Basic concepts of hosting a website

Anyone who wants to enter the World Wide Web should be familiar with the terminologies that are commonly used in this field. One of the most common terms that you will encounter is hosting a website . Web hosting basically mean, a computer connected to the internet or it can also be termed as a web server. A hosting is designed to be a powerful system that has the ability to serve up websites and allow them to function at their peak. Hosting a website is no joke as it should be able to meet all requirements of the users and of course the website itself so as to keep it up and running. In general terms, hosting a website come in three main categories and these are classified based on the economic factor and common features: 1. Free host - Users who have websites as a hobby and don't use them as a business or don't use them professionally should for free hosting. In this option, storage space, bandwidth, and other features provided are only limited. Though this type of hosting is great for making a website successful, but it can only serve for temporary usage. 2. Shared hosting - This is widely used but it is only suitable for personal and small and medium business. This can cost from $1 to $25 a month. The features may vary depending on the webhosting service, but usually, there is a limited space/bandwidth and sometimes, performance may be compromised due to the fact that the server is shared by multiple websites. Other than that, this hosting can deliver fair performance. 3. Dedicated hosts - This is the most reliable when hosting a website. One full server is dedicated to a single user so performance and reliability is top notch. This is the type of hosting that is used by huge companies and professionals who critically needs their website to be up and running 24/7. This may come with a pricey cost, but the quality of service cannot be compromised. Other hosting a website includes the collocated hosts and reseller hosts. All these provide specific features and services thus if you want to find the best hosting for your website, consider looking at the different features and reliability guarantee of each.
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Choosing Between Free or Paid Web Hosting

There are a number of things to consider when choosing between a free or paid web hosting service. Setting aside cost for a moment, lets look at some factors that will help you make an informative decision.The very first thing you must consider is the intent or purpose of your website. Are you looking for a convenient way to share photos of family and friends? Or, are you considering something a little more complex such as adding multiple pages with different content on each? How about a website to promote a product or business?The purpose of your website will act as a key component in determining which type of web hosting service is best suited for you. For example, if your website will be used primarily for personal postings, your file sizes aren't very large and you don't expect a lot of traffic, you won't require a lot of disk space or bandwidth for your hosting. If this is the case, a free web hosting service may meet your needs. Free web hosting services are also useful if you're inexperienced in creating web pages. This type of service can provide an excellent opportunity for you to learn and practice your html skills. You could even use a free service as a test site before uploading your web pages to your live website.Keep in mind that most free web hosting services provide limited features compared to paid web hosting services, but normally offer enough disk space and bandwidth to host a small website. To help offset costs, though, most free providers will place advertisements on your web pages.With paid hosting, you'll find a variety of available plans to choose from. These plans allow more disk space and bandwidth, and usually include a number of other features such as free domain names, free sub-domains and unlimited email accounts. Some of the more advanced common features are a CGI-Bin, MySQL databases and Microsoft FrontPage extensions.Compared to free web hosting, you'll also find that the services provided by paid web hosting companies are much more reliable, not to mention offering a higher level of customer support.Cost wise, there is no charge to register for a free web hosting service, although you may be required to purchase your own domain name. For a basic paid service, you can expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $10 per month - a very small price for the improved service, support and features you receive.
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