Web Hosting

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that provides individuals, organizations and users with online systems for storing information, images, video, or any content accessible via the Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center.

 There are several types of web hosting options, but for our sake I will list the most commonly used:

 

Shared Hosting - This hosting option is provided by companies on a sever that has many users accessing it and using its resources.  Often you will have as many as 200 different persons having domains on a single server.  Shared Hosting is the best option for most people.  You will find packages ranging from as low as $1.00 a month to $20.00 a month.  You will find that the most reliable host cost around $10.00 a month and it is recommended purchasing hosting packages based off of reliability and customer services, rather than price.

Dreamhost - great price, good uptime, bad email control panel 

HostGator - reliable hosting company with good uptime, long term business approach, and easy to use control panel 

Site5 - a newer company that has a great design, cpanel/whm control panel, and offers great ruby on rails support. 

 

Dedicated Server - This option is for advanced users and companies needing additional space and resources.  You will find many smaller hosting companies owning their own dedicated server and providing shared hosting.  Many gamers will purchase dedicated servers to run their online games.  Companies will often own several dedicated servers across the globe to provide proper uptime and reliability.

The Planet - Based out of Dallas.  The Planet has recently been acquired by another large hosting company.  The Planet has many branches and therefore has great options for upgrading and downgrading.  Great support.

Rackspace - Reliable.  Used by many larger shared hosting companies.

 

 Co-Location - This option is similar to dedicated servers, but often co-lo's are for people who own their servers, but want them at a nice secure and reliable datacenter.  This option is particularly useful for hardware savvy persons.  Co-location servers are often a service provided by hosting companies who have allocated space at a datacenter.

HE.net - Hurricane Electrical Datacenter is a great west coast location

Equinix in Chicago - One of the better locations in the Midwest.  Reliable.  You will need to find someone that has floor space at the datacenter.

 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) - This is a great option for programmers who want root access, but cannot afford their own dedicated server.  A VPS is simply a dedicated server that is broken up into smaller sections, but each section is its own installation.  Thus, one person would have their own operating system on a portion of the dedicated server, while other customers who have a totally different setup.

ServInt - I've had a VPS through ServInt for several years.  Their support is incredible and my uptime was impeccable.  Not being as server savvy, ServInt often offered free screenings of my server.  This did include hardening, which almost no other company will offer for free. 

 

 I will provide recommendations for each of the above options in a future post.  I have had servers at 6 different datacenters, used several different shared hosts, and done a lot of research on different control panels.