There are many different types of web hosting available.
Which type one chooses should hinge upon what one wants to accomplish
with his or her web site. Some web hosting services are free, but
place ads on web sites. Whereas other web hosting types can be more
expensive, but provide a lot more assistance and bandwidth. The
four main web hosting types are free web hosting, shared web hosting,
and dedicated web hosting (both managed and unmanaged).
Free web hosting is the simplest kind of web hosting that one can
get. This type of web hosting is usually supported by ads on hosted
web sites. Features for this type of web hosting are limited, and
therefore it is a better option for people who are just starting
out on the Internet and are interested in having a small site with
little traffic. The type of domain one receives in free web hosting
is typically a subdomain (yoursite.webhost.com) or a directory (www.webhost.com/~yoursite).
Most free web hosts do not have support for MySQL, multiple e-mail
accounts, and PHP.
Shared web hosting is actually the most popular
type of web hosting service. Shared web hosting allows more than
one site to be hosted on the same server. Additionally, the hosts
provide system administration. For users that do not want to have
the burden of running a sever, shared web hosting is a great choice.
The individual hosting plan may differ, but most hosts provide the
user with elements such as PHP, ASP, MySQL, more bandwidth, and
multiple e-mail addresses. More services are often available in
shared web hosting than are available with simple free web hosting
(including the ability to have your own domain name!).
The last two types of web hosting are managed dedicated
web hosting, and unmanaged dedicated web hosting. Dedicated web
hosting is a wise choice for someone who wants more storage and
bandwidth, and also wants features that are not available with shared
and free web hosting. In dedicated servers, users are not limited
to a certain number of databases and e-mail addresses. Additionally,
users usually receive a very high amount of bandwidth in comparison
to other hosting types. The typical dedicated server plan provides
the user with 500 to 1,000GB of monthly bandwidth.
In unmanaged dedicated web hosting, the user is
the server administrator. This allows the user the greatest amount
of control and flexibility. Of course, many people do not know how
to handle the task of being a server administrator and do not want
to learn. Therefore, this is not a viable option for some.
When looking for a web host, it is important to
consider the purpose of the web site and what one’s capabilities
are. Pricing for web hosts is dependant upon the support, reliability,
features, and security one wants. Choosing a type of web hosting
may seem like a daunting task, but simply doing research and making
an educated decision should yield satisfaction and success on this
critical matter.
