A definition of website hosting

As its name suggests, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting online content. There are various varieties and kinds of web hosting, depending on the purpose and on the objectives. Still, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the World Wide Web. A web host is in fact a server that is connected to the Internet and has its very own IP address, which permits users to get access to it through the Web. The hosting server's architecture and its limitations are subject to the sort of web hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the various types of web hosting?

Based on the application, the hosting service may be:

File Web Hosting - this type of hosting allows the users to lodge their files on a certain web hosting server. With the customary file web hosting solution, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the person that's utilizing the service. This hosting service traditionally entails backups of personal computers , docs, personal files and even other web servers. This service may also impose given limits when it comes to the disk storage space and the root privileges. There may also be web traffic limitations, but that is dependent on the particular web host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is very similar to the previous web hosting service type. However, unlike the file storage hosting solution, the warez web hosting service is used for disseminating copyrighted materials without the permission of the patent holder. In brief - it involves the illegitimate dissemination of files and docs. There are many ways for this to be carried out, but the two essential approaches are - via simple HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first one involves either a specific site, or, most typically, simply a directory on a hosting server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thus download proprietary files free of charge. The second approach entails a P2P connection, using the so-called Torrent servers, via which people exchange files between each other. There are very few web hosting companies that permit such form of web hosting on their servers, mainly owing to all the legal complications that it entails. Typically such websites are hosted on private dedicated web servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Hosting - this service is utilized with both shared web space hosting and dedicated web servers, based on the client's intention. If you want to create your very own private SMTP electronic mail server, then you will need either a private virtual web server or a dedicated web server that offers the level of access required to perform such an operation. For normal e-mail hosting ends, though, you can avail of a conventional shared web space hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain. This is not a service that's widely used, since the website hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 different web servers, usually owned by separate web hosting providers.

Website Hosting - the most popular and universally utilized hosting service nowadays. It's used for hosting web site files, whose sort is determined by the Operating System the hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files request specific web server OSs, otherwise they won't be displayed accurately on the Internet. This type of hosting may contain disk storage and web traffic restrictions, root access and CPU usage limitations.

Based on the aims and on the objectives, the customer should pick the sort of hosting server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the site hosting vendor that's going to furnish it. There are different types of web servers, based on the specs and the site hosting solutions that they provide. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared hosting server offers a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and medium sized web sites, which do not demand large quantities of data storage and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers Hosting - they function on the very same principle as the shared web hosting servers. In spite of that, there are much less clients sharing the same server. For that reason, each of them will receive a bigger quota of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, web space, bandwidth and CPU. Excellent for hosting immense web sites that do not demand full root access.

VPS hosting - the private virtual hosting servers are perfect for medium size web pages, which do need root-level access to the server's configuration files. Commonly, there are a bunch of virtual web hosting server accounts situated on the same physical machine. Even so, each of them is isolated from the rest and runs its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a fully dedicated machine set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a great quantity of system resources. It also includes full root-level access, which renders it a perfect solution for any sort of web portal that needs a web space hosting solution.

The only question that's left is:

Which webspace hosting vendor should I opt for?

As mentioned above, there are very few web hosting providers providing warez web hosting services because of judicial entanglements. Such providers are being shut down virtually every month. Because of that, if you would like to run such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared web space hosting solution is the most widespread kind of web hosting service. That is why, each website hosting distributor provides it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as private virtual servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated hosting servers. Most of the smaller web space hosting companies do not have the means demanded for offering those services. That's why it's always best to select a larger hosting company that can provide its customers with all the services that they are searching for. You can effortlessly recognize such companies by the types of solutions that they are making available and by the way that they introduce them to the customers. For example, some providers allow you to commence with a small scale web hosting account and then move to a bigger one, if you consider it necessary to do so. This is very convenient, since you do not need to migrate web pages between web servers and there is no risk of facing network downtime because of all the complications that may appear. Hosting companies such as eSOL Hosting offer all types of services and have the required web hosting server resources and personnel to assure that their customers will not suffer any complications when swapping services, which is what a top hosting firm is in fact all about.