What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service which allocates space for customers to showcase their websites on computer servers that are connected to the Internet 24/7.
Servers are powerful computers that have extremely large hard drives, or an array of hard drives. Space is then rented to those who want a “website presence” on the Internet.
Every server on the Internet has a unique numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address. You can think of servers as apartment buildings with unique addresses. Each apartment unit within each building is equivocal to space rented out for individual websites. And like real apartment buildings, each unit also has an address based on “the building” in which it is located.
When you rent a space on a server then, you’re setting up house on the Internet. You can be reached by a unique address (the website address), which is based on the server’s address.
There are many different types of web hosting. Most packages come with certain capabilities for users. Examples are scripts that allow interactive functions, forms, bulletin boards, guest books, etc. For professional purposes there are also Web hosting services that offer commercial packages that bundle business tools, like point of sales packages and credit card processing.
Prices for Web hosting vary from free to hundreds of dollars a year, depending on your needs. Web hosting for personal websites that don’t require any special tools and have low traffic (not a high number of viewings) can be found easily for free.
Free Web hosting is convenient but has its drawbacks. Usually it will be required that you allow the server to run advertisements on your website. The advertisements are normally banner ads — a banner at the top of the page for example — and sometimes pop-up ads as well. Most free hosting services offer an alternative pay-plan to have the advertisements removed.
Another consideration is that free services normally allocate your website address as an extension of the server’s address. For example: www.thewebhost.com/yourwebsite. If you want an address like: www.yourwebsite.com, you will have to pay to register your own domain name.
There are other considerations when looking for a Web host aside from price. Some hosting services have policies that restrict certain content, scripting languages, functions or uses. You should also read the privacy policy of any hosting service that you are considering, to see how they will use the personal information you provide to them in setting up your account.
Article Source = http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-web-hosting.htm
Website Hosting Service by Wikepedia
A web hоsting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server owned or leased for use by 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 other servers located in their data center, called colocation, also known as Housing in Latin America or France.
The scope of web hosting services varies greatly. 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 minimal processing.[1] Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to subscribers. Individuals and organizations may also obtain Web page hosting from alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or inexpensive. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient 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, ColdFusion, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. Also, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is typically used for e-commerce.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts, as well as, other modules and service applications like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce),which are commonly used by larger companies that outsource network infrastructure.
Article Source = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_hosting_service
