Web Hosting Guide for Beginner

[misslily]

First and foremost, for non-IT savvy, it might be a little tough for them to comprehend the meaning of web hosting. I believe if you search it on any search engine, of course there will be answer and explanation for them. But, how far do you really understand? Honestly, when I first get to know this term few years back, I had problem understanding myself. Then, I found one simple explanation that might be easy for people to understand. So, today, if anyone were to ask me what is "web hosting", i'd explain as follows...

Imagine you are homeless and you want to rent a room or buy a house. In order to get a shelter for yourself, you need a room. So, you imagine yourself as the website and the room as the hosting that you need to place yourself in. That means your website need a web hosting. Then, that's the time you start finding yourself a web hosting provider. Here, web hosting provider would be the house owner who rents you the room. So, in order for your website to be available and browsed by Internet users, you need to make sure your website is hosted in a web server provided by a web hosting provider.

So, when you finally understand what web hosting is, next will be the time to find out more about the different types of web hosting available. You have shared hosting, dedicated hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and colocation hosting. You name it, the Internet has it! So many to remember and differentiate..

[Callisto]

The metaphore of Hosting as Renting is quite out-of-dated.

[Bobby]

Why not? I think it is quite good example.

[Mr Goodhost]

What about colocation? Is it like bringing your bed into a luxury mansion? :-D

[Paymerica]

Always keep in mind research and listing to peoples post in these forums on the internet about web hosting will help you better understand not only the questions you seek but why you need a host.

[Emilyecho]

Why not? I think it is quite good example.

Yes, it is a very good example.;)

[fantombol]

one gives a harm put in (a refundable fee that may be used in piece to pay for harm due to the renter).

[schwa]

The analogy is pretty well-writing, anyway, the theory is really basic for noobs!

[Mclaurin Rachel]

Most beginners try to start with free web hosting services, where you do not need to pay any single cent. And the paid web hosting is also batter for small business holder or to expand the business. It also have more features than free hosting. Free hosting provides you the limited space and domain with subdomain address.

[Mikeleonard]

Which Web hosting services is very cheap for.co.uk domain .

[JerrickYeoh]

Shared Hosting is just like you buy one unit of the whole condo which all facilities are share among neighbours.
Dedicated Server is like you own the Bangalow which is totally managed by you and do no affect by others. And it usually big mean have large features.
Reseller Hosting is like you paid the rent to the owner and you resell it to others .

[jamsen]

There are several thousand web hosting providers to choose from and these are located all over the world. Each one will have their own particular hosting plans and subscription charges. If you are new to all this, searching through all the information provided can be confusing and you may not understand what the different terms mean. However, there are some features which are common to all web hosting plans.
1. Server Type
This is the type of software that the web hosting company use. Common examples are Windows 2000, Unix and Linux. If you just want a simple website hosted then it won't make a difference which server the provider operates but if your website is more complex it may matter. You might require one which provides dynamic pages or specific database functions.
2. Disk Space Allowance
This is the amount of space the web hosting provider will rent to you to store your website. Generally this figure is measured in Gigabytes (GB.) Some plans offer unlimited server space.
3. Bandwidth
This is the amount of traffic that can pass through your website and is measured per month. Each time someone visits your site, the pages are downloaded from the server to the visitor's browser. The amount of transferred data is the bandwidth and this will sometimes have an upper limit, although with some web hosts an unlimited amount is allowed. The average website won't require a lot of bandwidth but well known favourites such as Google or Yahoo will need a massive allowance.