What Is Web Hosting?

Date First Published: 14th August 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Services

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 4/10

CONTENTS

Types Of Web Hosting
Web Hosting Features
How Much Does Web Hosting Cost?
Difference Between A Web Host and A Domain Registrar
Is Web Hosting Required?
Web Hosting Companies
History

Learn more about what web hosting is in this article.

Web hosting is a service provided by a web host that allows users to make their websites accessible on the World Wide Web by allocating them with server space that runs web server software, such as Apache to store their website files. Web hosts are organisations that maintain, configure, and provide the physical servers that store websites. There are thousands of web hosts available now, all of which have their own advantages and limitations, so finding one should not be too difficult, but before signing up for it, always research it and find out details, such as storage space, costs, terms of use, uptime, bandwidth, technical support, etc. Look for one that is suitable for your needs and fit for purpose.

Types Of Web Hosting

Different types of web hosting include:

Shared hosting - This is what most websites use. It is a service that allows hundreds or thousands of websites to be hosted on a single server that is responsible for serving requests to them. Resources, such as storage space, CPU, and RAM, are shared amongst users.
VPS hosting - A service that provides users with a virtual machine with full superuser/root access. They are customisable and configurable hosting plans that are isolated from other accounts. Multiple VPSes are housed inside one physical server and each VPS has its own operating system, which can be separately rebooted.
Semi-dedicated hosting - A service that allows a limited number of websites to be hosted on a single server rather than thousands.
Dedicated hosting - Very large websites often use this. It is a service that allows users to rent an entire server for their own use. Only one website is hosted by this server. Dedicated servers can be managed or unmanaged.
Cloud hosting - A virtual network of cloud servers is used to host a single website. Unlike normal web hosting, websites are not hosted on a single server. Users only pay for the resources that they use by the month or hour. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a cloud hosting service.
Reseller hosting - This enables a client to act as a web host by allowing some services to be sold by an individual or third-party organisation.

Web Hosting Features

Features that a hosting provider may provide include:

PHP support.
MySQL support.
Support for CMS installation, such as WordPress and Joomla.
Free SSL certificates from certificate authorities, such as Let's Encrypt.
Password protection - This enables users to password protect certain files or directories on their websites.
Security features, such as firewall and antivirus protection.
Website builders, allowing users to choose a predesigned theme for their website in a WYSIWYG interface.
Free domain names with paid hosting plans - Some hosting providers may include the domain name in the hosting fee, so the user is still paying for it and it not actually free of charge. The word 'free' is misleading. Instead, it should say that the paid hosting package is bundled with a domain name.
Customisable dashboard in the control panel.
SSH support - Used by advanced web developers to remotely communicate with the server using a command-line interface.
Support ticket system - Used when a user needs to contact support staff. Users can open tickets and once staff respond back, the ticket is closed.
Free subdomains - Some hosting providers offer free subdomains that people can use for their websites, such as mysite.wordpress.com. The hosting provider has paid for the domain names and allows users to create subdomains of them for free.
FTP access - FTP access allows users to download from and upload files to their hosting provider with username and password authentication. Although most web hosts provide an online file browser where users can drag and drop files, files can be FTPed using FTP clients, such as FileZilla.
Email accounts - These allow users to have a custom email address with their domain name at the end, such as '[email protected]'. Emails are stored on the web host's mail server.

How Much Does Web Hosting Cost?

The costs of web hosting vary, depending on the services and what the hosting plan offers. The average price cannot be listed here as it depends on the web host. Web hosts will often provide free web hosting with basic features and restrictions on bandwidth, hits, file size, file types, and disk space. Free web hosts may place ads and banners on user's websites that they cannot remove, which is how they makes money. A decent web host will not place ads on user's sites. Instead, they may place them on the control panel and their website. Dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of web hosting that allows one website to rent an entire server for its own use.

Is Web Hosting Required?

In order for a website to be accessible on the World Wide Web and publicly viewable, it needs to be hosted on a web server that will serve requests to the client when requested. Without web hosting, website owners would have to find a way to host their websites by themselves, which would be a very expensive and time-consuming process. Servers often cost thousands of pounds and have to be maintained, configured, and be on 24/7. By signing up for a web hosting service, the company will maintain the servers and users won't have to buy and maintain their own servers, making it much cheaper, quicker, and easier. Although websites can be self-hosted on a computer with software, such as MAMP installed, where the domain name is pointed to your public IP address, this option is not recommended for the long term as not all ISPs support hosting, your computer will have to be turned on 24/7, your website will go down if you restart or update your computer, and the website will not be as fast as a hosting company can provide. For more information about hosting a website on your computer, see this article.

Difference Between A Web Host and A Domain Registrar

Do not confuse a web host with a domain registrar as they are not the same things. A domain registrar is simply a company that provides users with domain name registration services and allows them to buy domain names and configure the settings, such as DNS records, redirects, and more. A domain name is simply the alphanumeric URL of a website that can be seen in the address bar of a web browser. For example, 'example.com' is a domain name. A domain registrar does not provide users with any server space that allows them to store their website files and it is incorrect to say that they 'host' a domain name. However, some domain registrars may also provide web hosting services.

A web host allows users to use the custom domain name they bought from a domain registrar as the URL of their hosted website and they can then upload their website files under that domain name. Both are required to successfully run a website as a domain name is necessary for people to access a website and web hosting is required for the files to be publicly viewable. After getting web hosting, the domain name settings need to be updated and pointed to the web hosting provider. Often, the domain name needs to be pointed to the IP address of the hosting provider or the nameservers need to be updated. A web host may provide domain registration services that comes with their paid hosting plans, although these often do not come with free WHOIS privacy protection.

Web Hosting Companies

Examples of web hosting companies include:

For more information about web hosting companies, see this article.

History

Originally, individuals or companies needed to have their own servers to be able to host a website on the World Wide Web. Not all companies and individuals could afford this or have the technical knowledge, so web hosting services started to offer to host user's websites on their servers without the client needing to own the infrastructure required to operate the website. The owners of the websites would be able to create a website that would be hosted on the server of the web hosting provider and published to the World Wide Web by the service. Companies, such as Angelfire, GeoCities, and Tripod began to offer free web hosting by 1995.