An example of "rack mounted" servers.

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide 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, called colocation. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... An Internet hosting service is a service that runs Internet servers, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content on the Internet. ... A virtual private server (also referred to as virtual dedicated server or virtual server, and abbreviated VPS or VDS) is a method of partitioning one physical server computer into multiple servers that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. ... A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. ... For collocation methods for the solution of differential equations, see collocation method. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A shared web hosting service or virtual hosting service is a form of web hosting service where more than one instance of the same web server is hosted on a single physical server. ... Clustered hosting technology is designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures. ... Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. ... A blog hosting service is a service that hosts blogs. ... A guild hosting or clan hosting service is a specialized type of web hosting service designed to support online gaming communities, generally referred to as guilds or clans. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A file hosting service, online file storage service, or online media center is an Internet hosting service specifically designed to host static content, typically large files that are not web pages. ... A remote backup service or online backup service is a service that provides users with an online system for backing up and storing computer files. ... A game server is a server used by game clients. ... A DNS hosting service is a service that runs Domain Name System servers. ... An e-mail hosting service is an Internet hosting service that runs e-mail servers. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 2180 KB) Français: vue de face du groupe de serveurs Wikimédia à Aubervilliers, dans la banlieue de Paris, France, installés le 18 décembre 2004; les trois serveurs 1U du même modèle (HP sa1100) au milieu... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 2180 KB) Français: vue de face du groupe de serveurs Wikimédia à Aubervilliers, dans la banlieue de Paris, France, installés le 18 décembre 2004; les trois serveurs 1U du même modèle (HP sa1100) au milieu... An Internet hosting service is a service that runs Internet servers, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content on the Internet. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... The World Wide Web and WWW redirect here. ... In information technology, a server is an application or device that performs services for connected clients as part of a client-server architecture. ... A data center is a facility used for housing a large amount of electronic equipment, typically computers and communications equipment. ... Colocation is the act of placing multiple (sometimes related) entities within a single location. ...

Service scope

The scope of hosting services varies widely. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense. A screenshot of a web page. ... Upload and Download redirect here. ... This article is about the File Transfer Protocol standardised by the IETF. For other file transfer protocols, see File transfer protocol (disambiguation). ... “ISP” redirects here. ...

Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, 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 highly recommended. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about computing. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ... The Java platform is the name for a bundle of related programs, or platform, from Sun Microsystems which allow for developing and running programs written in the Java programming language. ... Ruby on Rails is a free web application framework designed to make web development faster, simpler and more efficient. ... ASP.NET logo ASP.NET is a web application framework marketed by Microsoft that programmers can use to build dynamic web sites, web applications and XML web services. ... A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A page from a forum showcasing emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. ... Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS), its successor, are cryptographic protocols which provide secure communications on the Internet. ...

The host may also provide an interface or control panel 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. To find a web hosting company, searchable directories can be used. One must be extremely careful when searching for a new company because many of the people promoting service providers are actually affiliates and the reviews are biased. A Control panel in web hosting refers to the interface provided by the hosting company for the maintenance and monitoring of the hosted website. ... The inside/front of a Dell PowerEdge web server The term Web server can mean one of two things: A computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as Web browsers, and serving them HTTP responses along with optional data contents, which usually are...

Hosting reliability and uptime

Multiple racks of servers, and how a datacenter commonly looks.

Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim for a 99.9% uptime, but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1186 KB) Summary Kyle Anderson Wikimedia Servers Front, Tampa Florida, USA Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Wikipedia ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1186 KB) Summary Kyle Anderson Wikimedia Servers Front, Tampa Florida, USA Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Wikipedia ... Uptime is a measure of the time a computer system has been up and running. ...

A common claim from the popular hosting providers is '99% or 99.9% server uptime' but this often refers only to a server being powered on and doesn't account for network downtime. Real downtime can potentially be larger than the percentage guaranteed by the provider. Many providers tie uptime and accessibility into their own service level agreement (SLA). SLAs sometimes include refunds or reduced costs if performance goals are not met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) is that part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. ...

Types of hosting

A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.

Internet hosting services can run Web servers; see Internet hosting services. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 663 KB) Picture by Kennisnet File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Web hosting service Data center ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 663 KB) Picture by Kennisnet File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Web hosting service Data center ... For collocation methods for the solution of differential equations, see collocation method. ... The term web server can mean one of two things: a computer responsible for serving web pages, mostly HTML documents, via the HTTP protocol to clients, mostly web browsers; a software program that is working as a daemon serving web documents. ... An Internet hosting service is a service that runs Internet servers, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content on the Internet. ...

Hosting services limited to the Web:

• Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.
• Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared website may be hosted with a reseller.
• Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers' accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.
• Virtual Dedicated Server: dividing a server into virtual servers, where each user feels like they're on their own dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own virtual space. This is also known as a virtual private server or VPS.
• Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated box.
• Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.
• Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or changes.
• Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization. Clustered Servers are a perfect solution for high-availability dedicated hosting, or creating a scalable web hosting solution.
• Grid hosting : this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple nodes.
• Home server: usually a single machine placed in a private residence can be used to host one or more web sites from a usually consumer-grade broadband connection. These can be purpose-built machines or more commonly old PC's.

Some ISPs actively attempt to block home servers by disallowing incoming requests to TCP port 80 of the user's connection and by refusing to provide static IP addresses. A common way to attain a reliable DNS hostname is by creating an account with a dynamic DNS service. A dynamic DNS service will automatically change the IP address that a URL points to when the IP address changes. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A shared web hosting service or virtual hosting service is a form of web hosting service where more than one instance of the same web server is hosted on a single physical server. ... Look up RAM, Ram, ram in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... CPU can stand for: in computing: Central processing unit in journalism: Commonwealth Press Union in law enforcement: Crime prevention unit in software: Critical patch update, a type of software patch distributed by Oracle Corporation in Macleans College is often known as Ash Lim. ... Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. ... A virtual private server (also referred to as virtual dedicated server or virtual server, and abbreviated VPS or VDS) is a method of partitioning one physical server computer into multiple servers that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. ... A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. ... A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. ... For collocation methods for the solution of differential equations, see collocation method. ... Clustered hosting technology is designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures. ... Grid computing is a phrase in distributed computing which can have several meanings: Multiple independent computing clusters which act like a grid because they are composed of resource nodes not located within a single administrative domain. ... A home server is a type of computer used for various services that can be implemented in a common household. ... Broadband in telecommunications is a term that refers to a signaling method that includes or handles a relatively wide range of frequencies, which may be divided into channels or frequency bins. ... The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ... A static IP address is where a computer uses the same address every time one logs on to the Internet. ...

  Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:

• File hosting service: hosts files, not web pages
• Image hosting service
• Video hosting service
• Blog hosting service
• One-click hosting
• Shopping cart software

A file hosting service, online file storage service, or online media center is an Internet hosting service specifically designed to host static content, typically large files that are not web pages. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. ... A blog hosting service is a service that hosts blogs. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Shopping cart software is software used in e-commerce to assist people making purchases online, analagous to the US English term shopping cart. In British English it is generally known as a shopping basket, almost exclusively shortened on websites to basket. The software allows online shopping customers to place items...

Obtaining hosting

Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering these services.

A customer needs to evaluate the requirements of the application to choose what kind of hosting to use. Such considerations include database server software, scripting software, and operating system. Most hosting providers provide Linux-based web hosting which offers a wide range of different software. A typical configuration for a Linux server is the LAMP platform: Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. The webhosting client may want to have other services, such as email for their business domain, databases or multi-media services for streaming media. A customer may also choose Windows for its hosting platform. The customer still can choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but may also use ASP .Net or Classic ASP. An operating system (OS) is a software that manages computer resources and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. ... The acronym LAMP refers to a solution stack of software, usually free software / open-source software, used to run dynamic Web sites or servers. ... This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache, is a web server notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. ... MySQL (pronounced (IPA) , my S-Q-L[1]) is a multithreaded, multi-user SQL database management system (DBMS)[2] which has, according to MySQL AB, more than 10 million installations. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Perl (disambiguation). ... Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language. ...

Web hosting packages often include a Web Content Management System, so the end-user doesn't have to worry about the more technical aspects. These Web Content Management systems are great for the average user, but for those who want more control over their website design, this feature can sometimes be a nuisance rather than a feature. A web content management system is content management system software implemented as a web application used for creating and managing HTML content. ...

Macintosh has supported Apache since the "Tiger" system was introduced, and the Darwin (operating system) provides a Unix-like interface via Terminal.app.  Such systems have complete Web hosting capabilities, including support for PHP, and Perl and Shell scripts.  Personal Web Sharing can be activated in the Sharing panel of System Preferences...^[1]. The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache, is a web server notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. ... Darwin is a free and open source, Unix-like operating system first released by Apple Inc. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Perl (disambiguation). ... A shell script is a script written for the shell, or command line interpreter, of an operating system. ...

One may also search the Internet to find active webhosting message boards and forums that may provide feedback on what type of webhosting company may suit his/her needs.

References

1. ^ How to Activate Web Hosting on a Macintosh

See also

• Overselling
• Shared web hosting service
• Dedicated hosting service