A definition of hosting

As its name suggests, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are various forms and kinds of hosting, based on the mission and on the usage. In spite of that, they all pertain to hosting files, which, once hosted, are made accessible throughout the Web. A web host is actually a web server that is linked to the World Wide Web and has its own personal Internet Protocol address, which permits people to gain access to it via the Web. The web server's architecture and its limitations are determined by the sort of web hosting service it will be used for.

What are the different forms of web hosting?

Depending on the function, the professional hosting service may be:

File Storage Web Hosting - this form of web hosting permits the customers to store their files on a particular web hosting server. With the average file storage web hosting solution, the files that are stashed may only be accessed by the customer that's utilizing the service. This web hosting service generally pertains to backups of computers , docs, personal files and even other servers. This solution may also have certain limitations in terms of the storage space and the root privileges. There may also be traffic quota limits, but that is dependent on the actual host.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez web hosting solution is comparable with the previous hosting service type. However, in contrast with the file storage hosting solution, the warez web hosting solution is used for spreading proprietary work without being given the okay to do so by the license possessor. In short - it is connected with the prohibited circulation of files and docs. There are multiple methods for this to be executed, but the 2 main ways are - via simple HTTP downloading and via peer-to-peer connections. The first one entails either a particular web page, or, most commonly, just a directory on a server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download copyrighted files free of charge. The second approach involves a peer-to-peer connection, utilizing the so-called Torrent servers, through which users transfer files between each other. There are not many web space hosting companies that allow such form of web hosting on their hosting servers, chiefly owing to all the judicial problems that it involves. Usually such web portals are hosted on personal dedicated web hosting servers that are registered by third-party enterprises either in the Middle East or in Asia.

E-mail Hosting - this service is used with both shared site hosting and dedicated hosting servers, depending on the client's desire. If you want to have your own personal SMTP e-mail server, then you will require either a virtual web hosting server or a dedicated server that offers the access level needed to perform such a procedure. For common email hosting ends, though, you can open an average shared web space hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain name. This is not a service that's very famous, since the website hosting and the electronic mail hosting services are being served by two different web servers, usually owned by different providers.

Site Hosting - the most famous and widely used hosting service at the moment. It's used for hosting site files, whose type depends on the OS the server is using - Linux or Windows. Different types of files request concrete hosting server OSs, otherwise they won't be shown accurately on the World Wide Web. This type of web hosting may impose server storage and web traffic quota limits, root-level access and central processing unit usage limitations.

Depending on the goals and on the functions, the customer should pick the type of server that he needs for his work, and, of course, the website hosting supplier that's going to furnish it. There are various kinds of servers, depending on the configuration and the web site hosting services that they provide. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web page hosting server supplies a smaller quantity of system resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small sized and medium web portals, which do not require enormous quotas of server storage space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated Servers - they work on the same principle as the shared web space hosting servers. Even so, there are much less users sharing the same server. Because of that, each of them will obtain a greater quota of the web server's resources like RAM, data storage, traffic and CPU. Perfect for hosting big online portals that do not need complete server root access.

Virtual Private Server - the private virtual web servers are ideal for medium scale online portals, which do demand root-level access to the server's configuration files. Typically, there are a handful of virtual web server hosting accounts accommodated on the same physical machine. Nonetheless, each of them is isolated from the others and has its own OS.

Dedicated Server - a completely dedicated hosting server set up and accessed by you and solely you. It guarantees an enormous quantity of resources. It also gives root access, which makes it the optimal platform for any type of web page that necessitates a web hosting service.

The only question that's left is:

Which website hosting firm should I select?

As stated above, there are very few web hosting companies providing warez web hosting solutions due to judicial predicaments. Such hosting companies are being closed down virtually every month. For that reason, if you desire to set up such a service, you should do it on your very own personal computer. The shared web space hosting solution is the most widely spread kind of hosting service. So, each website hosting company offers it. Not all of them, though, offer services such as virtual private web servers, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small sized web space hosting companies do not have the resources demanded for maintaining those services. Therefore it's always best to select a larger web hosting company that can provide its clients with all the solutions that they need. You can easily identify such web hosting companies by the kinds of services that they are providing and by the way that they present them to the customers. For instance, certain web hosting companies permit you to begin with a small sized webspace hosting package and afterwards upgrade to a more powerful one, if you find it mandatory to do so. This is quite suitable, since you do not need to migrate web portals between servers and there is no chance of suffering network outages due to all the complications that may appear. Web hosts like Metz Hosting offer all types of services and have the adequate web hosting server resources and personnel to assure that their clients will not come across any hassles when swapping services, which is what a top hosting firm is in fact all about.