An explanation of hosting

As its name implies, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting web content. There are various varieties and kinds of web hosting, based on the purpose and on the objectives. Yet, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A web host is in fact a hosting server that is connected to the World Wide Web and has its own IP address, which allows users to access it through the Internet. The server's configuration and its system resources are dependent on the kind of web hosting solution it will be utilized for.

What are the different types of web hosting?

Depending on the application, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Storage Hosting - this form of hosting enables the customers to deposit their files on a particular hosting server. With the customary file storage web hosting service, the files that are accommodated may only be accessed by the user that's using the service. This web hosting service usually includes backups of computers , docs, personal files and even other servers. This service may also impose given limitations in terms of the server storage space and the root privileges. There may also be bandwidth limitations, but that is dependent on the particular host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting service is very similar to the previous hosting service form. Nonetheless, in contrast with the file storage hosting solution, the warez hosting service is used for distributing licensed materials without the sanction of the patent holder. In short - it involves the prohibited circulation of files and documents. There are lots of ways for this to be completed, but the 2 chief ways are - through plain HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first approach involves either a particular site, or, most often, simply a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download copyrighted materials for free. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, using the so-called Torrent servers, via which users share files between each other. There are not many site hosting distributors that permit that form of web hosting on their servers, mostly owing to all the judicial troubles that it presupposes. Generally such web pages are hosted on personal dedicated servers that are registered by 3rd party companies either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Hosting - this service is applicable with both shared web hosting and dedicated hosting servers, based on the client's desire. If you want to launch your own personal SMTP email server, then you will require either a virtual server or a dedicated server that provides the level of access required to complete such a task. For normal e-mail hosting ends, though, you can utilize a regular shared site 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 mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate servers, often belonging to different web hosting providers.

Web Site Hosting - the most widespread and vastly used hosting service today. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the web hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different types of files need different web server OSs, otherwise they won't be shown accurately on the Internet. This sort of web hosting may have data space and bandwidth quota limitations, root access and central processing unit usage restrictions.

Depending on the goals and on the usage, the client should choose the type of hosting server that he requires for his work, and, of course, the website hosting firm that's going to furnish it. There are several sorts of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the web space hosting solutions that they provide. These are:

Shared Website Hosting Server - a shared site hosting server offers a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the cost of the service. It can be used for hosting small scale and medium size web sites, which do not demand vast quotas of disk storage space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated - they are based on the very same principle as the shared web servers. Nonetheless, there are much less customers accommodated on the same web hosting server. Because of that, each of them will obtain a larger quota of the hosting server's resources like RAM, web space, web traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting immense sites that do not need complete root access.

Virtual Private Server - the VPS web servers are ideal for medium size sites, which do need root-level access to the server's config files. Generally, there are a number of VPS web server accounts hosted on the same server. In spite of that, each of them is isolated from the other ones and has its own Operating System.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated physical server configured and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a mammoth quantity of resources. It also provides root privileges, which makes it the optimal platform for any type of website that needs a web space hosting service.

The only question that remains is:

Which hosting company should I opt for?

As mentioned above, there are not many hosting providers offering warez hosting services due to judicial predicaments. Such hosting companies are being closed down practically every month. Because of that, if you would like to provide such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared hosting service is the most popular kind of hosting service. Because of that, every web hosting corporation provides it. Not all of them, however, provide solutions such as VPS hosting servers, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated servers. Most of the smaller hosting vendors do not have the means needed for maintaining those solutions. Hence it's always best to go with a bigger hosting company that can supply its clients with all the solutions that they need. You can easily recognize such hosting companies by the kinds of solutions that they are supplying and by the way that they present them to the clientele. For instance, some companies allow you to commence with a low-end site hosting plan and subsequently upgrade to a bigger one, if you consider it obligatory to do so. This is extremely suitable, because you do not have to move sites between hosting servers and there is no danger of suffering network outages because of all the predicaments that may arise. Companies such as Str Hosting offer all kinds of solutions and have the needed hosting server resources and staff to guarantee that their clients will not experience any complications when changing services, which is what a top hosting company is in fact all about.