Web hosting guide for beginners
Submitted by www.hostpulse.com
So you would like to start publishing your site on the web, but you are not sure what web hosting is and where to start? This article points out to you the resources for beginner.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is simply the allocation of your website on a web server that is connected through the internet. In another words, web hosting allows your website to be connected to the Internet at high speed via a web server so its information can be viewed globally through a browser. Because the nature of the Internet allows anyone from anywhere connected through an internet computer to view your site, your web server must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
How is this possible when owning and maintaining a Web server can be very expensive, as well as technically intensive? This is where a Web hosting Provider comes into the picture to provide you with the hardware and software that allow this to take place at an affordable cost. In order for a web hosting provider to offer you hosting service, the provider usually needs to house its web servers in a data center configured on a high speed network infrastructure and connected to internet backbones. These internet backbones are long-haul backbone fibre connections capable of transmitting data at extremely high speed.
Web Hosting Service and domain name.
If you want to publish your website on the internet, you need web hosting service. Alternatively, like some corporations, you can own your web server, line and networks to start publishing your website. We don't recommend the latter, because it is very costly to run and maintain. I will explain to you some of the terms that are essential for you to know before you begin to find a suitable host for your site.
Data Center.
A data center is a collection of database, servers, computer networks and software widely used to deploy and support hosting services and computing application services. Because a data center can be very expensive to maintain and upgrade. Companies are increasingly looking to outsource these routine operations so that they can focus on higher priority technology projects like e-commerce and customer relationship management.
Click links below to read more about data centers.
http://www.alabanza.com/pages/datacenter.html http://www.rackspace.com/infrastructure/datacenter/data_center.php http://www.uunet.com/products/hosting/datacenter
http://www.datapipe.com/infrastructure.asp
http://www.burlee.com/aboutburlee/aboutburlee_datacenter.asp
Domain name.
A domain name is a unique alphanumeric name used to identify a particular host (computer) such as a Web server or Email server on the Internet. In another words, it is the main part of what is known as your site's Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the World Wide Web.
Domain names allow Internet users to type in a name, such as http://www.hostpulse.com/ or http://www.aboutwebhost.com/, to identify a numeric address such as 207.21.231.111. The main purpose of domain names is to allow web users to connect to the Internet and find websites or send email to addresses with familiar names such as "email.com" or "eudoramail.com" without having to memorize the IP addresses.
A domain name and a web site, connected together allows you to have a web presence on the internet and allows you to manage email addressed to your domain. The capabilities and features of your web site and your email will depend on the web hosting provider.
Usually, to start hosting, you need to register a domain name first. Domain name registration cost from US$8.00 to US$35 per depending on the domain registrar. We recommend that you register your domain names with an ICANN accredited registrar
Point your browser to the few links to read more about domain name registration.
http://www.dotster.com/
http://www.registrars.com/
http://www.identifyourself.com/
http://www.namesecure.com/
http://www.gandi.net/
IP Address.
The address of a particular computer on the Internet, used to identify it uniquely for communications purposes. Every computer that sends or receives information on the Internet must have an IP address, expressed as a 32-bit number, which is attached to every message and has a return address to which it can reply if necessary. Some host provide with a you a unique IP address to identify your domain name. This allows you to manage and start publishing to the location even before your domain name is transferred.
Click the few links below to read more news about IP Addresses.
http://www.apnic.net
http://www.namesurfer.com/faq.html
http://www.palpaponline.com/education/int.htm
http://www.internic.net/faqs/authoritative-dns.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IP_spoofing.html
Web Server.
A computer that provides World Wide Web services on the internet. It consists of a network host that acts as an HTTP server, and includes the hardware, operating system, web server software, TCP/IP protocols and the web site content (web pages).
Click the few links below to find out more about the various web servers.
http://wvnvm.wvnet.edu/VM:Webserver/viwhome.html
http://www.Microsoft®.com/iis
http://www.sun.com/software/jwebserver/
http://www.netcraft.com/survey/
http://www.apache.org/
DNS.
A DNS (Domain Name Server) resolves a Domain Name to an IP address. If someone, for example, wants to access hostpulse.com, the DNS will translate the domain into 207.21.231.111 which will allow to locate hostpulse.com server.
Click the links below to find out more about Domain Name Server.
http://www.research.ibm.com/intsec/secure-dns.html
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/access/dns/
http://www.verisign-grs.com/mdns/
http://www.nwfusion.com/research/dns.html
http://livinginternet.com/i/iw_dns_dns.htm
Shared and Dedicated Hosting.
These two terms are widely used on the internet to describe the services that a web hosting provider can offer you. Shared hosting is multiple web sites residing on a single server/computer. Shared hosting is sometimes referred to as virtual servers, and definitely cheaper than dedicated host, because your site is residing on a server that also hosts other websites. A normal web server usually can accommodate up to 250 websites. On the other hand, a dedicated server is a computer that hosts only your site. Dedicated servers provide more hard-drive space and greater autonomy and flexibility, including choice of software, operating systems, and database management systems. A dedicated host often costs from US$99 per month to US$500 per month.
To choose between a shared and a dedicated host depends on the volume of traffic to your site and the amount of control and flexibility that you want on your hosting account. In a shared environment, other sites on the same server that you host are competing to use the server resources, and if your site has high traffic, it is wise that you switch to a dedicated server that can serve your web users faster without sacrificing any other hosts.
However, if you are fairly new to web hosting with a limited budget, shared hosting is the recommended solution for your site. The primary advantage in choosing a virtual server over a dedicated server is significant savings in setup and operating costs. Shared hosting prices usually start from US$8 per month to US$50 per month depending on the features, software and hardware that a host can provide you.
Click here to view a few examples of shared hosting services.
http://www.innerhost.com/sharedhosting.asp
http://www.cihost.com/?zone=products/web_hosting
http://www.experthost.com/developers/plan.html
http://www.webvisions.com/webhosting
http://www.hostproof.com/hosting/hosting.html
Click here to view a few examples of dedicated hosting services.
http://www.dreamworxhosting.com/dedicated.htm
http://www.infrahost.net/infraconfig/infraconfig_start.php
http://www.iarna.com/dedicated/
http://www.vortechhosting.com/dedicated
http://www.halfpricehosting.com/dedicated.asp
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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