Different Types of Web Hosting Explained
There are many different types of web hosting
available. Which type one chooses should hinge upon what one wants to
accomplish with his or her web site. Some web hosting services are
free, but place ads on web sites. Whereas other web hosting types can
be more expensive, but provide a lot more assistance and bandwidth. The
four main web hosting types are free web hosting, shared web hosting,
and dedicated web hosting (both managed and unmanaged).
Free web
hosting is the simplest kind of web hosting that one can get. This type
of web hosting is usually supported by ads on hosted web sites.
Features for this type of web hosting are limited, and therefore it is
a better option for people who are just starting out on the Internet
and are interested in having a small site with little traffic. The type
of domain one receives in free web hosting is typically a subdomain
(yoursite.webhost.com) or a directory (www.webhost.com/~yoursite). Most
free web hosts do not have support for MySQL, multiple e-mail accounts,
and PHP.
Shared web hosting is actually the most popular type of
web hosting service. Shared web hosting allows more than one site to be
hosted on the same server. Additionally, the hosts provide system
administration. For users that do not want to have the burden of
running a sever, shared web hosting is a great choice. The individual
hosting plan may differ, but most hosts provide the user with elements
such as PHP, ASP, MySQL, more bandwidth, and multiple e-mail addresses.
More services are often available in shared web hosting than are
available with simple free web hosting (including the ability to have
your own domain name!).
The last two types of web hosting are
managed dedicated web hosting, and unmanaged dedicated web hosting.
Dedicated web hosting is a wise choice for someone who wants more
storage and bandwidth, and also wants features that are not available
with shared and free web hosting. In dedicated servers, users are not
limited to a certain number of databases and e-mail addresses.
Additionally, users usually receive a very high amount of bandwidth in
comparison to other hosting types. The typical dedicated server plan
provides the user with 500 to 1,000GB of monthly bandwidth.
In
unmanaged dedicated web hosting, the user is the server administrator.
This allows the user the greatest amount of control and flexibility. Of
course, many people do not know how to handle the task of being a
server administrator and do not want to learn. Therefore, this is not a
viable option for some.
When looking for a web host, it is
important to consider the purpose of the web site and what one’s
capabilities are. Pricing for web hosts is dependant upon the support,
reliability, features, and security one wants. Choosing a type of web
hosting may seem like a daunting task, but simply doing research and
making an educated decision should yield satisfaction and success on
this critical matter.
