Have you ever wondered how a website is held up on the internet? Websites do require an allotted space to be up and accessible to us at all times. These websites are allotted to the internet with the help of servers. Servers can be referred to as houses that provide the websites with a space of their own. These servers also provide the websites with all the resources necessary for them to function on the internet.
Now coming to web hosting, it is the process by which a server holds up a website onto the internet. Web hosting involves the complete action of keeping up a website from start to end. The servers are employed with resources such as bandwidth, RAM, storage, etc., to support hosting the website. These resources are required to keep the websites up and running at all times. The extent of resources a server is able to provide determines how powerful the server is. This in turn dictates how efficiently the website can run.
These servers cannot be owned by everyone since it requires a large amount of capital and storage space to set up. Hence there are companies that own servers and rent out space and resources to people who wish to host their websites. These companies are known as web hosting service providers. They usually offer a wide range of hosting plans for one to choose from depending on how efficient the providers are.
Types of Web Hosting
Depending on the availability of resources, there are a number of hosting platforms one can choose from. Each type of server comes with its own set of benefits and advantages. The cost for each server platform also varies depending on what they offer. Here are some of the most popular options.
1. Shared server
This is the most preferred hosting platform by most beginners. The factor that attracts most beginners to shared hosting is that it is very affordable. In a shared server, as the name suggests, you share your server with other users. One single server hosts multiple websites and provides resources for all of those websites.
2. Virtual Private Server
Popularly known as VPS, it is a little more advanced platform than shared hosting. Just like in a shared server, a single physical server hosts multiple websites in this type too. But, in a way that is very different to shared hosting. In this, a single physical server sets up multiple virtual private servers. The websites are hosted by these individual virtual servers. Each of them has their own allocated space and set of resources to host the websites. Hence, users need not share resources with anyone else.
3. Dedicated Server
Dedicated servers are a lot more powerful in comparison to shared and VPS hosting. In this type, each user gets their own physical server and the benefits of all its resources. The user
gets complete control over their server. There is no other party influencing the speed or security of the server. This provides the users with a lot more enhanced hosting experience.
4. Cloud Server
Cloud hosting is a little more technologically advanced than the rest of the platforms mentioned here. Cloud computation uses multiple servers that are interconnected in a network to form an atmosphere called the Cloud. The websites are hosted on this cloud rather than a physical server. This technology ensures that no downtime is faced by your websites since there are more than one server backing up your website.
As you can see that there is more than one way to host a website and you have the liberty to pick a platform that meets your requirements. Web hosting is important in this era to run any successful website. It is suggested that you make use of a good web hosting plan from the best hosting provider in order to take your business forward.