Hosting
Hosting
Web hosting is often referred to straightly as ‘hosting’ by those who work in the web hosting market, and such is easier for prospective customers to remember the term ‘host’ instead of ‘web hosting’ and also makes it easier for web hosting providers when they are selling their services. Hosting services are generally used by businesses and individuals who need to host a domain or website that they own, although in the case of a website they will be hosting a domain as well. Hosting services don’t always have to be about the hosting of a website since web hosting companies also provide hosting for related services that are also needed by customers such as email hosting and DNS hosting. There are now many hosting companies around offering both UK and US based hosting services based on the needs of the consumer, meaning that finding a hosting provider in the right location needn’t be as hard as it used to be, especially with the use of the many internet search engines that are now available for use.
Hosting is primarily available in two different forms: Linux hosting and Windows web hosting, meaning that there is always a web hosting package available that is able to suit the needs of each consumer that wants to purchase a web hosting service. Linux hosting is designed for those who want to host basic websites in a secure and reliable hosting environment, as well as developers who may have developed complex websites or applications using PHP or Perl and MySQL that can only be hosted in a Linux hosting environment because of the technologies used. Windows hosting packages are aimed towards those who need Microsoft specific web hosting for websites or applications that have been designed and built using classic ASP, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Access in some way or another; all of these products will not run on Linux based web hosting, meaning that a Windows hosting service is required in this situation. Choosing a hosting service which is based on the right operating system for your needs is important since you could end up finding that you have a web hosting package that you can’t use because you are unable to run the important files that are needed to allow your website to run smoothly on a hosting package.
Hosting providers normally provide customers will access to some sort of control panel for easy account management. The main purpose of a hosting control panel is to allow both the web hosting company offering the service and customers manage their accounts with ease; for example web hosting companies can easily manage the clients that they are hosting on each server and their clients can easily manage the different aspects of their web hosting accounts without the need for any form of support to begin with. For Linux hosting services you will probably find that your hosting provider will provide you with access to the cPanel control panel which is seen as the most popular control panel for Linux web hosting packages; cPanel provides you with many advance features for Linux hosting account management meaning that you can manage more or less any aspect of your Linux hosting service. Windows hosting providers generally use the Parallel’s Plesk control panel for their hosting accounts, meaning that this is the control panel that you are most likely to be provided with access to if you purchase a Windows hosting service; Plesk boasts many different features aimed at making managing your Windows hosting account much easier, for example there is a built in feature aimed at easier management of ASP.NET websites and applications hosted under your hosting account.
Hosting services can come in different forms: for example you can get a standard shared hosting package for your basic needs, a reseller hosting account or VPS hosting server if you wish to host more than one website and dedicated server hosting for those who require the highest amount of reliability from a web hosting package. Shared hosting packages are seen as the cheapest web hosting packages and most basic form of web hosting available meaning that they are used by many who are new to the web hosting industry before upgrading to higher level web hosting plans. Reseller hosting services are normally used by those who need to host multiple websites on behalf of clients, and those who need to host a large amount of websites will also be using VPS hosting services. VPS hosting services are sometimes used by those who need a dedicated server but are unable to meet the costs or by those who need to host multiple websites but find reseller hosting is too basic for their needs. Dedicated hosting servers are seen as the best and most reliable form of hosting around, although they are also the most expensive; dedicated server hosting is normally used by businesses that need to ensure that their websites or applications are available all the time, and by individuals who need to host a large amount of websites buts also need to be ensured reliability from the hosting package that they purchase.
Hosting service are now also supplied with support meaning that if you need help with a certain aspect of your hosting account, you can normally ask your web hosting provider’s support team in the event that you are eligible for free support. Hosting support can be a useful resource for those who are new to web hosting since it provides them with a sort of comfort zone that they can fall back into if they find that they are unable to carry out a certain task with their hosting account. Professional web hosting providers will have well trained web hosting support teams for which the most complicated of web hosting administration tasks are easy. Although most shared hosting and reseller hosting packages are provided with full support, some VPS and dedicated hosting servers may only come semi-managed since the management of a dedicated or VPS Hosting server is an extra task for a web hosting support team whereas on normal terms they would have to deal with a shared or reseller hosting server anyway. Hosting support teams are also responsible for the management of VPS hosting nodes, menaing that in some cases you may be able to find a VPS hosting server that comes with full support.
In conclusion, there is always a form of hosting available that will suit the needs of each consumer who wants to purchase a hosting package. Since more or less every web hosting package sold these days is sold with a control panel, managing a hosting package is now easier than it has ever been meaning that even those who aren’t so good with computers can easily purchase a web hosting package and use the control panel that they are provided with access to use to easily setup and manage their domain and web hosting account. Selecting the right web hosting package can be confusing for some because of the many different forms available, but as long as you have an idea of how busy your website or application that you want to host will be then select the right form of web hosting needn’t be as hard as you think it might be, especially with the right guidance.
