A definition of site hosting

As its name implies, web hosting is a solution, which involves hosting web content. There are different forms and types of web hosting, depending on the mission and on the functions. Nevertheless, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available through the Internet. A host is actually a web hosting service that is linked to the Web and has its very own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to gain access to it via the Internet. The server's configuration and its system resources are subject to the sort of hosting solution it's going to be used for.

What are the various forms of hosting?

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

File Storage Web Hosting - this form of hosting enables the users to lodge their files on a certain hosting server. With the classic file web hosting service, the files that are saved may only be accessed by the person that's using the service. This web hosting solution normally includes backups of PCs , documents, private files and even other servers. This solution may also have certain limitations in relation to the server storage and the root privileges. There may also be traffic quota limitations, but that is dependent on the actual web hosting service provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is very similar to the previous web hosting service form. In spite of that, in contrast with the file web hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is used for propagating copyrighted work without the sanction of the patent possessor. In brief - it is related to the prohibited dissemination of files and docs. There are lots of methods for this to be brought about, but the 2 main ways are - through plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first method entails either a given site, or, most commonly, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thus download proprietary documents free of cost. The second approach entails a peer-to-peer connection, availing of the so-called Torrent servers, through which people transfer files between each other. There are not many site hosting firms that permit such form of web hosting on their hosting servers, mostly due to all the judicial problems that it entails. Usually such websites are hosted on private dedicated web servers that are registered by 3rd party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Email Hosting - this solution is used with both shared web hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the user's desire. If you would like to launch your own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a VPS hosting server or a dedicated server that offers the level of access required to perform such a task. For customary mail hosting purposes, however, you can use a simple shared web page hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a service that's very popular, because the website hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two separate servers, usually belonging to different companies.

Web Page Hosting - the most widely spread and frequently used hosting service today. It's used for hosting web site files, whose sort depends on the OS the web server is using - Linux or Windows. Different kinds of files request concrete web server OSs, otherwise they won't be shown properly on the World Wide Web. This form of web hosting may contain disk space and bandwidth restrictions, server root access and CPU usage limitations.

Based on the mission and on the usage, the user should pick the sort of web server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the web hosting supplier that's going to provide it. There are several sorts of web hosting servers, based on the configuration and the web site hosting services that they offer. These are:

Shared Web Hosting Server - a shared web site hosting server offers a smaller quantity of resources, which, of course, is reflected on the price of the service. It can be used for hosting small sized and medium sized web sites, which do not require immense quotas of data space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Hosting - they perform on the same principle as the shared site hosting servers. Nonetheless, there are much less customers sharing the same web server. For that reason, each of them will obtain a greater quota of the web server's resources like RAM, web storage space, traffic and CPU. Ideal for hosting popular websites that do not demand root-level access.

VPS hosting - the private virtual web hosting servers are excellent for medium size web pages, which do need root-level access to the hosting server's config files. Typically, there are a bunch of VPS server accounts sharing the same server. However, each of them is independent from the rest and has its own OS.

Dedicated Hosting - a completely dedicated web hosting server configured and accessed by you and solely you. It ensures a tremendous amount of resources. It also provides complete root access, which renders it a perfect platform for any kind of website that requires a hosting solution.

The only question that's left is:

Which site hosting provider should I select?

As stated above, there aren't many hosting providers providing warez hosting services because of legal predicaments. Such web hosts are being closed down almost every month. That is why, if you want to provide such a service, you should do it on your own personal computer. The shared web space hosting service is the most famous kind of hosting service. For that reason, each site hosting provider offers it. Not all of them, though, provide solutions such as private virtual web servers, semi-dedicated web hosting servers and dedicated servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting providers do not have the means required for offering those solutions. For that reason it's invariably best to pick a bigger web hosting company that can furnish its clients with all the services that they are searching for. You can easily ID such companies by the types of solutions that they are making available and by the way that they introduce them to the customers. For example, certain companies allow you to commence with a smaller webspace hosting plan and afterwards shift to a more advanced one, if you consider it obligatory to do so. This is extremely suitable, because you do not need to move websites between web hosting servers and there is no danger of experiencing service interruptions due to all the problems that may occur. Hosting companies such as The Ideal Host offer all kinds of solutions and have the adequate web hosting server resources and staff to ensure that their customers will not run into any troubles when changing services, which is what a top hosting distributor is actually all about.