Web Hosting 101 - The Basics - 0 views
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Linux servers are open source and can be based on a number of different distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, CentOS, or FreeBSD.
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the most common forms of web hosting available are: Free Web Hosting Shared Web Hosting Managed Web Hosting VPS Web Hosting Dedicated Web Hosting Cloud Web Hosting
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Free web hosting is offered by various companies primarily in order to up-sell other domain services or to publish advertising on pages that are hosted under the account.
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With shared web hosting, there may be thousands of different businesses, individuals, and organizations all serving their website files to the public from the same computer.
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The web hosting company employs systems administrators to manage the server software installation and security updates. The hosting clients use file transfer management tools to host web pages in HTML or other programming languages which serve the files to the public through the browser. The hard disk space on the remote server can be used for other purposes than web hosting, for example remote file storage, email accounts, sandbox web development, mobile app support, or running software scripts online.
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Shared web hosting accounts can cost as little as $1 – $3 dollars per month and rarely cost more than $20. It is estimated that over 90% of the websites on the internet use shared web hosting to keep their information online 24 hours a day. Shared web hosts never turn off their services and offer seamless hardware upgrades in the data center that can keep a website online for years. Most of the available web development tools will integrate easily with a shared hosting account.
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The main disadvantage of shared web hosting is that it is not able to scale effectively to support the traffic of large websites and usually includes strict limitations on the use of CPU processing power because of the pooled resources. Shared web hosting does not typically support the user installation of server extensions through the command line that are important for custom web development and mobile app support.
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There is still no opportunity for advanced systems administration and custom server configurations on most shared hosting plans. Security on shared web hosting frameworks is not considered robust enough for sensitive corporate information and government accounts. There can also be performance issues that develop on a server if one domain is consistently consuming shared resources or hit with a DDoS attack. Because systems administration and root server configuration control is taken out of the hands of shared web hosting users, they are often overly reliant on the service company for tech support.
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Shared web hosting is recommended for self-published websites and small business networks.
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Managed web hosting is a version of shared hosting where the service company specializes in platform-specific products that support custom development frameworks. Examples of this can be seen in Pantheon and Acquia Cloud for Drupal, Nexcess for Magento, or WP Engine for WordPress. Managed host companies provide optimized server environments that can speed up website performance and page load times for high-traffic, CMS-driven websites.
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Virtual Private Servers (VPS) are a web hosting solution designed to give more power and flexibility to website owners for custom developed software requirements and complex applications. Technically, a VPS will operate in the same manner as a dedicated server while operating on a partitioned hardware framework that allows for the use of only a fraction of the resources of the host machine.
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Understanding which virtualization platform the VPS web hosting company is using to manage data center resources and client configurations is important.
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Developers often prefer VPS accounts because they can custom configure the server with the choice of operating system and install whatever additional server extensions are required for programming web applications
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The main benefit of VPS hosting is that website owners can “dial in” the exact amount of server resources that are required to optimize the performance of a complex website.
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The main disadvantage of VPS web hosting is the complexity of systems administration required to install and manage the server software, which requires a lot of command line knowledge and background in web server configuration.
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Inexperienced users can leave security holes in the environment that hackers using automated script bots and known server or database exploits can easily detect and target. Using a standardized cPanel, CentOS, & WHM environment or administration panels like Webmin and Virtualmin can help simplify the server administration process considerably by adding a GUI layer to access common tasks
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VPS web hosting accounts are best suited for developers who need to custom configure the environment with server extensions that shared web hosts will not support. Typically these are related to the use of database frameworks other than MySQL, programming languages other than PHP, and server frameworks other than Apache.
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Dedicated web hosting is the most expensive and flexible of all of the service plans offered by companies in the industry, as site owners are able to directly rent or lease a complete rack-mount server in a data center.
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Dedicated servers are required to host the largest sites by traffic on the web, as well as by mobile apps which require elite performance
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The main disadvantage of a dedicated server is that it is costly compared to shared hosting or VPS plans, and expensive even when compared to the price of the underlying hardware itself. With dedicated servers, the client is paying not only for the use of the server, but also for the trained technicians who manage it, the overhead costs of the data center, and access to the internet backbone. Data center costs include not only rental of office and warehouse space, but also the electricity required to run all of the servers and keep them cool. Data centers must also have back-up power generation facilities in case the local electricity supply is cut. All of the residual costs are included in the annual price of a dedicated server plan. Nevertheless, it is still often much cheaper then what would be required to manage a data center for a single business independently.
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Cloud web hosting provides solutions for websites that need more processing power and require more than a single server instance because the amount of online traffic, including the number of queries to the database and resource files, is too high in volume for a single machine
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Cloud web hosting is defined by the deployment of server clusters that scale automatically with the user traffic and processing power needs of a website, including advanced software applications for elastic load balancing, file storage, and database optimization
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Cloud web hosting is similar to content delivery networks (CDNs) which use distributed global servers, advanced page caching, and file management software to optimize website performance for large websites. Many cloud hosting companies will offer the ability to choose the operating system, database framework, and geographic location of the server itself as part of the configuration options.
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Cloud web hosting is designed for remote computing applications and required by large web sites whose user traffic exceeds the limits of what a single server instance will provide. Cloud web hosting is particularly designed to meet the needs of websites with large database requirements.
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Not every website will require cloud hosting, but small businesses and start-ups who scale their traffic and user communities often find managed cloud services a reasonable option over dedicated servers because of the ability to “pay-as-you-go” for only the amount of server resources used and for the ability to keep sites online through cluster scaling at the times of peak user service provision.
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The major downside to cloud hosting is the uncertainty involved with the variability of costs with sites on the “pay-as-you-go” model. Another problem can be associated with “hype” in the industry, which can lead to over-pricing and over-billing for unnecessary services or introductory plans.
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Cloud web hosting can be similar to VPS or dedicated server frameworks where the systems administrator has the ability to custom configure the installation of the operating system with software extensions that are not available in shared hosting environments. Some managed cloud hosts simplify this process by offering optimally configured solutions with a proprietary base software package.
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Some of the main features to look for in any web hosting account are: Server Architecture Operating System Version Domain Management Tools Systems Administration Tools Bandwidth & CPU Limitations Free Offers & Promotions Data Security Technical Support
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Before purchasing any web hosting account, it is essential to verify the server hardware being used on the platform. Currently there is a wide variety of difference between the different versions of Intel Xeon, Atom, Itanium, and AMD Opteron servers deployed in data center use.
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The version of Linux installed, for example CentOS and Cloud Linux, can also come with licensing restrictions due to the use of WHM and cPanel. The use of other Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian, FreeBSD, etc. in web servers is mostly related to developer preference for systems administration
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Many hosting companies claim to offer “unlimited” bandwidth and data transfer. However, if a website uses too many CPU resources, it may still be throttled or taken offline at times of peak user traffic.
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A web hosting company should provide a guaranteed uptime of at least 99.9% as part of the service plan.
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Website owners should make sure that any web hosting plan will be configured securely, including firewalls and monitoring software to prevent intrusions by automated script-bot attacks. Check whether the web hosting company offers DDoS attack protection and auto-alerts for unauthorized logins. While shared web hosting plans include the company services related to upgrading the installed operating system and server software with the latest security patches, VPS and dedicated server accounts will need to be responsible for this through a qualified systems administrator. Web hosting companies that provide automated site file and database back-up tools like raid disk mirroring on advanced accounts provide an extra layer of site security in case of a server crash or technical error that leads to data loss.
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Managed hosts have the advantage of experienced technical support teams with platform-specific knowledge
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Small business website owners and independent publishers should start with a shared web hosting account, then upgrade to a VPS or Cloud hosting plan if the traffic scales beyond what the server will support.
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While shared hosting under cPanel and CentOS remains the industry standard, innovations in cloud computing are changing the web hosting landscape quickly. Many web hosting companies are now offering “hybrid” approaches that combine the best features of cloud and shared hosting into a high-performance, low-cost retail plan that offers integrated load balancing, page caching, and CDN services on elite server hardware configurations.
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"Linux servers are open source and can be based on a number of different distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, CentOS, or FreeBSD."
