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Web Hosting can be confusing to understand but is an important aspect of creating a successful website. We have laid down a very detailed guide to simplify the concepts of web hosting and different types of hosting. For all the curious minds, your questions regarding web hosting will soon be answered. Let’s, get started!
The Basics – What is Web Hosting?
When you create a website to make it visible to the world, you’ll need to store your website data on a computer that’s connected to the Internet. So primarily, web hosting is a service that allows companies and people to post a website on the internet.
Confused? Forget about the Internet and websites for a minute.
Think about what you need in order to set up an Outlet or a shop – A piece of land to set up that shop and store your goods and products, right? But without the land, you won’t have space to store those goods.
Similarly, your website is your Outlet and you need a piece of land to be able to store your website files like documents, images, videos etc, in a web host.
“Web Host” refers to the corporate that loans out their computer/servers to store your website data and supply fast-speed internet connectivity so that visitors can easily access the files on your website.
How does Web Hosting work?
Web hosts are companies that provide Web hosting services to physically store your website files in high-power computers known as web servers, which are connected to a very fast network.
When someone visits your website (such as www.43gb.com), the computer connects to the web hosting server holding your website files and then redirects your website information back to them via Internet, and they are able to view your website.
So, a web host stores, maintains and serves your files to the audience.
Four of the most popular type of web hosting of 2017 are as follows:
- Shared Hosting
- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
- Dedicated Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
While all types of servers ultimately act as storage centers for your website, they vary in the amount of storage capacity, flexibility, technical knowledge, server speed, and reliability.
In addition to housing the web servers, Web Hosts provide Software, Security, Bandwidth and support to be able to connect your website to the Internet. So what to look for in a Perfect Web Hosting Solution?
In addition to providing Space and Bandwidth, you can consider the following:
- Budget
- Privacy and security features
- Ease of use or difficulty of the solution
- Customisation and level of flexibility the solution allows
Therefore, selecting the right web host is a crucial part of creating your website. Let’s find out the main differences between a Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and Cloud hosting.
1. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the most popular kind of web hosting, and also perfect for beginners. It’s the most suitable option for moderate traffic and you can upgrade to a premium service once the traffic on your website starts increasing.
How does Shared Hosting work?
In a shared hosting service, the host puts a number of users on a single server. Each user may have numerous sites, consequently one single server stores multiple websites. All these websites share resources of the same server. Shared hosting services are comparatively cheaper because the cost to run the server is shared between you and plenty of other websites on the server.
Quick Tip: When you are running your website on a shared hosting environment and you feel that it is taking too much time to load your website, contact your hosting provider support and request them to reallocate your website to another server.
PROS:
- Its cost efficient, most websites with moderate traffic levels operating with basic software are hosted on this type of server.
- It requires minimal technical knowledge; your hosting company takes care of any maintenance and security for you.
CONS:
- Limited ability to handle high traffic levels or a sudden spike in traffic.
- You share the server resources with other websites – if one website starts receiving very high traffic it may affect (and slow down) all the other websites on that server.
Some of the well-known Shared Hosting Providers: Godaddy, BlueHost, A2 Hosting, Hostgator and Siteground.
2. Virtual Private Server (VPS)
Virtual Private Server known as VPS is very well balanced as it provides affordability of shared hosting while at the same time providing you more power and control like a dedicated server. VPS is apt for users expecting 50 to 100k traffic on their website.
So a VPS server is still a shared environment, but the way it is shared is very contrasting. A VPS server is usually limited to 10-20 users and this decreases tension in itself. With a little knowledge, you can flourish your growing website using this service.
How does VPS hosting work?
A virtual private server hosting divides a server into virtual servers, where each website is hosted on their own dedicated server, but they’re actually sharing a server with a few different other users. So a VPS hosting service works as a dedicated server within a shared hosting environment, so it is a combination of shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
PROS:
• Better performance and faster loading time than shared hosting
• Even though you are sharing server resources with others, you are not sharing the resources that you purchased.
CONS:
• It is a little more expensive than shared hosting
• Requires more technical knowledge to use its full potential
Recommended hosts for VPS hosting: Dreamhost, Hostgator, WP-engine and BlueHost, GoDaddy.
Quick Tip: A high-end VPS can not only be a lot cheaper but also more powerful than a low end dedicated server. Don’t be mistaken into thinking that dedicated is a more advanced option just because you are the only person on a server. What really matters is the resources available to you instead.
3. Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated server hosting wins the crown of hosting. Just like it seems, you get your own server and all its resources, dedicated to you for your use and no one else. It’s like living in a mansion alone. This allows for faster performance, as you have all the server’s resources, without sharing with any other website owners. However, this also means that you will be completely responsible for the cost of server operation. This is a good choice for websites that require a lot of system resources, need a higher level of security and cater the needs of a massive audience ranging above 100k.
PROS:
• Flexibility & customisation. You can choose the exact hardware and software specifications of the server to meet your requirements.
• Dedicated resources provide guaranteed performance as you don’t share your server resources with anyone else.
CONS:
• With great power comes a greater cost. Dedicated hosting is very expensive and recommended for organizations.
• Extensive technical knowledge is required as it will be your responsibility to manage and configure the server.
Some of the best-dedicated hosts are GreenGeeks, InterServer, LiquidWeb and GoDaddy.
4. Cloud Hosting
Out of all the hosting options, we have talked about, cloud hosting is by far the most scalable and efficient. With cloud hosting, simply pay for what you use.
Let’s say your blog had a fantastic month where you got triple the traffic than it usually does. The server starts collapsing because it can’t handle that much loading. With cloud computing, the server doesn’t just pack up and break down. You can conveniently ask for more server space and bandwidth. It’s flexible, and that makes it very cost effective. Rather than paying a fixed amount each month, solely pay for what you use.
How does Cloud hosting work?
With Cloud hosting, you don’t have an actual machine. Your hardware is virtual, which makes the technology pretty advanced. A team of servers (called a cloud) works together to host your websites. This allows several computers to work together to effectively handle high traffic levels or sudden increase in the traffic for your website.
PROS:
• Cloud hosting offers unrestricted ability to handle high traffic or traffic spikes.
Cloud systems are amazing if you want to be able to scale your website a lot further than traditional systems.
CONS:
• It requires a higher level of technical experience
• Many cloud hosting services do not offer complete access
Some leading cloud hosts are Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and Linode.
Conclusion:
We hope by now you have gained considerable knowledge about different types of hosting. In our next post, we will help you choose the right web host for your website.
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