Web hosting service allows the individuals and the organizations to provide the space to showcase their website via the worldwide web, which is a large collection of the websites hosted on the web servers all over the world. A web host is a web server or computer where all the web site’s html files, graphics reside. These servers are the super computers having extremely huge hard drives, or an array of hard drives.
Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing internet connectivity, typicallyin a data center. The most basic is web page and small scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded through File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a web interface. The files are usually delivered to the web” as is” or with little processing. Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Asp, Asp.Net). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also highly recommended.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g e-commerce). They are commonly used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company. |