Web hosting, although seemingly complex at first, is actually a very simple process of renting out a dedicated space on a server – either virtual or physical – to a company that is then able to build their website within that space. The selection process to choose a web hosting company should be very much guided by transparent expert reviews. For a reliable resource visit this website to see the global rankings of various hosting companies.
Web hosting providers offer a wide range of services within this rental process and according to what your business needs are, there are four main types of hosting that are designed to meet the different needs of these companies.But before we get to them, I would like to introduce you to reseller hosting. A great way to kick start a business in the field of hosting.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is a great entry-level website and can serve as a starting point for many small business sites and blogs. It offers smaller-scale businesses a simple and inexpensive opportunity to build a website and it is able to do so by sharing a single server’s resources among many domains.
This comes with the obvious financial benefit but sharing limited resources can mean that if there is pressure on another site sharing the same resources, your site’s performance and reliability can suffer.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is an option that allows companies to rent out a single server over which they have complete control and access to all of the resources that the server has to offer.
This option does, however, come at a premium, and to build and manage a dedicated hosting site is a more complex process that requires advanced technical skills that most businesses simply don’t have.
VPS Hosting
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting provides a middle of the range option between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. VPS hosting provides sites with its own space within a shared server meaning they are still bound by the same limits in traffic capacity, but VPS hosting affords site owners more freedom and autonomy to manage their site, in much the same way that dedicated hosting does.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud-based hosting is a scalable and flexible hosting structure that pools together the resources of many computers in a network to build a virtual infrastructure that provides a similar web hosting service to physical servers, except via cloud-based resources.
This means that organizations pay for only the resources they need and use and have a broad range of resources at hand.
Having a physical server can bring a whole set of issues that can be avoided by using cloud hosting: Google data centers recently experienced a reliability scare where the data from one of their servers was failing to reach it’s intended destination and it turns out that the rack on which the server was housed had broken and as a result, the flow of liquid coolant had been disrupted, leading to some of the CPU’s of the server being throttled and ultimately causing them to overheat.
Cloud hosting also means, however, that is not considered very safe, and dedicated server hosting would be a better option for companies who store sensitive information on their site.
Managed Hosting
Generally, most packages offered by web hosting providers are managed. This means that providers offer a range of services when purchasing their space on a domain, such as a server and a site maintenance, design resources, and management of the site.
However, this means that should something go wrong with your site, you rely entirely on the company that is managing your site to fix the issue. This is another factor to consider when selecting your web hosting provider as it is important for the success of your business that you have a reliable and responsive web hosting provider.
HostPapa, a Canadian based web hosting has recently finalized its purchase of Oregon founded company Canvas Host, expanding its shared hosting and managed hosting capabilities, and expanding its service offering into America and offering upgraded services to both their existing clients and the new clients acquired in the purchase of Canvas Host. People also used Wix for an easy solution, although it is rather limited.
Final take
Web hosting can actually be an incredibly simple process, and choosing the right provider can afford you peace of mind and set you up for long term success within the online environment.
Interesting Related Article: “What is web hosting and how does it work?“