Understanding Hosting services

What is hosting?

In terms of networking, hosting means making your website public by putting it on a web server.

There are four types of hosting-

Free Hosting

As the name says, this type of web hosting don't asks you to pay anything. But with that comes a number of limitations too. It don't allows you to have a domain name, limited or no technical support, limited security options. Generally ISPs who provide free hosting, store your website in a directory or give sub domains. Sites stored in directory of the domain has address like www.xyz.com/sites/YourSiteName. If they'll provide sub domains then address will be like YourSiteName.xyz.com, web portals like WordPress and Blogger host blogs on sub domains. Still it is top ranked option for personal or hobby website. In case of Blogger, you are hosting your blog on Google's powerful servers.

Shared/Virtual Hosting

This is the most commonly used option. Cheapest in paid options. In shared or virtual hosting, your website is placed on an independent web server but the resources are shared with hundreds and thousands of other users who have their website up & running, and because of shared resources the cost is also shared that is why you don't have to pay low amount. You get your own domain and custom email addresses but restrictions are implemented on databases, traffic volume and applications.. You can also put minor server side application(s). Shared or virtual hosting are same though some web hosting providers classify as different , in such cases they are just two different plans.

Dedicated Hosting

Shared hosting is good for bloggers, web designers and small businesses. But what if you have large business or a high traffic website or you have to run some major server based applications. Under such conditions you must go for dedicated hosting. There is no sharing of resources in dedicated hosting. No sharing of resources means it is costly. Rates vary from company to company and plan to plan.

There is almost no restriction. But some restrictions may be implemented based on the package offered by the web host. They have a number of different types of plans so that they can market better.

Collocated Hosting 

This is the most cost effective way. In this, hosting is done on your own web server but your web server is located with your ISPs. There are no restrictions.