Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page on to the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.

When Internet users want to view your website, all they need to do is type your website address into their browser. Their computer will then connect to your server and your webpages will be delivered to them through the browser.

Most hosting companies require that you own your domain name in order to host with them. If you do not have a domain name, the hosting companies will help you purchase one.

Types of Web Hosting:-

Free Web Hosting:

Free web hosting is best suited for small sites with low traffic, like personal sites. It is not recommended for high traffic or for real business. Technical support is often limited, and technical options are few.

Some Good or Bad Practice for free web hosting:

Good:	Bad:
It's free.	No domain names.
Good for family, hobby or personal sites.	Few, limited, or no software options.
Free email is often an option.	Limited security options.
	Limited or no database support.
	Limited technical support.

Shared (Virtual) Hosting

Shared hosting is very cost effective.

With shared hosting, your web site gets its own domain name, and is hosted on a powerful server along with maybe 100 other web sites.

Shared solutions often offer multiple software solutions like e-mail, database, and different editing options. Technical support tends to be good.

Some Good or Bad Practice for shared hosting:

Good:	Bad:
Low cost. Cost is shared with others.	Reduced security due to many sites on one server.
Good for small business and average traffic.	Restrictions on traffic volume.
Multiple software options.	Restricted database support.
Own domain name.	Restricted software support.
Good support

Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting, your web site is hosted on a dedicated server.

Dedicated hosting is the most expensive option. This option is best suited for large web sites with high traffic, and web sites that use special software.

You should expect dedicated hosting to be very powerful and secure, with almost unlimited software solutions.

Some Good or Bad Practice for dedicated hosting:

Good:	Bad:
Good for large business.	Expensive.
Good for high traffic.	Requires higher skills.
Multiple domain names.
Powerful email solutions.
Powerful database support.
Strong (unlimited) software support.

YOUR CHECK LIST

Before you choose your web host, make sure that:

The hosting type suits your needs
The hosting type is cost effective
Upgrading to a better server is possible
If needed, upgrading to a dedicated server is possible

Before you sign up with an ISP, surf some other web sites on their servers, and try to get a good feeling about their network speed. Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option.

Web Hosting for E-Commerce Website

If you are selling a product or a service, e-commerce might be a smart way to do business.

Internet E-Commerce

E-Commerce is about selling products or services over the Internet.

E-Commerce Systems

It is not a very good idea to build your own e-commerce system. Building an e-commerce system is a complicated process, with the potential for a lot of errors.

You might buy a ready-to-use system and run it on your own server. Many systems are available on the market today, and most of them will cover your basic needs for order management and processing. But again, if you are not familiar with hosting your own web site, starting with an e-commerce site is not the right thing.

The best solution, in our opinion, is to find an ISP that offers an e-commerce solution.

E-Commerce and Hosting Providers

E-commerce covers a huge range of products. With different ISPs you will find anything from very simple to very complex solutions.

Most ISPs offer a simple and inexpensive solution that allows you to run a "virtual store".

Your Checklist

How does it handle customers?
How does it handle product catalogs?
How does it handle orders?
How does it handle inventory?
How does it handle back orders?
How does it handle shipment?
How does it handle accounts?
How does it handle billing?
How does it handle payment?
How does it handle foreign currency?
How does it handle credit cards?
How does it handle taxes?
How does it handle security?
How does it handle integrity (encryption)?

Web Hosting Technologies

This section describes some of the most common hosting technologies.

Windows Hosting

Windows hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the Windows operating system.

You should choose Windows hosting if you plan to use ASP (Active Server Pages) as server scripting, or if you plan to use a database like Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server. Windows hosting is also the best choice if you plan to develop your web site using Microsoft Expression Web.

UNIX Hosting

UNIX hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the UNIX operating system.

UNIX was the first (original) web server operating system, and it is known for being reliable and stable. Often less expensive than Windows.

Linux Hosting

Linux hosting means hosting of web services that runs on the Linux operating system.

CGI

CGI scripts are executables that will execute on the server to produce dynamic and interactive web pages.

Most ISPs offer some kind of CGI capabilities. ISPs often offer preinstalled, ready to run, guest-books, page-counters, and chat-forums solutions in CGI.

CGI is most common on UNIX or Linux servers.

ASP - Active Server Pages

ASP is a server-side scripting technology developed by Microsoft.

With ASP you can create dynamic web pages by putting script code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser. Both VBScript and JavaScript can be used.

ASP is a standard component in Windows 95,98, 2000, and XP. It can be activated on all computers running Windows.

PHP

PHP is the widely-used, free, and efficient alternative to competitors such as Microsoft's ASP.

PHP is perfectly suited for Web development, and can be embedded directly into the HTML code.

The PHP syntax is very similar to Perl and C.

PHP is often used together with Apache (web server) on various operating systems. It also supports ISAPI and can be used with Microsoft's IIS on Windows.

PHP supports many databases, such as MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.

JSP

JSP is a server-side technology much like ASP, developed by Sun.

With JSP you can create dynamic web pages by putting Java code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser.

Since JSP uses Java, the technology is not restricted to any server-specific platform.

ColdFusion

ColdFusion is another server-side scripting language used to develop dynamic web pages.

ColdFusion is developed by Adobe.

Chili! Soft ASP

Microsoft's ASP technology runs only on Windows platforms.

However, Chili! Soft ASP is a software product that allows ASP to run on UNIX and some other platforms.

Microsoft Expression Web

Expression Web is a website design tool developed by Microsoft.

Expression Web allows users to develop a web site without any deep knowledge of web development.

If you plan to use Expression Web, you should look for a Windows hosting solution.

Adobe Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver is a website design tool owned by Adobe Systems.

Dreamweaver allow users to develop a web site without any deep knowledge of web development.

Dreamweaver has support for web technologies such as CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, Java Server Pages, and PHP.

Dreamweaver is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Secure Server

A secure server can transmit data encrypted.

If you plan to do online credit card transactions, or other types of web communication that needs to be protected against unauthorized access, your ISP must provide a secure server.

What you should know before hosting your website?