OS Solutions - Learn All About Web Hosting

Web Hosting is a critical and crucial decision for every website owner who wants to establish his brand presence in this vast digital landscape. One must make a sensible decision while choosing a web hosting as it impacts the performance, security, accessibility, and brand acceptability of his website. 

There is nothing more essential than ensuring quick loading times, highest uptime, and powerful customer support, all setting up the stage for an exceptional and memorable user experience. 

If you are truly focused on delivering the best to your customers, consider web hosting as a strategic move toward propelling your business website to success.

Web hosting cannot be generalized as each type caters to customers’ needs. They can be broadly divided into:

1. Shared Hosting
2. Virtual Private Server Hosting
3. Dedicated Server Hosting
4. Colocation Hosting
5. Free Web Hosting

This blog, meant for beginners needing clarity on different types of web hosting services. Read further to learn about various types of web hosting services and choose the right fit for your website. 

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service provided by a hosting provider that lets individuals and organizations host the websites on their public servers. After completing the hosting process, your website will be available on the Internet. 

The primary purpose of hosting a website is to store its files, media, and content on a server that is always connected to the internet. Web hosting company provides the essential infrastructure, security, and support needed to run your website smoothly and make it available to visitors. 

Shared Hosting

Shared Hosting is the most basic type of web hosting facility. In shared hosting, multiple websites are stored on the same server. All these websites use common (shared) server resources like storage space, memory, processor, and bandwidth.

How does Shared Hosting Work?

In the Shared Hosting option, the hosting company allows multiple websites to be installed on a single server. All these websites share common server resources like CPU, RAM, and hard disk (storage) space. 

Every website is assigned a designated portion of the server’s common resources so that it can operate independently. When a user visits a shared website, the server processes his request, and the site’s content is delivered to him through his browser.

Ideal Users For Shared Hosting

Individuals, professionals, bloggers, and business startups receiving low to moderate traffic can switch to shared hosting for their websites. The shared hosting option is best for individuals planning to create their blogs, portfolios, or simple informational website types with low to medium budgets. 

Startups and non-profit organizations are ideal users for shared hosting as they can benefit from its affordability and user-friendliness. Usually, hosting provider will offer you user-friendly tools to help you with website management and maintain your online business presence without extensive technical knowledge or high operating costs. 

VPS  Hosting

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS hosting is a type of web hosting that provides users with a virtualized server environment. This virtualized server environment is present within a physical server. This means that one physical server can house multiple VPS. So, VPS offers better control and resources than shared hosting. 

Here, each VPS operates independently within its operating system and uses dedicated resources, making it an ideal solution for beginners who want more flexibility and scalability for their websites or applications. VPS users get the freedom from the complexities and high costs of a dedicated server.

How VPS Hosting Works?

The hosting company partitions a physical server into multiple virtual servers to offer VPS hosting to its users. Each VPS operates independently within its operating system. A simple understanding the process,

Virtualization Technology: A hypervisor (virtual machine manager) is used to create virtual environments on a physical server. This software allows for the isolation of each virtual server while sharing the underlying hardware resources.

Resource Allocation: Each VPS is allocated a specific amount of CPU power, RAM, storage, and bandwidth. Hence, unlike shared hosting, where resources are pooled among multiple users, each VPS is assigned dedicated resources that are not affected by the performance of other VPS accounts on the same physical server.

Independent Operating System: Each VPS can run its independent operating system (OS), which can be configured using any software that the user needs. VPS offers its users the flexibility to manage applications and websites.

User Control: In VPS hosting, users get root access to their VPS. As a result, the users can install, configure, and manage software at will. Hence, users get superior control over their virtual environment compared to shared hosting.

Scalability: With VPS hosting, users can easily scale their virtual server and its resources. When the website’s traffic increases, users can easily upgrade their resources right within that environment without migrating to a new server.

VPS hosting offers a combination of the best aspects of shared and dedicated hosting, where users can enjoy independence, control, and reliability.

Ideal Users For VPS Hosting

For users operating small to medium-sized businesses and looking for more control over their web presence, VPS server hosting is ideal for them. With VPS hosting, they can save on the heavy costs of dedicated servers.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is a type of web hosting where the hosting company provides its users with an entire physical server. Each server is exclusive to one user or organization. 

It means that the user has full control over the server and its resources, performance, and configuration. The dedicated server is an ideal solution for well-established businesses receiving high traffic on their website, running resource-intensive applications, or having specific regulatory requirements. Where shared and VPS hostings have limitations, dedicated servers provide top-notch reliability and performance. Dedicated servers are a perfect fit for those who need maximum power, high security, and total customization.

How Dedicated Server Hosting Works?

When you buy a dedicated server hosting plan, a single physical server is exclusively assigned to you. In this type of hosting, you have complete control over the server’s resources, including CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth. 

You can customize the server’s configuration to meet your specific needs. You also get the benefit of customizing your software installations and security settings.

Unlike shared or VPS hosting, dedicated hosting ensures that all resources are dedicated to one client. Here, the client acquires optimal performance, enhanced security, and reliability for resource-intensive applications or high-traffic websites.

Users For Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is not for a commoner. It is a great match for established businesses and individuals with high-performance demands, such as large eCommerce websites, online gaming platforms, or resource-intensive applications. 

Organizations like financial institutions, healthcare providers, or pharmaceutical data processors manage large amounts of sensitive data. These organizations benefit from enhanced security and compliance features offered by dedicated servers. 

Digital marketing agencies managing multiple projects or clients requiring customized environments and maximum uptime consider dedicated hosting as their best ally. 

All these institutions mentioned above need significant resources and full control over their server environment. They also need consistent performance under heavy traffic, which only dedicated server hosting can provide.

Colocation Hosting

Colocation hosting is a unique concept that allows individuals and businesses to rent rack space in a data center. The colocation hosting option is for those who own servers and other equipment and wish to use the data center’s infrastructure to deliver services to their clients. 

Keeping servers in-house is a costly affair and requires a significant amount of maintenance. Businesses use controlled environments of colocation facilities where their servers get constant power, adequate cooling, physical security, protection against natural hazards, and high-speed internet connectivity. 

The data center will provide a control panel on a remote PC to enable businesses to manage their server. The data center would also provide redundancy in all possible services to allow your server to perform well.

How Does Colocation Hosting Work?

Your Equipment: You purchase your server and other hardware and make them ready. 

Data Center Facilities: You shift your server and related equipment to a colocation facility. You store your devices in the assigned rack alongside other servers.

Support from the data center: The data center staff provides your devices with the necessary infrastructure, like redundant power supply, cooling systems, and security measures. The data center also offers protection from natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, and thunderstorms.

Internet Connectivity: Your server is connected to stable and high-speed internet connections. These connections will allow your servers to communicate efficiently with users and other networks.

Ideal Users For Colocation Hosting

Colocation hosting is best for such businesses that require high levels of performance, security, and reliability for their servers. Colocation hosting is the best match for small and medium-sized enterprises that lack the necessary infrastructure. Such enterprises have to rely on the resources offered by fully equipped data centers. 

You might come across finance or healthcare companies with specific compliance needs. Such companies can leverage the colocations enhanced security setups. 

Tech startups, professional service providers, IT-enabled training institutes, and small web development firms are generally low on infrastructure and resources. Hence, colocation services can help them adapt quickly to escalating traffic demands while still keeping their costs within limits. 

On a larger canvas, any organization willing to enhance its IT operations while maintaining control over its hardware can leverage the value delivered by colocation hosting services.