A definition of website hosting

As its name denotes, web hosting is a solution, which entails hosting web content. There are various varieties and kinds of web hosting, based on the purpose and on the functions. Even so, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the World Wide Web. A web host is actually a web hosting service that is linked to the Internet and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which permits users to access it through the Web. The server's architecture and its resources depend on the form of web hosting solution it's going to be used for.

What are the various forms of hosting?

Based on the objective, the professional hosting solution may be:

File Hosting - this form of hosting enables the customers to deposit their files on a particular server. With the classic file hosting solution, the files that are deposited may only be accessed by the user that's utilizing the service. This hosting service traditionally includes backups of PCs , docs, private files and even other web hosting servers. This solution may also impose given limits in relation to the data storage and the root privileges. There may also be bandwidth limits, but that depends on the actual web hosting service provider.

Warez Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is quite similar to the previous hosting service type. However, unlike the file web hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is utilized for spreading patented content without the blessing of the licence keeper. To cut a long story short - it appertains to the unauthorized distribution of files and materials. There are numerous methods for this to be realized, but the two main methods are - via plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first one entails either a specific web page, or, most often, simply a directory on a web server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download copyrighted files for free. The second method entails a P2P connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, via which users share files between each other. There aren't many web page hosting distributors that allow such type of web hosting on their hosting servers, mostly because of all the judicial troubles that it presupposes. Typically such web sites are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party corporations either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Hosting - this solution is applicable with both shared web hosting and dedicated web servers, depending on the customer's intention. If you wish to run your very own personal SMTP server, then you will need either a virtual private web hosting server or a dedicated web hosting server that provides the access level needed to carry out such an assignment. For common email hosting purposes, though, you can open a standard shared web hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's very famous, because the web site hosting and the email hosting services are being served by 2 different servers, usually belonging to separate web hosts.

Web Site Hosting - the most popular and vastly used hosting service now. It's utilized for hosting website files, whose type is dependent on the Operating System the web hosting server is running - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files request concrete server OSs, or else they won't be shown correctly on the Internet. This kind of hosting may impose server space and web traffic quota limitations, server root access and CPU usage limits.

Depending on the aims and on the functions, the customer should pick the sort of web hosting server that he requires for his project, and, of course, the website hosting company that's going to supply it. There are several kinds of web hosting servers, depending on the specs and the website hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared hosting server includes a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is reflected on the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and middle scale websites, which do not need huge quotas of disk storage space and traffic.

Semi-Dedicated - they are based on the very same principle as the shared web servers. Still, there are much less clients hosted on the same web hosting server. Therefore, each of them will enjoy a larger share of the web server's resources like RAM, disk storage, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting enormous websites that do not need root privileges.

Virtual Servers - the private virtual web hosting servers are excellent for medium scale online portals, which do require root-level access to the hosting server's config files. Commonly, there are a few virtual web hosting server accounts located on the same server. Even so, each of them is independent from the others and runs its own Operating System.

Dedicated Servers - a fully dedicated web server set up and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a great amount of resources. It also gives server root access, which renders it a perfect platform for any kind of web page that requires a site hosting solution.

The only question that remains is:

Which web site hosting vendor should I opt for?

As mentioned, there are very few web hosting providers providing warez hosting solutions because of judicial entanglements. Such providers are being closed down practically every month. Because of that, if you want to create such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared web space hosting service is the most widely spread kind of web hosting service. That is why, every site hosting supplier provides it. Not all of them, however, offer services such as Virtual Private Servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small sized website hosting vendors do not have the resources needed for offering those solutions. That's why it's invariably best to choose a larger web hosting company that can provide its clients with all the services that they require. You can easily ID such hosting companies by the sorts of services that they are supplying and by the way that they present them to the clientele. For instance, some web hosting companies allow you to kick off with a smaller web site hosting plan and then move to a more powerful one, if you deem it obligatory to do so. This is very convenient, since you do not have to relocate web sites between hosting servers and there is no chance of suffering downtime due to all the complications that may take place. Hosting companies such as Asmartdomain are offering all types of services and possess the necessary server resources and personnel to ensure that their clients will not chance upon any predicaments when changing services, which is what a top hosting vendor is in fact all about.