A definition of web hosting

As its name hints, web hosting is a service, which involves hosting online content. There are different varieties and types of web hosting, based on the goals and on the functions. In spite of that, they all are associated with hosting files, which, once hosted, are made available throughout the Internet. A host is actually a hosting server that is connected to the Internet and has its own Internet Protocol address, which allows users to access it through the Web. The web server's architecture and its resources depend on the form of hosting solution it will be used for.

What are the various forms of hosting?

Based on the usage, the professional hosting solution may be:

File Web Hosting - this type of hosting permits the users to store their files on a particular server. With the routine file storage web hosting service, the files that are stored may only be accessed by the customer that's using the service. This hosting solution usually is associated with backups of PCs , documents, private files and even other hosting servers. This service may also impose certain limits in terms of the web storage space and the root privileges. There may also be traffic limitations, but that depends on the actual hosting provider.

Warez Web Hosting - the so-called warez hosting service is very similar to the previous web hosting service type. Still, unlike the file storage web hosting service, the warez hosting service is used for distributing proprietary materials without the blessing of the patent owner. In short - it is related to the illegitimate propagation of files and docs. There are many approaches for this to be done, but the two essential approaches are - through simple HTTP downloading and through peer-to-peer connections. The first way entails either a given web site, or, most often, just a directory on a web hosting server that's been made available for everybody to access it and thereby download copyrighted files for free. The second approach involves a P2P connection, availing of the so-called Torrent web servers, through which users exchange files between each other. There are just a few web page hosting corporations that permit such type of hosting on their web hosting servers, chiefly owing to all the legal troubles that it presupposes. Generally such web pages are hosted on personal dedicated hosting servers that are registered by third-party firms either in the Middle East or in Asia.

Mail Web Hosting - this solution is relevant with both shared web site hosting and dedicated web hosting servers, depending on the user's wish. If you would like to build your very own private SMTP mail server, then you will need either a VPS server or a dedicated web hosting server that offers the access level needed to carry out such an assignment. For standard mail hosting purposes, however, you can use a conventional shared web hosting account, to which you can point the mail exchanger records of your domain. This is not a service that's very used, since the web hosting and the e-mail hosting services are being served by 2 separate web servers, usually owned by different firms.

Web Site Hosting - the most famous and extensively used hosting service now. It's utilized for hosting site files, whose kind is determined by the OS the server is availing of - Linux or Windows. Different types of files require specific web hosting server OSs, or else they won't be exhibited correctly on the Web. This type of hosting may involve data storage and bandwidth limits, root-level access and CPU usage limits.

Based on the mission and on the functions, the customer should pick the sort of hosting server that he demands for his project, and, of course, the web site hosting company that's going to provide it. There are different types of web hosting servers, depending on the specs and the web space hosting solutions that they offer. These are:

Shared Hosting Server - a shared web hosting server provides a smaller amount of resources, which, of course, is manifested in the price of the service. It can be utilized for hosting small and medium scale web sites, which do not need immense quantities of web space and web traffic.

Semi-Dedicated - they operate on the very same principle as the shared webspace hosting servers. Still, there are much less users sharing the same hosting server. That is why, each of them will enjoy a greater share of the web hosting server's resources like RAM, disk storage space, bandwidth and CPU. Ideal for hosting popular sites that do not require complete root-level access.

VPS hosting - the private virtual servers are perfect for middle scale web sites, which do demand root access to the web hosting server's configuration files. Commonly, there are a bunch of VPS web hosting accounts sharing the same server. Still, each of them is isolated from the others and runs its own OS.

Dedicated Server - a fully dedicated server configured and accessed by you and only you. It ensures a considerable quantity of resources. It also gives full root access, which renders it an excellent solution for any type of web page that demands a site hosting service.

The only question that's left is:

Which hosting vendor should I choose?

As already mentioned, there aren't many hosting providers offering warez hosting solutions because of judicial problems. Such hosting providers are being shut down virtually every month. Therefore, if you wish to set up such a service, you should do it on your own computer. The shared webspace hosting service is the most popular kind of web hosting service. Because of that, each hosting vendor provides it. Not all of them, however, provide services such as VPSs, semi-dedicated web servers and dedicated web hosting servers. Most of the small sized web site hosting suppliers do not have the resources demanded for maintaining those services. That is the reason why it's invariably best to choose a larger web hosting company that can supply its clients with all the services that they are searching for. You can quickly identify such companies by the kinds of solutions that they are providing and by the manner in which they introduce them to the clients. For example, certain hosting companies allow you to begin with a low-end website hosting account and afterwards move to a bigger one, if you find it compulsory to do so. This is extremely suitable, since you do not need to relocate websites between web servers and there is no chance of suffering network outages because of all the predicaments that may show up. Companies such as Lonex provide all types of services and have the adequate hosting server resources and personnel to assure that their customers will not suffer any hassles when changing services, which is what a top hosting vendor is actually all about.