From w3schools.com
Free Hosting
Some ISPs offer free web hosting.
Free web hosting is best suited for small sites with low traffic, like personal sites. It is not recommended for high traffic or for real business. Technical support is often limited, and technical options are few.
Very often you cannot use your own domain name at a free site. You have to use a name provided by your host like http://www.freesite.com/users/~yoursite.htm. This is hard to type, hard to remember, and not very professional.
| Good: | Bad: |
|---|---|
| Low cost. It's free. | No domain names. |
| Good for family, hobby or personal sites. | Few, limited, or no software options. |
| Free email is often an option. | Limited security options. |
| Limited or no database support. | |
| Limited technical support. |
Shared (Virtual) Hosting
Shared hosting is very cost effective.
With shared hosting, your web site gets its own domain name, and is hosted on a powerful server along with maybe 100 other web sites.
Shared solutions often offer multiple software solutions like e-mail, database, and different editing options. Technical support tends to be good.
| Good: | Bad: |
|---|---|
| Low cost. Cost is shared with others. | Reduced security due to many sites on one server. |
| Good for small business and average traffic. | Restrictions on traffic volume. |
| Multiple software options. | Restricted database support. |
| Own domain name. | Restricted software support. |
| Good support |
Dedicated Hosting
With dedicated hosting, your web site is hosted on a dedicated server.
Dedicated hosting is the most expensive option. This option is best suited for large web sites with high traffic, and web sites that use special software.
You should expect dedicated hosting to be very powerful and secure, with almost unlimited software solutions.
| Good: | Bad: |
|---|---|
| Good for large business. | Expensive. |
| Good for high traffic. | Requires higher skills. |
| Multiple domain names. | |
| Powerful email solutions. | |
| Powerful database support. | |
| Strong (unlimited) software support. |
Collocated Hosting
Collocation means "co-location". Collocated hosting lets you place your own web server on the premises (locations) of a service provider.
This is pretty much the same as running your own server in your own office, only that it is located at a place better designed for it.
Most likely an ISP will have dedicated resources like high-security against fire and vandalism, regulated backup power, dedicated Internet connections and more.
| Good: | Bad: |
|---|---|
| High bandwidth. | Expensive. |
| High up-time. | Requires higher skills. |
| High security. | Harder to configure and debug. |
| Unlimited software options. |
Your Checklist
Before you choose your web host, make sure that:
- The hosting type suits your needs
- The hosting type is cost effective
- Upgrading to a better server is possible
- If needed, upgrading to a dedicated server is possible
Before you sign up with an ISP, surf some other web sites on their servers, and try to get a good feeling about their network speed. Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option.
From About.com
Deciding where you're going to host your Web site is almost more important than decidingwhat HTML editor to use to build your site. But there are so many different types of Web hosting options, it can be overwhelming making the choice. If you know what the different types of hosting options are, you can make a more informed choice about what you need.
Free Web Hosting
Free Web hosting is free. Many free hosting providers support the hosting costs through advertising added automatically to Web pages through pop-ups, frames, and scripts. Free Web hosting is typically limited in some way compared to paid hosting. For example, you may not get as much space, bandwidth, or software.
Free Web hosting can be done through a hosting service like GeoCities or through your ISP. There are many free Web hosts to choose from.
Standard Web Hosting
This is the most common form of paid Web hosting. You pay for a specific amount of server space on a Web hosting system, and they provide you with high-speed servers, software, and other amenities. Most standard Web hosting providers use a shared system where you are granted say 5GB of space on a 100GB server. Your files are hosted there along with 15-20 other Web sites. You may or may not have your own domain name.
Some things to look for in a standard Web hosting package:
- Bandwidth charges - if you expect your site to get a lot of page views, make sure that there aren't limits or extra charges.
- Server software - most paid hosting services offer some types of software for you to use including CGI, PHP, and Weblogs.
- Administrative access - some hosts provide you with a Web-based console, and others allow you to telnet in to the server. Both work fine, but make sure if you want one style in particular that your host provides it.
- Operating system - the OS your Web site is on can affect what software can run. It's a good idea to know what you're on and learn the difference between Windows and Linux hosting.
Standard Web hosting is good for most businesses and personal sites that are behind a domain name. Paying for the service gives you more features and security than a free service, and you can find standard Web hosts for as little as $1 per month or less.
Dedicated, Virtual, and Shared Hosting
Dedicated Web hosting is where you get your own server machine for your site's exclusive use. In most dedicated hosting situations, the site owner will get root access to the server to make changes and control the site, but that depends upon the host. Some hosts provide an admin console or access through their helpdesk technicians.
Technically, unless you're paying for a "dedicated" connection or colocation, your Web site is almost certainly stored on a shared server. But, in the hosting business, most companies refer to "Shared" and "Virtual" hosting as a form of dedicated hosting where the site is on a server machine with only 1 or 2 other Web sites.
Dedicated Web hosting is good for businesses that need more space or more control over the Web site. When you're on a machine that isn't being used by any other Web site, you know what is happening on the machine - standard hosts run the risk of having one site get hacked which provides access to all the other sites on that server.
Colocation
Colocation is the next step up from dedicated hosting. It is just like dedicated where the server machine is dedicated to your site's exclusive use. But in this case, you own the hardware - not the hosting company. Instead, what you are renting is the physical space in their facility and the high-speed Internet connection.
Colocation comes in two flavors: managed and unmanaged. With managed colocation, you pay for the server space and a team from your hosting company to manage your server for you. This is great for companies that want the control of colocation but don't have an IT department to manage the server. Unmanaged is where you handle all the administration and management of the server yourself, including software updates, the Web server, and the site itself.
Colocation is perfect for companies who want something unusual in their Web software configuration or need the extra security that total control provides.
Ecommerce Web Hosting
Ecommerce Web hosting can be any of the above types of Web hosting, but it adds in another dimension: SSL or secure socket layer. If you're going to sell something on the Web you'll need to have a secure server to protect your customers.
Many hosting providers will authorize your domains to use their SSL certificates for an additional fee. Ecommerce hosting often includes shopping carts and other additional features useful to online stores. Ecommerce hosting is important for any business selling goods on the Web.
Other Web Hosting Alternatives
There are a couple of other Web hosting alternatives that you might come across:
- Reseller Web Hosting - this is for companies that wish to set up Web hosting businesses of their own.
- Clustered Web Hosting - multiple servers hosting the same content that are then load-balanced to provide better access. This is for companies that have extremely popular sites.
- File and Image Hosting - some hosting services offer file and image storage, but not Web sites. These are great for file access and image storage, but you can't put a Web site up on them.
- Weblog Hosting - Many companies offer Weblogs and blog hosting rather than a Web site specifically. These are typically less expensive than Standard Web hosting, but you're limited to a Web site that can be built with their blog software.
What is Cloud Computing?
You may have heard the term cloud computing or 'the Cloud,' but could you describe what it is? There are so many definitions flying around that you wouldn't be alone if you struggled to define it. Cloud computing is simply a set of pooled computing resources and services delivered over the web. When you diagram the relationships between all the elements it resembles a cloud.Cloud computing—not to be confused with grid computing, utility computing, or autonomic computing—involves the interaction of several virtualized resources. Cloud Servers™ connect and share information based on the level of website traffic across the entire network. Cloud computing is often provided "as a service" over the Internet, typically in the form of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), or software as a service (SaaS).
Cloud computing customers don't have to raise the capital to purchase, manage, maintain, and scale the physical infrastructure required to handle drastic traffic fluctuations. Instead of having to invest time and money to keep their sites afloat, cloud computing customers simply pay for the resources they use, as they use them. This particular characteristic of cloud computing—its elasticity—means that customers no longer need to predict traffic, but can promote their sites aggressively and spontaneously. Engineering for peak traffic becomes a thing of the past.
