If you have been thinking about launching a website lately, web hosting is the critical service you need to effectively launched. The web hosting provider is the company that allows you to store your website files on their server. Once your website is up and running, it can then be viewed by anyone in the world with an internet connection. The good thing is that web hosting companies are abundant. The bad – the overwhelming array of options can make finding the right service a nightmare. So, how many types of web hosting are there? Several, and here are a few you may run across.
Shared Hosting
Shared web hosting is what many refer to as “normal” hosting. Providers maximize their resources by hosting multiple websites on one computer. This means that one server may hold thousands of customers, while another may hold hundreds more. In this arrangement, customers are required to share all the server’s resource, disk space, bandwidth and internet connection included. Shared hosting is easy to find even though it often comes in several niche variations. For example, you will find these services packaged around names such as Windows, Linux, ASP, PHP, MySQL or Joomla hosting.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting often goes by the title “dedicated server.” Though more expensive than its shared counterpart, the dedicated variety offers far more power. As the name indicates, the server is dedicated to you, meaning there are no other customers to worry about. You can install your own software applications and completely customize the server to meet your specific needs. A dedicated server gives you better performance and security because of the extra resources you have at your disposal. You should also know that this type of hosting requires technical skills that exceed the typical personal computing. Because of this, some customers need to outsource their server to a professional IT team.
Managed Hosting
You can look at managed hosting as the service that bridges that gap between shared and dedicated hosting. You still have your own server, but instead of dealing with complex administrative tasks, the technical burdens are shifted to the provider. With managed hosting, you can usually choose the type of services that work best for your situation. Because the service provider has so much involvement, this type of hosting is often considerably more expensive than others.
VPS Hosting
Short for virtual private server, VPS refers to a virtualization technology that creates multiple servers from a single machine. This type hosting entails many of the same aspects of a dedicated server but the cost is usually much less. Most VPS packages allow you to install software with root access and provides the enhanced performance you don’t get with shared hosting.
Conclusion
Regardless of your plans, web hosting will go a long way in establishing your web presence. It may all seem like a signifigant challenge when first setting out for service, but you will find that research is needed in order to land the most reliable host.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Although shared hosting is a less expensive way for businesses to create a Web presence, it is usually not sufficient for Web sites with high traffic. These sites need a dedicated Web server, either provided by a Web hosting service or maintained in-house. With shared hosting, numerous web sites are sharing a single server.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
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