If you are asking yourself this question, you have come to the right place. In this article, we explain everything about the concept, including its basics. Hosting, also known as web hosting, web server or web hosting as available from Atlantek Computers Ltd, is something that would not exist without the Internet as we know it today. There is no exaggeration in this statement as it is a kind of foundation that allows the creation of a website. Hosting services provide the tools and technology needed to keep a website up and running, as well as additional protection against attacks to which the website may be exposed. Imagine that you create a website whose resources (i.e. text, all images, i.e. what is displayed on the website) are stored on a disc on your computer on the Internet. If you open it and connect it to the network, the site will work.
But if you close it, it crashes or disconnects – your site becomes unusable because resources are unavailable. The entire Internet as we know it “lives” in these cabinets scattered around the world. To avoid such a scenario, the massive growth of the Internet has led to the emergence of professional web hosting services. In short, they provide continuous and uninterrupted access to data stored on discs on dedicated computers that run two hours a day. This means that the service can be used at any time of the day, except in exceptional cases. Yes, such computers that are servers are still prone to failure, but service providers offering the space are working to eliminate the risk of problems. For example, they provide extra power, constantly monitor utilities, remove malfunctioning servers, back up stored files, and so on. In short, they do their best to ensure that nothing interferes with the computers that make up the internet.
Difference between host and server
Although these two terms are related and often used interchangeably, it is important to distinguish between their definitions. In short, in military language, hosting is the name of the service where all server resources are shared between individual users. Each user who chooses a hosting package receives a guaranteed hosting service for his website and e-mail files. Sometimes this type of hosting also has certain limitations. For example, the number of databases that can be created or the number of domains associated with a single service. What is a server? When it comes to the web hosting service referred to in this article, any computer can provide web hosting services such as those described in this text. The server itself can even be our home computer, but professional services are machines specially designed for this task. They are characterised by special server software and peripherals designed for continuous operation. A host server is equipped with large hard disks (usually SSDs), lots of RAM and powerful processors.
How does hosting work? FIrst of all, web hosting needs ultra fast fibre broadband connection. We have already said that it is used, for example, to keep a website or email running at any time of the day. This means that it provides access to the data on the server you use. Data coming to the server can be intercepted in different ways. The most common way is to use certain protocols – FTP or SSH. If the server has the appropriate FTP and SSH server software, data can be transferred directly from the computer to a device on the server using the web hosting service you purchased. For example, modern websites based on the WordPress script also need a MySQL database server to work. This is another important factor that web hosting offers. The database can store not only the content of the website, but also the settings that will keep the website running smoothly. The technical support provided by the hosting company is an important factor – it should not be underestimated But how is it possible that when you enter a domain address, a specific page you have placed in your hosting account will be displayed? One of the web hosting components is responsible for this – DNS servers. DNS can be compared to a compiler.
It can convert an easy-to-remember domain name into an IP address that network devices can understand. These operations are completely invisible to the user and are performed literally in a fraction of a second. As you can see, in addition to the server used to store the data, a web hosting service includes many other related services, tools and servers. Thanks to the synchronised function, all the tools of this precise mechanism work stably and provide, among other things, access to our website 🙂 or the content offered. There is no single type of file hosting that meets everyone’s needs. For this reason, service providers offer different types of web hosting, among which we distinguish shared web hosting: one of the most popular options. In this case, your files share space on the service provider’s server with other customers’ files. However, you don’t have to worry about anyone accessing your data. Each user only has access to their own files. This solution is especially recommended for small websites, as renting this hosting service does not involve high costs.
Dedicated server: the opposite of shared hosting, where all your data is stored on a server with space dedicated only to your data. It allows you to do many things and gives you full control over the server through customisation, among other things. It also has the highest level of security, which is why it is the most popular solution among large companies and websites.
VPS server – corresponds to the standard type where one server can serve multiple clients. In this case, the part of the server that serves your file is for your use only. This means that a certain share of server resources (RAM, disk space, processing power) is allocated to a specific person. The advantage of this solution is that other domains will not slow down your site. This solution allows us to have more control over our files through access to the administration panel. Private, shared,
Cloud Hosting – A type of web hosting that has become increasingly popular in recent years. A strong argument for this type is that it does not need to run on a physical server (or cluster).