What is meant by Web hosting

Shared hosting:

one's Web site is placed on the same server as several hundred other sites. A problem with another site on the server can bring all of the sites down. Shared hosting also brings with it some restrictions regarding what exactly can be done, although these restrictions are nowhere near as restrictive as for free hosting.

Clustered hosting:

designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures, it offers the benefits of a dedicated server, but at affordable shared hosting prices. This hosting technology platform provides customers with a "clustered" handling of security, load balancing, and necessary Web site resources. Resources are virtualized beyond the limits of one physical server and dynamic load balancing disperses traffic to ensure performance is optimal for all customer accounts.

Reseller hosting: designed for those who want to become Web hosts themselves. One gets a large amount of space and bandwidth that can be divided up among as many sites as the user wants to put on his account. A reseller account is placed on the same server with other reseller accounts, just like with shared hosting but there are fewer accounts.

Virtual Private Server (or Virtual Dedicated Server) hosting: Virtual Private Server technology enables one physical server to house several Virtual Environments which behave exactly like an isolated stand-alone server. This is often a much more affordable solution than a dedicated server, normally offering all the same benefits, such as root access.

Dedicated hosting: With dedicated hosting, one gets a server of one's own. They have no restrictions, except for those designed to maintain the integrity of the Web host's network (for instance, banning sites with adult content due to the increase risk of attack by hackers and grey legal issues for the ISP). Unless a separate plan is purchased from the host, the user is also generally on his own. This can be an expensive proposition, as the purchase of the dedicated server itself is generally far more expensive compared to shared hosting.

Colocated hosting: This involves a server the user purchases himself and installs at the host's data center. Besides unmonitored reboots, the user must pay extra for many services dedicated hosting provides by default. Colocated hosting is generally chosen by people with server administration experience and those with more significant needs than which can be satisfied by dedicated or shared hosting. This is usually the most expensive and least cost effective option if you are not colocating many servers.

Of all these most fitting and cheapest way for 99% of new webmasters will be shared hosting.

Obtaining hosting

Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering these services. The free services generally have restrictions on how the space can be used, including but not limited to: advertising, bandwidth restrictions, and programs that can be used to edit sites. Businesses are generally restricted to using a paid Web host to host their site on. Paid Web hosts usually provide many more features, including 24/7 support and personalized assistance. Sites hosted on paid Web hosts also tend to load more quickly since each server hosts fewer sites, giving each site a larger proportion of resources.

Steps to perform a web host

1.You find the best web hosting plan that will fit your needs - that's the major point of the hosting plans database on this site.

2.You sign up (probably using a credit card) with that web host.  You choose how often you will be charged (usually monthly to yearly).

3.You get a confirmation email (or see the info displayed in your browser) with so-called name servers and other data that you may need (such as temporary address where you can see your site and the web address of the control panel for your site).

4.You login to the account you created when you have registered your domain name (see above) and you change your domain's name servers to those that you received in the previous step.

5.You upload all the HTML, graphics, and programming files that were created when you designed your site (see above) from your hard drive to your hosting account.  This can be done either by using an FTP client such as the one built-in to your operating system (or for example CuteFTP or WS_FTP), by using your web page editor such as FrontPage, or by using the control panel of your site.

6.After your name servers changes propagate across the Internet (usually up to 48 hours), you will be able to access your new web site at your domain name.  Even before that, you can usually see your site at the temporary address you were given in step 3.

Some Frequently asked Questions about hosting

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transmitted at a given moment to a server. The higher your bandwidth, the larger amount of traffic your site can handle at one time.

Is unlimited bandwidth possible?

No. Offering unlimited bandwidth or disk space is simply not possible as all hardware has limitations.

How do I upload files to my hosting account?

You will need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program like WS FTP.

What is uptime?

Your uptime is the percentage of time that your web site is reachable. Most web host will offer 99% or more uptime (excluding scheduled maintenance).

What is the cgi-bin?

The cgi-bin is a directory set aside by your host where you can store and run your cgi scripts. Although most host allow cgi scripts to be used in any directory, this is usually defualt directory for cgi scripts.

What is a subdomain?

A subdomain is a sub directory you can add to your site. For example: http://name.mydomain.com This is very useful if you run a large site and would like to break it up into sections.

What is .htaccess?

The .htaccess file is an ordinary text file that you can create using Notepad or any text editor and ftp it into your Web root directory. This file will contain the configuration statements (commands) to customize the Apache Web server software for your Website. The .htaccess file can be used to password protect directories and many other things, but if your not careful can really harm your website. If you make a mistake with .htaccess you will need to delete it from your server or upload a new one. Always keep backups.

What is SSI?

SSI, or Server-Side Include, is a type of HTML comment that directs the Web server to dynamically generate data for the Web page whenever it is requested. Web pages that use SSIs often end with a .shtml extension, though this is not a requirement.

What is telnet?

Telnet is a user command and an underlying TCP/IP protocol for accessing remote computers. On the Web, HTTP and FTP protocols allow you to request specific files from remote computers, but not to actually be logged on as a user of that computer. With Telnet, you log on as a regular user with whatever privileges you may have been granted to the specific application and data on that computer.

What are cron jobs?

Cron jobs are set in crontabs (or cron tables) on a server. Cron Jobs are used when you need to run a script or execute a command on a certain schedule. For example, your could set a crontab to do a backup every few hours.

Cheap web hostings

Here are some things you should know before finding a "cheap" or inexpensive web host.

You should pay very careful attention to the terms of use and the acceptable use policy of that host. 

You can find a good deal because web hosting industry is very competitive but if a host is way too cheap for the features it offers compared to others, don't go with them.

Going with a cheap host requires extra research 

Visit the support pages and see if you are comfortable with the level of support offered by the host.  You can't expect to get the greatest and fastest support for every little problem you have by paying less than $5/month.  Such a business would fail soon because qualified support personnel costs money. 

Larger companies and Windows plans are usually more expensive.

Cheap hosts oversell space and bandwidth, counting on the fact that most people won't use them fully.  This is normal and you shouldn't be kicked out if you do use all your allocated space and bandwidth.

Cheap hosts often don't fully control their servers - they might have a dedicated server with another company to make their costs lowest possible, so they are sometimes forced to rely on others to perform some physical tasks like replacing some hardware on the server.