What is web hosting?

A website is hosted when a hosting company allocates a place on a web server for storing the files corresponding to a web application. Web hosting makes the resources of a website accessible online. The amount of space allocated to a website on a server is determined by the type of hosting. Shared, dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting are the most common types of hosting. They are distinguished by the type of server technology used, the level of management provided, and the additional services available.

In other words, web hosting is the process of renting or purchasing space on the Internet to house a website. To be seen online, HTML files, CSS files, images and other components making up the website must be stored on a server. People can readily access websites using the internet. GoDaddy, for example, is a hosting service provider that provides services such as domain registration, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and shared web hosting.

What is a hosting server?

A hosting server is a computer that is used to host websites. This server is also necessary for managing the data, programs and operations that are associated with it. It functions similarly to a web server. It has all of the essential features and technology to visit the website from anywhere on the internet.

A web hosting service's most important component is the hosting server. A hosting service provider often builds, delivers, manages and stores all components required for the operation of the website. Various components of a hosting server are operating system, computer hardware, software, internet capacity and accessibility, and most importantly, web hosting software are all examples of these components. All of these are used to a make a comprehensive hosting server.

How does web hosting work?

Companies that rent out their services and technologies to host websites on the internet are known as web hosts. Users can reach the website by typing in the URL (domain name) of the website in the web browser once it has been hosted by the hosting firm. Their computer connects to the server where your website is housed when they do this. The server sends an appropriate response to the web browser which renders the website on the screen.

Why is good hosting important?

When a purchase is made from a web host, server space on which to upload and store all of the website content is being purchased. When a user attempts to access the website, they send a request to the webserver on which the website is being hosted and the web host responds by sending the requested files to the user.

The following website-related services can be provided by a professional and reliable web host to assist the online businesses:

• High website uptime: Users will be able to access the hosted website a complete day ( 24 hours) and a whole year (365 days).
• Cost-effective pricing: It ensures that the customers don't overspend on website hosting and other services.
• Customer service: It provides customer service for a complete day and complete week to answer any technical or non-technical questions or complaints that might arise.
• High-speed and high-performance websites: They can boost incoming traffic and engagement.

Types of Hosting

There are different types of hosting that exists which are listed below.

Shared Hosting

In this type of hosting, there are thousands of websites hosted on the same server by the hosting company. All websites share the same physical memory. Each customer has a limited set of bandwidth.

Virtual private hosting

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS uses virtualization technology and provides dedicated resources on a server with multiple users. In shared hosting, dedicated server space is not provided but VPS provides a dedicated server space that is secure and stable. It offers more flexible hosting plans.

Dedicated Server

It is administered by a single dedicated server that is configured for only one customer. This type of resource is used by the business because it gives power, security, and control to the businesses.

Reseller Hosting

It works as a middle man and it is used to sell hosting space corresponding to someone else's server.

Grid Hosting

It contains a larger number of servers. Many of these hosting options use a single server, while grid hosting distributes resources across a huge number of machines. The hosting server is both dependable and adaptable.

Popular web hosting service providers

The US web hosting service in the year 2021 are those that are quick, dependable, and cost-effective. The following criteria were used to select the best hosting services in the US.

• Customer support
• Features
• Uptime
• Cost
• Speed

Some well-known service providers offering hosting services are listed below.

Bluehost

Bluehost has been in business since 2003, and they now host around 2,000,000 websites. For new websites, they are the low-cost hosting and most popular choice. They are among the top-rated providers in web-hosting because their uptime and speed over the last 12 months have been exceptional – 99.95% and 713 milliseconds, respectively. Bluehost plans include free email addresses, live customer service, and SSL (security layer). It is incredibly convenient, user-friendly, and it is the most excellent entry-level web hosting company in terms of reliability and security.

Bluehost Pros

• The Bluehost has good uptime around 99.95%.
• The decent speed of Bluehost is 713 ms.
• It provides free domain service and site builder.
• The service of Bluehost is applicable 27*7 hours via chat and phone.
• It service is user-friendly which means it is easy to use.

Bluehost Cons

• It does not contain any discount. It contains discounts only on more extended plans.

Hostinger

Hostinger is another web hosting company in the entire world. Fast speeds, cost-effectiveness, and superb service are a few of this provider's selling factors.

Here are some of the most main points:

• Average speed: The average speed of Hostinger is 176 milliseconds. This is global speed.
• The average time it takes for a page to load is 0.55 seconds.
• Availability: It has an availability of 99.9%.
• 20 Gigabyte space, free addresses, unmetered bandwidth, Faster than light caching for quick media distribution, Cloud flare CDN integration, and GitHub integration are just a few of the highlights.
• Realtime support team, Realtime personal conversation assistance, and linguistic interactions are all available.

Pros and cons

DreamHost

DreamHost is a scalable WordPress-based hosting service. Customers can use this hosting option to maintain own Wordpress sites, which includes automated changes, optimization, caching and data loss prevention on a web servers with some other users.

Here are some of the most critical points:

• 1180 ms is the average speed (average)
• 2.35 seconds is the average time it takes for a page to load.
• 99.62 percent uptime
• Features to look for: It has a 30 Gigabyte hard drive. There are no limits to the number of domain names, bandwidth, or email accounts users can have. It has over 750,000 WordPress installations and offers 1-click app installation for WordPress.
• Customer service: Throughout assistance is accessible a complete week.

Pros and Cons

What is WordPress hosting?

WordPress hosting is a form of web hosting product that is used to host a WordPress-powered website. The three essential characteristics of WordPress hosting are to simplify, secure and speed up the web hosting process. It is software that can efficiently run on a Linux hosting server that supports back-end languages such as PHP and MySQL. It uses some resources to create hosting products. It performs better than shared hosting/VPS hosting.
A DreamHost service is a scalable service that allows users to create and manage WordPress websites. To operate WordPress sites, it performs different operations like automatic updates, daily backups, caching, and a content delivery network (CDN).

What is cPanel hosting?

cPanel provides user-friendly service to the users. It works like a desktop application. It is a control panel for managing a website that is based on Linux. Instead of utilizing cPanel to run complex logic, users can take tasks from a consumer interface. Many of the most widely used control panels among hosting businesses and web developers are cPanel. It provides SEO features, data tracking, MYSQL, and web files. When cPanel is used alongside Web Host Manager (WHM), they provide better functionality. The role of WHM is to provide administrative control over the server.

Common Mistakes

Generally, people get confused between the terms URL and domain name. A URL corresponds to Uniform Resource Locator which is a complete address of a particular webpage while a domain name corresponds to the name of the website. A URL comprises of protocol, domain name, port, path, and query string, and includes a domain name.

Context and Applications

This topic is significant in the professional exams for both graduate and postgraduate courses, especially for:

• Bachelors in Computer Science.
• Bachelors in Information Technology.

Related Topics

• Securing E-Commerce websites
• Email hosting
• Server data protection

Practice Problems

Q1- Each and every uniform resource locator contains domain name.

1. True
2. False

Correct answer: 1. True

Explanation- URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are the web addresses you type into your browser's address bar. They contain a site's domain name as well as any directories or files you're attempting to open.

Q2- A unique address that computers use to order to identify and communicate with each other on a computing network.

1. HTTP
2. ISP
3. IP address
4. HTTP

Correct answer: 3. IP address

Explanation- An IP Address is a unique identification assigned to every computer linked to the Web. The language that computers use to communicate across the Internet is known as Internet Protocol (IP).

Q3- Which one is the web hosting service provider?

1. Hostinger
2. Dreamhost
3. Bluehost
4. All

Correct answer: 4. All

Explanation- The top web hosting services are those that are quick, dependable, and cost-effective. The following criteria were used to select the best hosting services in the US. Hostinger, Dreamhost, Bluehost are an example of web hosting service providers.

Q4- A web hosting service where more than one website is hosted on the same server.

1. Dedicated server
2. Web server
3. Shared hosting
4. VPS hosting

Correct answer: 3. Shared hosting

Explanation- Shared hosting is a setup in which multiple websites are hosted on the same server.

Q5- ISP stands for-

1. Internet service provider
2. Internet state provider
3. Intranet service provider
4. Intranet state provider

Correct answer: 1. Internet service provider

Explanation- An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the term used in the business to describe a corporation that can connect you to the Internet via a computer. When someone mentions their "provider" when talking about the Internet, they are usually referring to their Internet service provider or ISP.