Choosing A Quality Hosting Provider

The Basics of Web Hosting

Launching your website with a hosting service is the last step in creating a place for yourself on the vast plains of the Internet. A hosting service is a company that provides access to web hosting servers. Hosting servers are used to store the data and files that make up your website. Servers are connected to each other through the Internet, making your site available to anyone worldwide. A hosting service is like a liaison between you and the incredibly technological babble of the server software. Data centers can  hold tens of thousands of servers in a climate controlled building. The best data centers provide a high level of “uptime”, which ensures site is available 24/7. The better hosting companies provide hands on customer support when there is trouble with server connections or mail failure.

Security is a major factor when choosing a web-hosting provider.

Hosting Services

Shared Hosting is when one server hosts multiple sites. If your site is a small, does not serve large quantities of videos and does not receive tens of thousands of visitors per month, you are not going to need an enormous amount of space and bandwidth that a dedicated server would give you. This is the more popular and economical option for hosting a website.  Choosing this option is just as secure as having a dedicated server, if proper security steps are taken.

Dedicated Hosting is choosing one server to have all to yourself. This is critical for larger sites or sites that will have a lot of content, such as photo galleries, blogs, and forums. The same security measures must also be put in place. Dedicated servers are also great for those who need to ensure that their data is hosted separately from other users.

Cloud Hosting is the newest form of hosting. With cloud hosting there is no physical server where all the files of a website are stored. Website files are stored on multiple shared servers so a connection pulls information from different areas. This means that sites are not limited to the power of a single server.

Below is a list of services that come with hosting a website:

1. Bandwidth is the measurement of the connection between a browser and a server.

2. Disk Space is the space allotted to your website. The more dynamic a site, the more space it will need.

3. Memory is the amount of memory used to serve your website and produce dynamic pages and custom functionality. Dynamic websites require far more memory than static website

4. Database is where dynamic data is stored. Depending on your Content Management System (CMS) you may require a MySQL or MS SQL Database

5. Programming language is the language used to serve up dynamic content. Depending on your CMS, you may require PHP, ASP, JSP, Ruby, CGI or Python

6. Email is your own dedicated email address such as your.name@yourdomain.ca