Types of Shared Web Hosting
Shared website hosting is where multiple websites are hosted on the same server; each website is contained within its own folder or location on the server to keep it separate from other websites which are hosted on the same server. Shared hosting is seen as the most economical type of website hosting since the cost of server maintenance as well as other server related costs are spread across a large amount of customers, meaning that the cost of hosting for each customer is low; generally the more customers that can be fitted onto a high performance server, the less the website hosting package or packages will cost. Shared hosting is normally where most webmasters begin, and then work their way up the chain to eventually owning a dedicated server; this is because shared hosting packages are generally every cheap, and the amount of skilled needed to begin with is very low. Shared hosting is normally only available on two different types of operating system: Linux and Windows; this is because most web applications are built to suite either one of these platforms, and hosting control panels are only mainly made for Linux and Windows. One thing to note though is that there are a few hosts who do offer shared hosting on BSD based systems, although BSD operating systems are only normally available on dedicated servers.
Types of Shared Web Hosting
There are different types of shared website hosting, which can cover different areas and services that a site may require to be able to run. The owner of a website might choose to disperse the hosting of the services which they require for their website for extra redundancy; in most cases this is done because the website is ‘mission critical’ and they want to minimize the amount of downtime as much as they possibly can - but might not be able to afford a dedicated server or a clustered website hosting package. These different types of shared hosting also allow for people to only host what they need to host; for example a customer might only require email hosting, and not actual website hosting - this means that all they have to do is choose a shared email hosting plan that matches their specifications. One thing to note is that most shared hosting plans, whatever the type, provide some sort of DNS hosting in some way or another; without the use of a DNS server or servers, any service related to your website won’t be able to run - for example, you won’t be able receive any emails without the use of DNS because the email servers for your domain won’t be findable since your MX (mail exchanger) DNS records can’t be found since you don’t have any DNS servers attached to your domain. Examples of different types of shared website hosting are the following sections.
Application Specific Web Hosting
Application specific web hosting is the term that is given to web hosting which caters for specific website applications, or categories of website. In most cases, application specific web hosting covers categories such as blogging, image and video (multimedia) hosting, and in some cases specific applications have their own web hosting packages. This type of shared hosting can be of benefit for those who are looking to host a website which makes use of one of the three categories that are hosted for; those with little technical knowledge on how to get their website running with certain applications might also find themselves interested in application specific website hosting. Application specific can also take the form of free web hosting as well as paid web hosting; for example Blogger is an online service that allows you to create and write your own blog - it allows you to do this for free, on the other hand there might be a web host that is offering a hosting plan which has Wordpress already installed on it so that the customer is able to start their blog straight away. Both the free and paid types have their advantages, but the free versions tend to have adverts plastered all over them which can spoil both the environment and look of your website.
Game Server Hosting
Game server hosting is used by players to host league table matches; most games that are played over the internet require a connection to some sort of game server. Game server hosting rarely comes as a type of shared web hosting because of the bandwidth and CPU requirements of a game server to allow it to run; in most cases a host would advise a customer to go with a dedicated server to allow them to host their online gaming community. Game servers are also referred to as ‘listen servers’ and are run of the same machine as the gaming client; the server is normally shut down when the client is since both are hosted together. The gaming server has software built into it to limit the number of players that are allowed to play on the server at one time; this is because of the bandwidth and CPU restraints that even face a game server that is hosted on a dedicated server. Game servers that are hosted within a shared environment are normally placed on a server cluster; this can help ease the strain on both the CPU and bandwidth of each server and can ensure that the game can be played effectively without any problems. Game server providers, such as eUKhost, offer many titles for their customers to choose from when ordering their dedicated gaming server; this game will then be installed for them on receipt of the server so that they can get on with the thing that matters to them most straight away - gaming.
File Hosting
File hosting is a common type of shared hosting which people use mainly to backup data either on their home PC or that which is contained within either their shared hosting account, or on their VPS or dedicated server. File hosting normally doesn’t require the user to have a domain since the file transferring is done either through a web based control or via FTP (file transfer protocol). The amount of storage that you are assigned for hosting your files in is normally measured in gigbytes (GB) because of the size of files that we wish to store of backup these days; a few years ago the amount of space allocated to you would have been measured in megabytes (MB). With backup or file storage solutions that have been designed for use by large corporations or people who need to access the files whenever without any trouble, caches are normally deployed; caches ensure that the data can still be accessed even if there are bandwidth or connection problems on the host’s network. Open file hosting services are ones which don’t require users to register before they are able to upload any type of file - instead they only have to visit one page of the website and they are able to upload any file more or less instantly, services which take this form are normally free but plastered in adverts; this kind of service is preferred by people such as shareware authors since they are able to host the files for their free products without having to pay a penny - millions of people are also able to download the files in most cases, although with some premium services may have a restriction on something like this. File hosting is sometimes referred to as ‘off-site backup’; this is because the files are being backed up from the server and then transported over to the file hosting service where they are then stored - or in other words, backed up.
E-Mail Hosting
Email hosting is standard shared hosting, but without the ability to host a website; instead it only allows you to setup and configure email accounts for the domain which you have purchased the hosting for. Email hosting is normally purchased by a user who doesn’t require a website but needs email, or if the customer wants to host their website somewhere else for more redundancy. Another reason for the uptake of separate email hosting might be to take advantage of extra mail services provided by another company which aren’t available on your current hosting plan; for example someone might take up separate email hosting so that they could use Exchange Server 2007 email services which their current host doesn’t provide - however, this scenario is highly unlikely since if a business did need to take advantage of an enterprise email system such as Exchange server then they would most likely have it installed on their own servers. If you don’t need a website at the time you purchase your domain, then email only hosting will be perfect for you since the DNS servers will be provided for you to point your domain to, and you will be provided with a control panel which you can use to setup and configure email accounts for your domain; any good host will allow you to upgrade your account to one which does have support for a website at a later stage. There are already some free separate email hosting services that are available for you to use; two of the best known ones are based on the GUIs of two of the worlds most popular webmail interfaces - GMail and Windows Live Mail. Both Microsoft and Google have developed their own systems to allow members of the public to utilize the company’s services under their own domains; this has been a blow for the email hosting market since these systems also incorporate other enterprise class features such as calendar and contact sharing, as well as document storage.
DNS Hosting
DNS stands for domain name system and is the name which generally brands the technical working of domains; each domain has its own ‘zone’ on a name server which it has been delegated to, this zone contains all the data which other computers and servers on the internet use to communicate with the servers that host the domain in question to allow people to view a website and to allow for email to be delivered. DNS hosting is a type of shared hosting only the DNS records for a domain are held, and no other services such as the hosting of a website or email are involved. A DNS zone hold the DNS records for a domain, which control the location of the website as well as where the email for the website is routed to. One may choose to you separate DNS hosting to ensure extra redundancy in the current DNS setup, or so that they are able to control their DNS zone without having to be stuck to one host if they want to have all their hosting services dispersed amongst several different companies. DNS hosting is normally provided by domain registrars to allow their customers to take control of their domain without having to purchase a hosting account with them, and to allow them to utilize hosting that they might already have with another company; there are also some free services out there which can provide you with free DNS hosting if you are not able to provide your own or are not satisfied with the DNS hosting which is provided by your hosting provider or domain registrar. Your current DNS setup may not be that reliable, so you might choose to use an external DNS hosting company to ensure that if the DNS service with your web host does pack up, you have backup to ensure that your website is still reachable. If you have your hosting and DNS with one host, then the chances of your website going down are highly likely; if the DNS service on the server fails then your website will be completely inaccessible, and since most host’s use the single point of failure, they will have no backup which your domain can use - one thing to note though is that other services such as email and web services might still be running. If you utilize another DNS provider then your website will still be accessible if it is only the DNS service that had failed on the server, other services such as email might not be affected either.
