What is Web Hosting?

Updated October 18, 2023

Introduction to Web Hosting

Web Hosting is a service allowing others to view your website online. A web host offers space on their Server to allow other computers worldwide to access your website via a network or modem. Providers of web hosting services have servers, connectivity, and related web hosting services. There are thousands of web hosting services, from free facilities with limited optional services to costly, specialized web hosting services. They offer unique hosting programs to cover the hosting needs of small blogs and major organizations.

How Does Web Hosting Work?

You need to set up, store and sell your products to start a business in the real world. The same thing happens in the digital world; the same rules apply when creating a website. When establishing an online business, you have several files, images, and HTML codes on the websites. If you don’t have online storage space, your data or files will not be hosted, and as a result, your domain will not be accessible on the internet for anyone to see.

The hosting operator will store all your files on a server and will be responsible for providing your site files when a browser requests them by typing your domain name. Simply, you rent storage space online when you pay for hosting services – just like you would rent a physical store. Most web hosters use cPanel, which is a powerful tool. However, non-technical users who prioritize fast and efficient website operation may find it intimidating.

In addition to providing your website with server space, hosting providers can offer other website-based services such as:

• Certificate of SSL
• Page Builder
• Live chat (Customer support services)
• The software installs with one click. (Drupal and WordPress)

What is a Domain Name?

When you are starting or thinking about an online business, the first that comes to mind is a domain which is your web address or company name. On the internet. For example, what would you do if you had a shop and someone wanted to visit your shop? First, you will provide the address to that person exactly as if someone wants to see your online business; then, you will provide your domain name to her.

Whenever a person types your Domain Name, the hosting company transforms all the files connected to your IP address and returns all the images, videos, and words on your website. Each domain name is unique, like your registered address. So, whenever you open a new website, you will be able to select a name that is a reflection of your brand.

Types of Web Hosting

Below are the different types of web hosting:

• Shared Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Dedicated Server Hosting
• Cloud Hosting
• WordPress Hosting

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common and perfect solution for most small firms and blogs. It usually refers to shared hosting when you hear “web hosting.” Hosted websites on the same server share all their memory, computer storage, disk storage, and other resources. Shared hosting is user-friendly, which means there is no need to know coding knowledge. The host is responsible for maintenance and server management. The benefit of shared hosting is that it is affordable because everyone pays equally for the Server.

It can be as cheap as $2/month, with an average cost of $5-$10/month. However, there are various disadvantages, such as many websites sharing the same Server, which leads to having the same resources and slowing down the websites. i.e., On shared hosting, so many programs run simultaneously.

If one website consumes more power due to increased traffic or faulty code, others have to face the problem of slowing down the loading speed or downtime, which means the website will not be reachable. This phenomenon is called the “bad neighbor effect.”

2. VPS Hosting

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server Hosting. However, you still share a server with other users; however, your web host gives you a separate partition on the Server. Thus, you will have dedicated server space and reserved computer power and memory. VPS hosting can be excellent for medium-sized enterprises with fast-increasing websites.

VPS hosting offers easy scalability and provides a highly customizable server environment. VPS provides more reliability and stability than shared hosting. It is usually limited to 10 to 20 websites per Server. But this can be decreased based on the Server’s demand. Another advantage of this type of hosting is that if the limit of the website exceeds, then the website’s Server may go down.

However, other servers will remain stable. This is achieved with the help of virtual machines responsible for separation within the Server to overcome the bad neighbor effect. It also provides flexibility, i.e., the owner can customize his environment without affecting others, unlike Shared web hosting, which applies changes to other’s environments at the same time.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

In dedicated hosting, the website owner has complete admin and root access, granting them full control over the Server where their website is hosted. Thus, it allows faster executions and high-level security, and all the resources are under the owner’s control.

One of the main advantages of dedicated hosting is that there is no problem with the harmful neighbor effect, as no other websites use the website’s resources. Hence the owner can customize the environment efficiently.

This provides much more flexibility as the owner can choose the Operating system, hardware components type and space required for memory, etc. However, it comes with a price, meaning the owner will ultimately pay for the server operations.

4. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is currently, with no downtime, the most reliable solution on the market. It is the same as VPS hosting, as virtual machines are used in this type. Your host offers a cluster of servers with cloud hosting. Each Server replicates your files and resources.

The system automatically redirects your traffic to another cluster server if the cloud server experiences high activity or issues. It is more scalable as it combines several computers into a virtual server to provide resources based on their requirements. Unlike VPS servers, dedicated hosting can be scaled up to a specific limit.

The owner has to pay for the resources he uses and not the whole resource. Another main advantage of cloud hosting is that it provides a higher security level because attacks like DDOS can be distributed among different computers and mitigate severe effects better than a single server system.

5. Word-Press Hosting

WordPress Hosting is similar to Shared hosting but specifically designed for WordPress site owners. Your Server is specifically configured to WordPress, and plugins are installed for essential items such as caching and safety on your site. We have optimized our site to load faster and run with fewer troubleshooting problems, resulting in improved performance.

Conclusion

It is a service that stores information about your website on a server. Your site cannot be online without it. The website domain name, i.e., the website address, is the main component in all website hosting. So in this article, we have seen what web hosting and the types of web hosting are.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to What is Web Hosting? Here we discuss the basic concept, how it works, and various types of web hosting in detail. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –

1. Types of Web Hosting
2. What is Hosting?
3. What is WordPress?
4. Cloud Hosting Providers