm that's going to furnish it. There are several kinds of web servers, depending on the specs and the website hosting services that they provide. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web site hosting server offers 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 size web pages, which do not require large amounts of server storage space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they work on the very same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. Even so, there are much fewer users accommodated on the same server. For that reason, each of them will get a bigger quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, server storage, traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting popular sites that do not demand root-level access.

VPS hosting - the VPS web servers are ideal for medium scale sites, which do need root access to the server's configuration files. Commonly, there are a number of virtual web server hosting accounts located on the same machine. Nevertheless, each of them is autonomous from the others and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated physical machine set up and accessed by you and only you. It guarantees an enormous quantity of system resources. It also includes complete root access, which makes it the optimal environment for any type of web portal that demands a web site hosting solution.

The only question that's left is:

Which site hosting supplier should I settle on?

As mentioned, there aren't many hosts providing warez web hosting services because of legal entanglements. Such web hosting providers are being closed down virtually every month. For that reason, if you desire to run such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared web site hosting solution is the most widespread kind of hosting service. That is why, each and every hosting supplier offers it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as private virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small sized website hosting distributors do not have the resources required for offering those services. Hence it's invariably best to select a larger host that can provide its clients with all the solutions that they request. You can effortlessly recognize such hosts by the types of solutions that they are providing and by the manner in which they introduce them to the customers. For example, some providers allow you to commence with a small scale hosting plan and then upgrade to a bigger one, if you consider it necessary to do so. This is extremely convenient, since you do not need to move web portals between servers and there is no danger of suffering outages because of all the problems that may show up. Hosting providers like Celphi Network Systems Corp. (Celphi.com) provide all kinds of solutions and possess the needed web server resources and personnel to guarantee that their customers will not come across any troubles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting distributor is actually all about.