Web hosting or simply hosting is a facility for allowing organizations and/or other individuals for website posting or webpage posting onto the Internet. A web hosting is a kind of popular business that facilitates the technologies and relevant services that are needed for the website governance which are to be viewed in the internet. A special purpose computer system is called as server where webpages which are coupled and referenced together are hosted and sorted accordingly if required.
In a case when and intended internet users whishes to surf your website, all what they require is to type the url of your website to any web browser which they are using. As a result, their browser will connect to your server based on URL and your web pages will be delivered to their machine too. A number of hosting companies elaborate their services as virtual hosting. Virtual hosting simply means that the services provided will be transparent and all the web sites will have their own domain name and corresponding set of e-mail addresses. In most usages, hosting and virtual hosting are same. Some hosting companies let you have your own virtual server, the appearance that is dedicated entirely to your site. Dedicated hosting is the provision of a dedicated server machine that is dedicated to the traffic to your Website. Only very busy sites require dedicated hosting. Many companies purchase their own servers and place them on a site that provides fast access to the Internet. This practice is called collocation.
Options for hosting-
You must be very clear about the related terms and their application before you start hosting your website. Following services are provided as options for hosting a website
Website Builders-
This service is a type of hosting services that builds the technical skills and knowledge. In this service an online browser-based interface is provided and then the website is built upon that. The same setup hosts your website too without requiring any additional setup.
Shared Hosting-
It is another type of hosting service. In this environment, you and some other website hosting interested owner shares one server. It includes sharing of the physical server and the software application within the server. This server is affordable too as the cost being charged for the server setup will be shared between you and these other peer owners. Also, it must be considered that there are also a number of disadvantages of this shared hosting such as being slower due to sharing facility.
Dedicated hosting-
The term dedicated is given as the entire hosting environment the is for yourself. The advantage of being dedicated hosting results in faster performance. It is because of having all the control on server resources without sharing with website owners. This also means that you will be responsible for the cost of server entirely.
Collocated Hosting-
In the last, collocated hosting you will purchase your own server. Further you need to get it housed at facilities given by the web host. In this hosting, you will be responsible for the server itself. An advantage of this type of hosting service is that you have full control of the web server. Further, you as an administrator may install any required script or applications for satisfying your customized needs.