Hosting

All the code, images, text and videos we see on web pages don’t just appear where they are by magic; rather, they require stored in a specific location on the website.

If there were no stable digital repositories, nobody would be able to access any online content. That is why Web hosting (also known as a host) is an essential factor to consider for both individuals and businesses when creating and maintaining a website.

The hosting is nothing more than a service for the storage and maintenance of data from one or more websites. The main advantage of the services offered by hosting One advantage of external storage is that it significantly reduces the costs associated with local storage. Furthermore, it ensures more efficient maintenance thanks to specialist technical support and regular backups.

Although traditionally the hosting whether it is located on personal computers or physical servers, the cloud computing It has become very popular due to its cost-effectiveness and practicality. Therefore, It is common for hosting providers no longer to have a physical space where data is stored, but are stored directly in the cloud.

It is worth noting that a hosting It is not the same as a server. Whilst a server is a machine that hosts a hosting account, a hosting account is simply a virtual space that can be hosted on a server.

How does web hosting work?

When we, as users, want to find a website on the internet, we either carry out a search or go directly to it via the address bar. When we finally access the website we are looking for, our computer will connect to the website’s server and request the data for the web page we wish to view.

The server will therefore retrieve the relevant information from the web host and send it to our computer so that we can view the entire content of the page (HTML, visual content, music, etc.).

Types of hosting

We can divide the existing hosting services into several categories depending on their costs and organisation:

Free web hosting

As stated, There are hosting services that you don’t have to pay for. The best known is WordPress.com, which is, in turn, a content management system.

Most companies do not have a hosting free because, although the cost is minimal, it does not guarantee a fast connection between the hosting provider and the server and removes any control you might have over the website’s data hosting.

Shared hosting

This type of hosting consists of a server that hosts several hosting accounts belonging to different websites. In other words, they share the same storage space. Shared hosting is the option most commonly chosen by businesses, as it is usually quite affordable and secure.

However, there may be websites containing such a vast amount of information that shared hosting is not suitable for them due to loading speed issues.

Dedicated hosting

If a website is very large and receives a lot of traffic, a company may consider using a dedicated hosting service. In other words, a server will be dedicated exclusively to the website’s data hosting needs.

Although, from a technical point of view, dedicated hosting is ideal, the cost can be exorbitant for many businesses.