What Is Web Hosting? Everything You Need To Know About Web Hosting

Have you ever wondered where a website is? Or what is its nature? We usually turn on our computer, open the browser and leave the rest to Google. But what exactly happens when we visit a website? This is where exciting concepts like hosting and domains come into play!

If you also want to know what hosting is, don’t miss reading this article. Today we will learn most simply and conceptually what Web hosting is.

If you plan to buy hosting, you should read this article before purchasing Web hosting.

Web hosting roles in websites

We need to know a little about the site’s structure to understand it better. Building a website has its own rules, just like opening a shop. Imagine that we will open our bag and shoe boutique right now. In this case, we must go through the following steps:

1. Choose a domain name

When starting a real store or shop, we need to choose a name for it. Choosing a domain name is the first step in website design. Domain starts with the machine or hostname (such as “www” to indicate “world wide web”), followed by the name of the website itself, and finally, the TLD (like .com or .gov).

2. Renting a shop (web hosting part)

Well, now it’s time to visit the shops and find a suitable shop. Web hosting is just like a storefront for a website. In a physical store, we have to rent a shop to put the goods. In the same way, we need to rent space on the site to place information, photos and files. This space is called Web hosting.

3. Store management (content management system)

Of course, our shop will not remain empty, and new items will be added to the showcase daily!

On the website, you should constantly add and update new content.

Continuously entering this information by coding is complicated! Instead, you can use a content management system. These systems make managing and adding new content to the website easy.

4. Decoration (website template section)

The last step is the decoration of the store. This issue is also essential in websites. You must know many sites whose stylish designs and graphics have attracted you. The design of the site is done with the help of a template.

The site template is mounted on the information like a shell and determines the website environment’s font, color, and dimensions. You can purchase various ready-made templates for the website, but if you have a specific design, you can ask a designer to make it for you.

What is web hosting, and what is its use?

The host is a part of a server where your website information is placed. You can enter website pages, images, photos, and files in the hosting spaces. In this way, users all over the world can visit your site.

Hosting web rentals is like having a storefront where you can put your products. Now users can visit your pages at any hour of the day by entering your site address.

To avoid confusion, let’s talk a little about the server.

What is a server?

A server is a type of computer with a particular function! These powerful devices consist of hardware components that have the highest processing power. Servers are used for things like web hosting. Because of this important use, these devices must always be turned on, connected to the Internet, and accessible.

We are dealing with a network server when access is limited to one network. (Maybe you have seen a particular server in your company that is only available to you and your colleagues)

But when the server access is between all the computers connected through the Internet, they mean Internet servers. These servers provide you with information when you search for a topic.

What is the difference between server and web hosting?

A web hosting server divides its space and makes each part available to one client. When you rent hosting, you own small space on this server. From one to 500 sites (under special conditions) can use the server simultaneously!

To better understand, think of a server as a big building where you rent a small unit as a host. (Of course, if your company is big, you can rent the entire building! This is called a dedicated server)

But aren’t servers also a type of computer? So why are personal computers not used as hosts?

Can I host my website on my personal computer?

There is almost no way to use a personal computer for frequent use, as they are much slow and limited compared to servers. The server provided by the hosting service is very powerful and has large bandwidth.

In addition, the server must be open 24/7 so that users can access the site at different times. This is practically impossible to do with personal computers.

To protect servers, hosting companies keep them in unique spaces called data centers. All arrangements, such as emergency power, dealing with earthquakes, fires, etc., have been considered in the data centers. A skilled team is on hand to solve possible software problems, but your personal computer will be out of reach with any small problem, and your site’s audience will lose.

What is localhost?

Localhost is your computer that can be used as a server. When you dial an IP address into your computer, you are connecting to another computer on the Internet. But if you call the 127.0.0.1 address, you connect to localhost (your computer).

What is the use of localhost? If you want to start a website or an application or are learning programming, you can use your computer resources as a simple server and do not pay for hosting at the beginning.

Different types of web hosting

When buying a host, you will encounter different types; Because hosting companies offer different hosts for different needs. For example, if you are just a simple blogger, you need a different host than a large business website. In the following, we will learn about the types of web hosting.

1. Shared Web Hosting

Imagine a server that is divided into several partitions. Each of these sections is a shared host. Each server can share up to hundreds of hosts! This hosting has a reasonable price; Because the cost of maintaining the server is shared among all users. Shared hosting will generally meet your needs if your site does not have high traffic and does not want to spend a lot.

2. Dedicated Web Hosting

In these types of hosting, a server is available to only one customer. So, naturally, its benefits are more than the shared type. High security, dedicated bandwidth, and high speed (which leads to SEO improvement) are some advantages of dedicated hosting.

Of course, if you choose this hosting, think about the setup phase and the price. We recommend that you go for these hosts only if you have a large and highly visited site (for example, more than 100,000 visits per month). Dedicated hosting is expensive.

3. Virtual hosting (VPS)

Virtual hosting (or virtual server, which we mostly know as VPS) is between dedicated and shared hosting! In this service, a server’s space is divided with hypervisor technology’s help.

An important point: this shared hosting has more independence than shared hosting because you can install the operating system or the program you want according to your needs. Without having to deal with neighboring hosts! In addition, VPS has advantages over dedicated hosting. The cost of this service is very affordable and about one-fifth to one-tenth of a dedicated host.

4. Cloud Web Hosting

Cloud hosting is the latest web hosting technology. Until now, only one server hosted your site. But in cloud hosting, several servers support your site. This way, the website versions are placed on several servers and hosted in parallel.

If one of the servers has a problem in serving, the next server makes the site available to the user, or if the server ever needs an upgrade or repair, your site will still work on the other server. In this way, the downtime of the site is almost zero. Big companies like Google use these hosts for constant availability.

5. Free Web Hosting

Hosting companies usually provide Free Web Hosting services to attract customers and test services. The point is that server maintenance in the data center, hosting support, and hosting companies are expensive. Now, do you think it is reasonable to offer the customer free hosting? Not! There is free hosting. But the fact is that the more money we pay, the more food we eat! This type of service has many limitations.

Free Web Hosting has many limitations. For example, if you connect your site to the host with the name www.example.com, it may be imposed on you as www.example.freehost.com, which is unsuitable for your brand reputation. Free hosting is generally only recommended for testing on small and experimental projects.

What are the characteristics of a good host?

So far, we have known the types of hosts. Now, to buy these hosts, what parameters should we pay attention to? There are various items in the services that web hosting companies provide. In this section, we get to know the features and specifications of a good host so that you can learn right and wrong yourself and prepare the best hosts according to your needs.

1. Bandwidth

When shopping for hosting, you will come across the term bandwidth. You have probably experienced that a site does not open for you when it is busy. For a large number of users to be able to see a website simultaneously, high bandwidth is needed. Broadband is just like a highway. The wider this freeway is, the more cars will travel on it.

How to calculate the bandwidth of our website?

To estimate, you need to consider the amount of information on the site and the number of visits. (Of course, the site’s user type is also essential. For example, movie and song download sites require high bandwidth.) In normal websites, you can calculate the size of each page and multiply it by the average daily visits. For example, if each site page is 200 kilobytes and you have 400 visitors daily, the number will be 80,000 kilobytes (or 80 megabytes).

Now, with a tool like Google Analytics, you see how many pages each user visits your site on average. For example, five pages. Multiply 80,000 by five and the result by 30 days of the month to get the “approximate” monthly bandwidth requirement.

2. Disk space

Hosting space is the volume provided to you to place your website information on it. This concept is like a mobile phone memory card or a computer hard drive. Naturally, the more space there is, the more information can be placed on it. Hosting companies provide you with various spaces.

How do we know what hosting space we need?

Pay attention to your site! Small sites or personal blogs require little hosting space because the nature of these sites is only text and some small pictures. But if your site contains a variety of products, photos, video content, etc., you need a large volume.

After that, pay attention to parameters such as static or dynamic websites, databases, formats, content management systems, etc.

We recommend you ask your website designer’s opinion for a more accurate estimate of the required space.

3. Addon Domain

At the beginning of the article, we got acquainted with the concept of domain and site name. Your primary domain must be placed on the host at the very beginning. There is no doubt about it! But there is another type of domain. The Addon Domain feature helps you to add another domain to your hosting.

The application of Addon Domain is for business development. For example, imagine you have an “online bookstore”.

With the site’s development, you have also decided to launch a “stationery department” as well. If your host has a domain extension, you don’t need to repurchase a new host. It is enough to easily add the domain of the new site to the host through the control panel. So, if you have a long-term development plan, buy a host with Addon Domain functionality.

4. Control panel

The control panel helps you manage your hosting better. With this program, you can carry out the necessary tasks without coding through a simple graphic panel.

Cpanel, Direct admin, Plesk, etc., are among the most popular control panels. After purchasing the host, the hosting company will provide you with an access ID and password. By entering this panel, you can easily do the following:

• View server logs
• User account management
• Details of free memory and used memory
• Add domain to host
• Bandwidth usage details
• Database management
• Email settings
• Installation of the content management system
• And a variety of other facilities

5. Backup

I think we all know the importance of backup. This feature becomes even more critical when the information on our website is included. Be sure to pay attention to the backup feature for hosting purchases.

Reputable web hosting companies have permanent and regular backup services. If you need this information, you can contact the company’s support or get the backup yourself. The host’s control panel has a menu for backup that is always available to you.

Technical problems may be from the company’s server-side or your side. Issues such as hardware failure and burnout, wrong deletion of website information during software development, etc., are lurking on your website.

6. Uptime

High uptime is one of the criteria of a good host. This feature shows the availability of your site. No audience likes to visit websites that are constantly down. On the other hand, lack of access has a very negative effect on site traffic. (Especially in-store websites whose income is from the presence of users at the moment)

The amount of uptime is determined as a percentage during one year. The ideal number is 100%. However, every human and machine has an error rate. For this reason, most reputable hosting companies offer 99.99% uptime. It means that your site may be unavailable for 1 hour a year.

What is a web hosting operating system?

We said that servers are a kind of powerful computer. Like our personal computers, the server needs an operating system. Windows and Linux systems are used for this purpose.

The point here is that the server’s operating system is an important factor that we need to consider when choosing a host because it goes with either Windows or Linux.

Let’s take a quick look at these two operating systems:

Windows hosting (or web hosting with Windows operating system)

Microsoft provides this operating system. Windows hosting supports sites written in ASP and .NET programming languages. So, if your site’s language is PHP, cross this operating system! The Plesk control panel, Website panel, and SolidCP are usually used in Windows hosts.

Windows servers support the MSSQL database and proprietary content management system. What is meant by proprietary is that common content management systems are based on PHP; As we said, the Windows server does not match well with them. But if you have a dedicated content management system and handwritten with ASP and NET, Windows is a good answer for you.

Linux hosting (or web hosting with Linux operating system)

Although we have heard the name Windows more, Linux is more prevalent in the hosting field. Because this host supports the PHP programming language well, and this is where PHP developers fall in love with Linux hosting! These hosts support all kinds of content management systems, such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop, etc. are supported.

With a Linux host, you can use popular management panels such as Cpanel, Direct admin, Kloxo, and Zpanel. In addition, Linux hosting is compatible with the MYSQL database in terms of database support. (Most well-known content management systems require an MYSQL database to function correctly.

Linux web hosting or Windows web hosting? Which one should we buy?

It is not possible to roll a single version for all sites. Each of these two operating systems has its unique conditions and differences. For this reason, it is better to choose based on your website’s needs. See what language your site is written in. (If you don’t know, ask your website designer.) What is your content management system?

Except for the above features, Linux and Windows hosting are the same in terms of speed and security because things like speed are more dependent on the server hardware than the operating system.

Which web hosting company should we buy from?

With all the tips we have learned, the last step is to choose the best hosting company and buy it. This company should be able to meet the needs of your website in the best way. To select a hosting company, pay attention to the following points.

Company credit

What is the record of the web hosting company? Has the company satisfied the customers? Has the company fulfilled its obligations? To start, check out the company’s website and research its history.

Server Security

Ask about the company’s data center. You can also ask about their security measures. Security must first be provided physically in the data center. Secondly, be protected with a firewall and from DOS and DDOS attacks.

Having various plans

Various plans give you the option to choose from. Check the hosting company’s website to see which plan best suits your needs. Does the hosting company offer upgrade options?

Having a reasonable price

When purchasing or renewing your website plan, ensure reasonable prices and services. However, be cautious, as a cheaper price can adversely affect your website. Using cheap hardware is the common practice of unreliable companies to reduce costs, resulting in terrible results.

Support and customer services

To be sure that a company is good, its customer service department should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ask customers for advice before purchasing hosting to make sure.

Finally

All in all, if you are planning to enter the web world, you should think about purchasing hosting. Having a website and connecting with hundreds of people you didn’t know is really fun. I hope you understand what web hosting suits you and choose the best type.

As you have read, the success of your website depends to a large extent on finding a reliable hosting service provider that suits your site’s needs. In this article, we tried to explain all the concepts, definitions, and terms you may come across for purchasing hosting. I hope this article has helped you understand what web hosting is and what web hosting is best for you.