Website Hosting Explained

When we choose hosting for our site, we first look at the operating System that server is using. And most of us prefer Linux web hosting server then others. This might just be a trend but there are some clear benefits of linux web hosting.

1. Linux is the most popular OS on server now a days.
2. Almost all Linux web hosting server provides FTP access and facilities like telnet or SSH is typical to Linux web hosting server then server with other OS.
3. Linux web hosting server will serve you well with HTML and JavaScript.
4. CGI and Perl access is most common facility of Linux web hosting server. These scripts are used for programming.
5. Almost all Linux web hosting server will provide PHP and can be configured to run ASP and ColdFusion. They are server side script for programming. They are the most used language now a days.
6. Linux web hosting server is also equipped with database management if you are planning to make a dynamic site from various platforms like wordpress. Most of Linux web hosting server is equipped with MySQL database management system.
7. Linux web hosting server is thought to be more secure than others but this claim need some verification and study.

These are some features of Linux web hosting server. If you are planning to buy a web hosting account then why not give it a try to Linux web hosting.

Linux is not the only one Operating system used on the web server. Windows server OS is also popular among web servers. The major difference between these two is the cost factor. Linux OS are free whereas Windows server costs a bit to setup. The choice between these two types of hosting server is trivial now a days. To choose which one to use just ask yourself a simple question, Does your site require technologies like ASP or .NET or Microsoft Access or MSSQL server? If the answer is yes than go for a windows based server.

If you want to setup a simple blog to sell your product or you want to setup a website with simple shopping cart then, Linux hosting might be an ideal choice. The best technologies like PHP, Perl, WordPress and MySQL is freely available in Linux hosting server and they have a huge user base for support whenever you have a problem.

Web hosting is defined in various ways. Some of the definitions that Google showed were:

• · A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Hosting
• · The service of hosting a site on the Internet making it viewable for other users on the net
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/web_hosting

In layman terms web hosting is a space where you will put all of your website files for everyone to see. The type of hosting that you require depends upon your needs.

Uptime: Uptime is the most important factor when it comes to choosing hosting companies. Uptime is simply the percentage of time the host is reachable via internet. Many paid web hosting companies promise an uptime of 99.9%. This means that you will not have access to your site for about 45 minutes in a week. But this might increase due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance work of the server.

1. Free web hosting: The hosting space is given for free and the cost incurred is compensated by advertisement. Generally free web hosting has limited services to offer but there might be some exceptions.
2. Shared web hosting: In this case one site is kept with several other sites on the same server. The number of sites may vary from few to thousands. Shared web hosting is generally related to reseller hosting.
3. Reseller web hosting: This scheme allows a person to be a host themselves. When you buy a reseller web hosting pack, you can sell that again with some profit. You are in complete control of what you will offer to your clients.
4. Virtual Private Server (VPS): VPS divides server resources into virtual servers where resources can be distributed in such a way that it doesn’t directly reflect the underlying hardware.
5. Dedicated hosting: This is the expensive hosting scheme out there. In dedicated hosting, we get full access to the server. This means we will get root access if it’s Linux or become an Administrator if its windows based hosting. Sometime we are responsible for maintenance and security in this type of hosting.