Web Hosting Services
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that provides individuals, organizations and users with online systems for storing information, images, video, or any content accessible via the Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center.
Service scope
The scopes of hosting services vary widely. The most basic is web page and (small) file hosting, where files can be uploaded via FTP or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many ISPs offer this service for free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from services such as GeoCities. Web page hosting is typically free, advertisement sponsored, or cheap. Web page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal home pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provide database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, and 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 required. The host may also provide a Web interface (e.g. cPanel) 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.
Types of hosting
Internet hosting services can run web servers; see Internet hosting services. Hosting services limited to the web: * Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is extremely limited when compared to paid hosting. * Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as several hundred other sites. These are somewhat restricted to what can be done. * Dedicated web hosting service: involves getting your own webserver with full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows) * Colocation web hosting service: provides physical space that your server takes up and the hosting company takes care about bandwidth/data center. * Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. * File hosting service: is a kind of web hosting service optimized for hosting large files. * Clustered hosting Some specific web services: * Image hosting service * Blog hosting service
