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Web hosting is not too dissimilar to hosting a party - you need somewhere to hold it, and there is the need for monitoring. With web hosting however, you don't need to provide nibbles and beers, and no one will throw up on the front room carpet.

Web hosting is fairly simple - in order for visitors to be able to view your website, your website files need to be uploaded onto a web server that is connected to the internet 24 hours a day. Web servers are highly reliable, powerful computers which require special software and monitoring, as well as full administration throughout the day and night. The high-speed server connections allow the transfer of files and emails along with special firewall and hacker software to protect your sites and prevent server attacks.

Buying a web hosting account is simply like 'renting' some space on a server harddrive since your website should not run from your own computer. By buying web hosting you are avoiding the need to buy your own servers and hire your own server staff.

The options

A Virtual/Shared Server is the most common method of web hosting for individuals and small businesses. This is mainly because of its relatively low cost compared with other web hosting methods mentioned below. The server is described as "virtual" because your site will appear to be located on your company's own server as far as your site visitors are concerned because your domain name takes them straight to the website. As long as the amount of memory space available on the shared server will be sufficient for storing your web page files and your host can provide a big enough connection to the internet.

A shared server will meet the needs of many websites as the potential connection problems mentioned above can be avoided by careful forecasting of the amount of website traffic you expect, and then choosing a shared server package with enough bandwidth to allow for connections at your busiest periods. For a site needing over 100Mb of storage space, many hosts will recommend a dedicated server package.

A dedicated managed server is still the property of the host and it is also their responsibility to maintain it, but it is your website alone that is stored on the server and the entire bandwidth of that server's connection to the Internet is for your site's dedicated use. The traffic jam scenario mentioned above (virtual/shared servers) is not an issue here. You can rely on the size of connection, the bandwidth available to you being constant. This option could be the next step up from a shared server if web traffic becomes busy enough to require it or if you need more than 100Mb (ballpark figure) of storage space for your site's web page files. Your host/ISP will have their own limits and terms but expect a figure to start in the £thousands for the year's hosting.

Co-location involves owning your own server and doing all of the necessary maintenance yourself. You have access to the host's site to maintain your server. The only involvement of the host is housing your equipment and connecting you to their global network. This can be an expensive option and you are taking on the hardware maintenance responsibilities.

Any extras

The other alternative is hosting yourself - this is where you do all the work! You will need to maintain an open phone connection between the internet and your server 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That could mean 8760 hours of call charges for the year. That's only just more than the average female… Your connection to the internet will need to be big enough to cope with all of the web traffic that goes through your site. Low bandwidth would mean that your potential customers could be turned away. You will be responsible for security of the equipment, firewall protection for all your computer files, emergency power back-up in case of power loss and all contingency measures to keep the site up and running 24 hours a day. Purchase and maintenance of the server hardware is your sole responsibility. If you are thinking of taking this option, be sure you research the subject thoroughly, know what you are doing before you do it and seek specialist technical advice from experienced sources. Web hosting is much more complicated than arranging snacks and light music!

swot

- To study hard, especially for an examination.

 Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. 

Anon