What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a

website or web page onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service
provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for
the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or
stored, on special computers called servers.

When Internet users want to view your website, all they need to do is type your
website address or domain into their browser. Their computer will then connect
to your server and your webpages will be delivered to them through the
browser.

Most hosting companies require that you own your domain in order to host with
them. If you do not have a domain, the hosting companies will help you
purchase one.

WEBSITE HOSTING
PROCESS
STEP 1 – REGISTERING A DOMAIN NAME
Before getting a website online you need to have a domain name. These are the
familiar web addresses such as mywebsite.com that most browsers use to find
a particular website. Domain names, in fact, are pointers to a particular IP
address and we use them because they are easier to remember than a series of
numbers.

All websites have an IP address in the form 123.456.78.9. The domain name
system translates these numbers into names such as mywebsite.com. All
domain names are registered in a central registry maintained by InterNIC, a
subsidiary of ICANN, the organization which certifies domain name registrars.
Domain names are filtered through Domain Name Servers (DNS) which link IP
addresses with domain names. Each website usually has a primary and a
secondary DNS – duplicates that increase reliability.

The first step in registering a domain name is to choose it. The name can be
almost anything you want, but to be most effective it should reflect the nature of
your website. If you are selling watches, for example, it helps to have a domain
name that has some reference to watches e.g. A1-Watches.com.

The rules for domain names are simple – only letters, numbers or hyphens are
allowed. Other than that, a domain name is limited to 70 characters, but you are
advised to keep it as short as possible. Domain names can be upper or lower
case – case is ignored by DNS but you can use a combination to make the name
more recognisable. MyWebSite.com is easier to read than mywebsite.com, but
both are identical to the DNS.

There are several extensions available. The most common is .com and it has
even entered common vocabulary as a way to express Internet activity – “I own
a dot com business“. Other extensions include .biz (for commercial sites), .org
(for non-commercial organisations), .net (for organisations involved in Internet
infrastructure) and .name (for personal names).
There are also extensions with more specialized uses such as .museum, .aero,
and .coop and are used exclusively by members of certain organizations. In
addition to these common extensions, there can also be a country code
extension such as .us (United States), .co.uk (United Kingdom) or .de
(Germany). The rules for using country extensions vary, so you need to check
with your registrar to see if they are available to you.

All domains must be registered with a registrar that has been certified by ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). There are hundreds
of registrars and their prices vary considerably. The full list of registrars is
available at the InterNIC website (http://www.internic.net/regist.html). Although
registrars are closely regulated, they are permitted to offer their services through
third parties, so many web hosts offer a domain name registration service even
if they are not a registrar. The price of a domain name will usually be higher when
dealing with these third-party services.

Domain names are usually registered for a minimum of one year, although you
are permitted to buy up to a 10-year registration contract. Usually the longer the
registration contract, the lower the price, so if you are sure you will be on the web
for a considerable length of time you can benefit from a longer registration period.
Most registrars also offer a discount on bulk purchases. If you own a number of
domain names you can save money by transferring them all to the same
registrar.

STEP 2 – WEBSITE HOSTING

You have selected a domain name, registered it and signed up with a web host.
What's next? Your web host has to provide you with details about how to get
your site up and running. This information includes passwords to get into your
account, paths to directories where your files should be uploaded, and most
importantly, what your domain name servers are.

Domain name servers (DNS) provide the link between your domain name
(mywebsite.com) and your Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address is a
series of numbers like this: 123.456.78.9. Every web server has a unique IP
address which, in the case of dedicated servers hosting a single domain, is
equivalent to the domain name. A site hosted on a dedicated server will respond
to either 123.456.78.9 or mywebsite.com by serving the requested webpage.

Most websites, though, are hosted on shared servers. This means that one
server is home to many different websites, but they each have the same IP
address. If you type in a shared IP address you will get an error page or will be
redirected to the web hosting company's website. So DNS is necessary for
websites on shared servers. Domain names are the only way to request these
websites; they cannot be requested by IP address.

Configuring DNS
When you first purchase a domain name, it will be registered on the DNS of the
registrar. Until you arrange for a web host, the registrar company will usually
redirect requests for your domain name to an error page or an ‘Under
Construction' page. Note that there is no time limit between buying a domain
name and finding a host. Some people purchase domain names without ever
intending to build a website on them. Most people, though, buy a domain name
with the intention of using it. To do that, you need to open an account with a web
host and prepare to transfer your site to their server. Part of the process of
preparing your site for publication on the World Wide Web is to alert your domain
name registrar of the DNS of your new server.

A DNS configuration looks something like this:

Primary Name Server: NSA.NEWDAYDNS.COM (204.50.14.2)
Secondary Name Server: NSB.NEWDAYDNS.COM (204.50.22.2)

This information is available from your hosting company either in their

informational package that they email to you, or on their website. If you can't find
the DNS it's best to contact your web host and ask for it. Once you have the DNS
information you can usually enter it into your account on the website of your
registrar. If you have purchased your domain name from the hosting company,
they will usually make the necessary changes for you when they set up your
account.

When the DNS is registered or modified (when changing web hosts) it can take
up to 24 hours for your site to be accessible from everywhere in the world. This
is because domain names are registered in a distributed data base that is
maintained on thousands of computers around the world. Each computer has a
small part of the database in cache, and if they receive a request for an unknown
domain that request has to be forwarded to another computer until the
information is found.

STEP 3 – UPLOADING YOUR WEBSITE

After you have opened an account with a web host and set the DNS you can
start uploading your web pages. The most common way to do this is to use FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) software but there are also some other options.
FTP is an Internet Protocol (like HTTP) that allows data files to be transferred
from one computer to another. Your web host will provide information about how
to connect to your site using FTP. Usually you use FTP software such as
WS_FTP or FileZilla to connect to the FTP server on your website. The address
of the FTP server is usually ftp.yourwebsite.com (where yourwebsite.com is the
domain name).

Your host will also tell you the location where files should be uploaded. Your
account will probably have two main folders in the root directory – public_html
and www. Your web pages should be uploaded to the public_html folder. The
www folder is a mirror folder which allows people to find your site by using either
www.yoursite.com or yoursite.com.

You may have to adjust a few settings in your FTP software to upload files
correctly. For example, if you are using a firewall on your computer you should
set the transfer method to passive. If you are using a proxy you will have to adjust
the proxy settings.

Files can be sent or received in either binary or ASCII mode. If they are
transferred using the incorrect mode they may end up with errors on completion
of the transfer. Your FTP software may try to determine which mode to use by
examining the contents of the files, or you may have to manually specify the
transfer mode. Files that should be sent in ASCII mode include HTML (and
variants like HTM, SHTML, DHTML, etc.) TXT, CGI, C, ASP, JS etc. Basically,
any file that can be viewed in a text editor should be transferred in ASCII mode.
Binary mode, on the other hand, is used to transfer everything else – graphics,
compiled programs, and media files.
Using the FTP software, make a connection to your web server. Browse to the
folder where you want to upload files (usually by clicking on the folder icons) and
then find the local files you wish to upload. Whole directories or individual files
may be uploaded.

You can name most of the pages of your website anything you like, but there is
one essential file in each directory – index.html or a variant (index.htm,
index.shtml etc). This means that your home page has to use this name. The
home page can be viewed by typing http://yourwebsite.com or
http://yourwebsite.com/index.htm. In the first case, if there is no file named
index.htm the contents of your root directory will be shown. Without an index file
in each directory, anybody who browses to that directory can see all the files
there. This presents an enormous security risk as well as exposing private
information to public view.

FTP is the most common way to upload files to your website but is by no means
the only way. Some web authoring packages have built in transfer methods to
automatically upload your entire site or individual pages. Microsoft FrontPage is
an example of this type of transfer method. In order to take advantage of it you
need to have FrontPage extensions installed on your website. You can request
this feature from your web host. Other authoring packages have built-in FTP
software so that you can build your site and upload with one familiar interface.

You can also build sites online. Some web hosts give you access to browser
controlled software that allows you to lay out web pages. Once you are finished
the page is automatically saved to the proper location on your server. This type
of web builder is usually available through the control panel of your hosting
account.
VPS and Dedicated Website Hosting

When trying to understand the differences between shared, dedicated and VPS
(Virtual Private Servers) it is best to think the plans as housing for your files.

Shared hosting is like an apartment building where the building or server has
many tenants or hosting accounts sharing the space and the utilities. This works
just fine if you have a small family but if everyone in the building has ten
roommates move in who are constantly running the water and using the wifi then
the water pressure and wifi speed start to suffer. The key to shared hosting is
that it is meant for small business websites, sure you can pack the roommates
or files in like sardines but it will really be uncomfortable.

The next level up is VPS or Virtual Private Servers. You can think of VPS as
townhouses, you are still sharing some resources with neighbors but less so than
an apartment building and there is quite a bit more space.

For those that want their own space, there are dedicated servers, the equivalent
of your own house. You have a lot more room, no neighbors and you can divvy
up the building however you want.

What does this all mean for you? As with housing the larger and more private
the property the more it costs not only that but the more private the property the
more of it you need to mainVPS and Dedicated Website Hosting -
WebHostingBest10.comtain yourself. Shared hosting like apartments is the least
expensive with most of the server being managed by someone else, the only
thing you need to worry about is your account. As you go up the tiers to VPS
and Dedicated all of a sudden things start to get more expensive and you have
to mow your own lawn and service your own air conditioning.

Why should you upgrade to a VPS or Dedicated Server? This may have to do
with the type of site you have. If you have a lot of photos and videos that are
password protected, this may be against your host’s rules for shared accounts
which often prohibit file storage. Or you have a lot of site visitors, the
metaphorical guests in your apartment, and your account may start getting
crowded as those guests start clogging up the “hallways” otherwise known as
CPU capacity. Another reason is to have full control over the configuration of
your server, if you own a house you can make modifications you may not be
allowed to make in an apartment or townhome.