A definition of web hosting

As its name hints, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting online content. There are various varieties and kinds of hosting, based on the purpose and on the objectives. Nonetheless, they all refer to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the Web. A host is actually a server that is connected to the Internet and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to access it through the Web. The web server's configuration and its system resources are subject to the form of hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the various types of hosting?

Depending on the application, the professional web hosting solution may be:

File Storage Hosting - this type of hosting allows the users to deposit their files on a specific web server. With the typical file storage web hosting solution, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the client that's availing of the service. This hosting service mainly appertains to backups of PCs , documents, private files and even other hosting servers. This service may also impose given limitations in terms of the server space and the root-level access. There may also be traffic limits, but that depends on the actual host.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is comparable with the previous web hosting service form. Yet, unlike the file hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is used for circulating proprietary materials without the authorization of the licence possessor. To cut a long story short - it is related to the illegitimate transmission of files and docs. There are lots of approaches for this to be done, but the two essential approaches are - via plain HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either some web site, or, most commonly, just a directory on a web server that's been made available for everyone to access it and thereby download licensed docs free of charge. The second method involves a peer-to-peer connection, making use of the so-called Torrent servers, via which people exchange files between each other. There are not many web site hosting corporations that permit such type of web hosting on their servers, mostly due to all the legal entanglements that it presupposes. Typically such sites are hosted on private dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Electronic Mail Web Hosting - this service is used with both shared web hosting and dedicated servers, based on the client's wish. If you want to have your own personal SMTP electronic mail server, then you will require either a virtual private web hosting server or a dedicated web server that provides the access level required to carry out such an operation. For common e-mail web hosting ends, though, you can utilize an average shared web hosting account, to which you can point the MX records of your domain name. This is not a service that's widely popular, because the web hosting and the mail hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, often belonging to separate hosts.

Web Site Hosting - the most popular and regularly utilized hosting service as of today. It's used for hosting site files, whose kind is dependent on the OS the web hosting server is making use of - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files request specific server OSs, otherwise they won't be exhibited correctly on the World Wide Web. This sort of hosting may contain disk storage space and bandwidth limits, server root access and central processing unit usage limits.

Depending on the aims and on the objectives, the client should select the sort of hosting server that he needs for his project, and, of course, the site hosting distributor that's going to furnish it. There are different kinds of servers, based on the configuration and the web hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared web server provides a smaller amount of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the cost of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small scale and medium size web pages, which do not demand enormous amounts of disk storage and bandwidth.

Semi-Dedicated Servers - they work on the very same principle as the shared website hosting servers. Even so, there are much fewer customers sharing the same server. For that reason, each of them will have a greater share of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, data storage, bandwidth and CPU. Excellent for hosting big online portals that do not demand complete root-level access.

Virtual Private Server - the virtual web hosting servers are excellent for middle sized web sites, which do demand root access to the web hosting server's config files. Commonly, there are a bunch of virtual web server hosting accounts hosted on the same physical server. However, each of them is isolated from the others and runs its own Operating System.

Dedicated Server Hosting - a completely dedicated machine configured and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees a large quantity of system resources. It also offers full server root privileges, which makes it an excellent platform for any sort of online portal that requires a web hosting solution.

The only question that's left is:

Which hosting provider should I opt for?

As mentioned, there are very few hosting providers offering warez web hosting services due to legal problems. Such hosting companies are being shut down practically every month. For that reason, if you desire to run such a service, you should do it on your very own PC. The shared webspace hosting solution is the most widespread type of hosting service. So, every website hosting provider provides it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as virtual web hosting servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated web servers. Most of the small sized hosting providers do not have the resources needed for maintaining those services. Hence it's always best to go with a bigger host that can supply its clients with all the services that they want. You can effortlessly ID such hosts by the kinds of solutions that they are offering and by the way that they present them to the customers. For example, certain companies allow you to begin with a smaller hosting plan and then shift to a more advanced one, if you consider it obligatory to do so. This is quite suitable, since you do not need to transfer web pages between hosting servers and there is no possibility of suffering service downtime due to all the problems that may take place. Web hosting companies like Integrated Solutions are offering all kinds of solutions and possess the required server resources and personnel to assure that their clients will not come across any hassles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting supplier is in fact all about.