Q: What Exactly is Web Hosting?

A: Individuals or companies that have websites lease web servers from web hosting services, either monthly or annually. Commonly, there are a multitude of services offered by a web hosting provider, depending on the individual needs of a client.

Web hosting works by bridging the gap between a website owner and the internet. Through hosting, a website has access to sufficient server resources and management tools. All web sites must have a web server. An estimated 90% of them are run through a leased web hosting plan.

If you have plans to build and maintain a web site, then it will be imperative that you become familiar with the many aspects of web hosting.

Q: What are Web Servers?

A: Web servers are high powered, high tech computers that work by storing and transmitting data over the internet. Just about all servers are connected to the internet for the duration of their lifespan.

Web servers are by far the most important aspects of the internet. All web sites are stored, maintained, and operated on web servers. It is not possible to access the internet without a web server, so every web site must have one.

There are quite a few different types of web servers, all them designed to offer an assortment of web hosting capabilities. While web servers are quite costly, luckily, web hosting provides site owners with a less expensive option to lease servers, rather than own them.

Q: What is an IP Address?

A: An IP (Internet Protocol) address is basically a sequence of numbers that is used to identify a specific computer over the internet. Each computer is assigned an IP address by the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that serves as a means to identify communication from that particular computer to another computer.

Web sites also have IP addresses that are indicative of the address associated with the web server on which they are hosted.

An IP address looks like a series of numbers; for example, when looking at an IP address, there will be a string that resembles this: 162.0.0.1.

IP addresses are a vital part of web hosting, as many plans give access to several IP addresses. This makes it easier to branch out your presence for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Q: What's VPS Web Hosting?

A: VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is a hosting plan that divides a large web server and its resources between literally hundreds of sites at the same time, conveying enhanced performance to each web site. In contrast to shared hosting plans, VPS hosting plans come with wide ranging server resources and the ability to make adjustments to software and server configuration.

Often, VPS hosting is utilized by businesses or busy websites and is regarded as the ideal solution for those on a strict budget that need effective, yet inexpensive hosting. VPS hosting, when compared to dedicated hosting plans, does not differ much in terms of effectiveness. However, VPS is much more affordable and quite expandable, making it simple to upgrade if need be.

Q: What are Dedicated Hosting Plans?

Dedicated hosting plans allow you to lease a private server that is only utilized by your sites. Dedicated hosting is superior to shared hosting, in that it has less limitations and added features that are made available to its users.

A dedicated server gives you the freedom to do whatever you want, and it is rare to see the server's resources depleted. Dedicated web hosting is regarded as the most powerful and sought after web hosting on the market. This is mainly because it is the only plan that allows you to lease your own private server, without sharing resources with any other website.

While it is quite a bit more expensive, with a dedicated server, hundreds of your own sites can be hosted at the same time without sacrificing one bit of functionality.

Q: What is Web Hosting Bandwidth?

Web hosting bandwidth is used to measure the amount of data that can be transferred from the web server at any given point in time. When users visit your web site, they are actually downloading and uploading information to and from your web site with every page that is loaded. Thus, in order to accommodate a high amount of daily visitors, your web hosting plan needs to provide ample bandwidth so that pages will load quickly, keeping your visitors happy.

Bandwidth is usually measured in terms of data per second, such as megabytes per second or kilobytes per second. This allows you to gauge how much traffic your site can handle at an exact moment in time. Although the amount of bandwidth varies depending upon the hosting plan, you should be sure that your web hosting plan allows for plenty of daily visitors with lots of bandwidth to spare.

Q: What is Web Hosting Disk Space?

A: The term "disk space" is used to describe the amount of files that can be held on a single web server. All of your web site files are stored on the web server, which means that the amount of disk space that is available to you will directly affect how large your site can be. When you run out of available bandwidth, you will no longer have room for more files, which means you will be unable to update your site with new content. Updating your site with content regularly is paramount to its success, so it is very important to make sure you have adequate bandwidth for your sites.

Most web hosting experts recommend having redundant disk space, which is basically leftover disk space.

Q: What is File Transfer Protocol?

A: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a method of uploading and downloading files from a web server. Software called FTP clients is used to interact with your web server via File Transfer Protocol. FTP makes it easy to update your site and build larger sites with hundreds of pages, but without having to create each page individually.

If you want to simplify the process of site management and construction, then you will need access to an FTP client. Fortunately, FTP clients are free and very easy to use. You can create FTP accounts within your web hosting control panel. You can create accounts that are associated with independent directories, or you can create a main FTP account that can be used to interact with your entire Public HTML folder.

Q: What Are Control Panels?

A: Control panels are comprehensive user-friendly interfaces that are specifically designed to facilitate the administration and management of your web site and web server. You will spend most of the time in the control panel as a web site owner, so it is very important that you become familiar with the various aspects of control panel usage.

Control panels are usually split into sections that are devoted to different facets of web site management, such as email accounts and the domain manager. There are many control panels available in the web hosting industry, however, cPanel is by far the most popular.

Q: Why Are Server Resources Mentioned So Frequently?

A: Server resources are basically the features and capabilities of your web server. Since your web server is the focal point of your web hosting plan, it is very common to see the term "server resources" used when discussing the capabilities of a web hosting plan.

If your site is lacking adequate server resources, then its performance will undoubtedly suffer, so it is very important to make sure you have access to excessive server resources at all times. This is especially true if you are hosting multiple web sites under the same hosting account. In order for your site visitors to have an enjoyable experience with your site, you will need plenty of server resources.

Q: What's Managed Hosting?

A: Managed web hosting is a type of dedicated web hosting in which comprehensive support and on-site maintenance are provided to every customer.

Managing a dedicated server can be a very complex task, especially if you have to worry about the progression of your online business. Unmanaged dedicated hosting accounts are very difficult to deal with, particularly for new webmasters that are not trained to handle dedicated server. It can take a long time to learn how to keep your server performing optimally, which is why it is important to have access to qualified assistance.

A fully managed web hosting plan will give you the opportunity to focus on other aspects of your business while professionals deal with the technical issues for you.

Q: What is Server Uptime?

If you have been shopping for a web hosting plan, then you have probably seen a stamp or seal on a provider's site that says "99% uptime guaranteed." This phrase is used to denote the reliability of a hosting provider, and the asserted guarantee demonstrates that their web servers are fully functional without error for more than 99 percent of the time.

This is an extremely important attribute for a web hosting company to have. In fact, most web hosting experts suggest that reliability is perhaps the most important factor to consider when choosing from prospective web hosting providers.

Downtime is the other side of the spectrum, in which a server crashes, leaving the hosted web sites rendered useless until it is brought back online. If you have been noticing a lot of downtime from your current hosting companies, then you may want to consider switching to a more reliable provider.

Q: What is a Datacenter?

A: A datacenter is a large state-of-the-art facility that is used to store web servers in ideal environmental conditions. Virtually everything is controlled precisely within a data center, from the temperature to the amount of air circulated in and out of the room. The floors of the data center are fully ventilated, and the entire facility is fireproofed, with futuristic extinguishing mechanisms throughout the building.

Datacenters have incredibly fast internet connections, which are distributed amongst dozens of web server simultaneously. Web servers are stored neatly in professionally built racks that are specifically designed for their purpose. To ensure the complete safety and longevity of the web servers, there is 24 hour security and powerful air filtration devices throughout the buildings.

Q: What is Web Hosting Spam?

A: Spam is annoying and forceful advertising that some companies use as a tactic for marketing. Spam is dangerous in that it can completely overload your system. Anyone who has opened their inbox to find a ton of unwanted e-mail from a million different people that they don't even know has experienced spam.

Web hosting spam differs in the fact that it directs spam toward your web site, rather than your e-mail box. Fortunately, most of the hosting services providers offer spam protection that will hinder spammers from hitting your site.

For a web site to operate at its highest capacity, spam must be prevented. Make sure and research ways in which you can prevent spam from affecting the performance of your web site.

Q: What are File Managers?

A: The file manager is found within the control panel of your web hosting account. It enables you to manage all of the files on your server. When you are in the file manager, you can edit, view and back up data bases that are connected to your web sites. Once the file manager is opened, you have access to all of the directories and can choose which one you would like to open and use.

Your public HTML directory, which holds all the files that your site utilizes to function correctly, can be accessed from the file manager. All editing that is done with HTML and code is performed within the file manager, in addition to several other tasks associated with managing your web site.