What is Web Hosting? For Beginners
You must’ve heard the term Web Hosting at least once in your life. You must’ve also scratched your head thinking about what is it? Don’t worry, I will give you a complete overview of what is web hosting.
Web Hosting is an online service that helps you to “host” or publish your website on the internet. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you are basically renting some storage space on a server that will help you to store the files which are necessary for your website to work.
A server is a physical computer located in a data center. Your wen host will make the necessary arrangements to make sure it runs 24×7 without any interruptions so that your website available all the time to everyone. Your web host is also responsible for keeping your server safe and secure and also for maintaining backups of your data.
When you decide to start a website, you need to choose a web host and a hosting plan. The hosting plan you choose will depend on several factors like bandwidth you need every month, disk space your website needs, the number of users that visit your website and many other factors.
How does a web host serve your website? Well, when you set up a website, you point your website domain to the web host hosting server via its IP(s). When a user types in yourdomainname.com, the server transfers all the necessary files to serve that request. Below I have mentioned some types of web hosting plans that you can get.
Types of Web Hosting
Most of the web hosting companies offer multiple types of hosting according to user needs. They have hosting plans which cover everything from hosting your portfolio to hosting a fully fledged eCommerce site.
Here are some of the options available:
- Shared Hosting
- WordPress Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Dedicated Server
This is the most common type of hosting provided by hosting providers. There are different levels of plans in shared hosting.
- Pros
- Extremely cheap and easy to setup
- No need for any technical knowledge
- Server maintenance is taken care of by the hosting company
- Cons
- As the name suggests, server resources are shared among multiple websites. So, if one website suddenly receives a lot of traffic, it may slow down other sites hosted on that server.
- Little or no control over server configuration
WordPress Hosting
WordPress Hosting is the type of web hosting which is specifically tuned for WordPress. These types of servers have server-level cache and other WordPress optimizations. They are suited for light-medium traffic heavy sites.
- Pros
- Designed and optimized for WordPress websites
- Pre-installed WordPress themes and plugins
- Cons
- A little bit more expensive compared to shared hosting
- Most of the time, control is limited. So, it’s not recommended for developers
ALSO READ: What is WordPress? For Beginners
VPS Hosting
VPS hosting is similar to shared hosting. However, you get your dedicated memory, CPU and storage space which ISN’T shared with others. They are suited for light-medium traffic sites.
- Pros
- Dedicated server resources
- Can handle traffic surges
- Server root access
- Cons
- More expensive than other hosting types
- Technical knowledge about servers is a must
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is the most reliable hosting solution. Cloud hosting has redundancy and auto-scaling if load increases/decreases. They are suited for medium-heavy traffic sites.
- Pros
- Almost no downtime
- Highly scalable
- Redundant
- Cons
- No fixed cost
- Some technical knowledge required
Dedicated Server
Dedicated servers give you an entire server to yourself. No one else is put on that server. It’s just like owning your own server. They are suited for traffic-heavy sites.
- Pros
- Full control over server resources
- The server is not shared with others
- Root level access
- Cons
- High cost
- Technical knowledgeable about server management is necessary
Conclusion
Web hosting is a service which enables you to publish your website, eCommerce store etc. online. There are multiple web hosting types such as shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting etc.
If you have any queries or suggestions, then please let me know in the comments down below.
