Web hosting

ISM301
Lecture 8
Web hosting
Web hosting
• Web hosting is a service of providing online space for storage of web pages.
These web pages are made available via World Wide Web.
• The companies which offer website hosting are known as Web hosts.
• The servers on which web site is hosted remain switched on 24 x7. These
servers are run by web hosting companies. Each server has its own IP
address. Since IP addresses are difficult to remember therefore, webmaster
points their domain name to the IP address of the server their website is
stored on.
• It is not possible to host your website on your local computer, to do so you
would have to leave your computer on 24 hours a day. This is not practical
and cheaper as well. This is where web hosting companies comes in.
Web hosting
Web hosting consists of the following:
• Domain names
• DNS
• Web server space
• E-mail service
• Customer support
• Everything else
Why Get hosted
• Better presence online
• More traffic handling
• More conversions
Types of Web Hosting
• Shared Hosting
• Virtual Private Server (VPS)
• Dedicated Server
• Reseller Hosting
• Grid Hosting
• Cloud hosting
Shared Hosting
• In shared hosting, the hosting company puts thousands of website on the same physical server.
• Each customer has their own allocation of physical web space and a set of bandwidth limit.
• As all websites share same physical memory, MYSQL server and Apache server, one website on the server
experiencing high traffic load will affect performance of all websites on the server.
Pros
• Shared Cost
• Best suitable For small business
• Own Domain Name
Cons
• Restricted Security
• Restricted access to database
 Virtual Private Server (VPS)
• It is also known as Virtual Dedicated Server.
• It is a server which is partitioned into smaller servers.
• Here, customer is given their own partition, which is installed with its own operating
system.
• Unlike shared hosting, VPS doesn’t share memory or processor time rather it allocates
certain amount of memory and CPU to use which means that any problem on a VPS
partition on the same drive will not affect other VPS customers.
Pros
• Suitable For Small Business.
• Cheaper than Dedicated Server.
Cons
• Slow as compared to Dedicated Server.
• Ram and CPU is shared among all the
websites on the server.
 Dedicated Server
• In this kind of hosting, single dedicated server is setup for just one customer. It can be handled by the user
having the full control over the operating system and the resources it uses.
• It is commonly used by the businesses that need the power, control and security that a dedicated server
offers.
• It doesn’t allow the user to own the server but it is just another type of self managed or unmanaged server.
Pros
• Suitable for large business.
• Powerful Database support and
email solutions.
• Unlimited Software support and
access to multiple domains.
• It provides higher security as it is
better than the other servers like
shared servers that compromise on
security as it is shared between many.
Cons
• Comparatively Expensive
• Requires high skills for working on Dedicated Server Hosting
 Reseller Hosting
• A reseller acts as a middle man and sells hosting space of someone else’s server.
• Here, one can use the space allotted to him to host websites for other third party
users.
Pros
• There is complete control over
the resources
• The tools available for reseller accounts
makes it simple and easier to work.
• Complete support
• Reliable
Cons
• Expensive than shared hosting.
• Limited IP address to host client’s websites.
Cloud Hosting
• This hosting service utilizes the trending cluster server technology.
• A Cloud Hosted website is supported by a number of servers in the
network.
• The server resources are distributed amongst the websites on real
time basis, leading to proper configuration and load balancing.
Grid Hosting

• Instead of utilizing one server, Grid Hosting

spreads resources over a large number of
servers.
• It is quite stable and flexible.
• The servers can be added or taken away
from the grid without crashing the system.
Webhost Manager (whm)

• WebHost Manager (WHM) is a web-based

tool used by server administrators and
resellers to manage hosting accounts on a
web server. WHM listens on ports 2086 and
2087 by default.
Ways to Transfer Files to Server
• Files can be transferred to the server by using the FTP protocol also
known as File Transfer Protocol.
• FTP is used as a standard network protocol that transfers the file
from one computer to another computer using the TCP protocol
network.
• This uploads the pages and other documents that are stored in
private disk to the public web hosting server
• FTP is used on a client server architecture that allows different
controls and data connections between the client and the server.
• FTP uses clear-text sign in protocol that allows the client to use the
user name and password for authentication purpose.
Selecting a Web Hosting Company: A
Checklist
• While choosing the best Hosting Provider, one needs to follow this
checklist.
• The type of hosting service needed by you should be available with
the Hosting Services provider.
• Cost effective hosting services
• Upgrading to a better server should be open to the user
• Upgrading to dedicated server if needed should be available to the
user.
BEING AWARE
• Here are few things you should ask your prospective provider:
• Does it provide enough Disk Space?
• Do they have 24/7 technical support?
• What hardware are they using?
• Is there user interface for you?
• Does it offer mail?
• Can it flex?
• How much does it cost?
WEB SERVER OPTIONS
• The two web server platforms are functionally similar, it all depends
on what are your hosting needs, and what are you comfortable with.

• Linux Allows for running scripts written in PHP, Perl, Python and other
Unix-originated languages. It usually supports MySQL and PostgreSQL
databases
• Windows Allows for running ASP scripts and utilizing .NET and other
Microsoft technologies. It supports Microsoft SQL Server and Access
database.
 Web Hosting Companies
Following are the several companies offering web hosting service:
• Big Rock
• Blue Host
• Go Daddy
• Host Gator
• just Host
• Laughing Squid
• Hivelocity
• liquid Web
• Media TempleServIet
• Wired Tree
• Wild West Domains
Reliability And Uptime In Web Hosting
• The availability of the website shows the reliability of the website and
it is measured by the usability and accessibility of the user in a year.
• This measures the availability that tells about the reachable sources
to the website in a given period of time.
• The availability can be measured by using the following formula:
• Total time = 365 days per year * 24 hours per day * 60 minutes per
hour = 525,600 minutes per year
• Uptime is a method that is used to refer to a system that is already
having online presence and there is some event occurring on the
network.
• The event doesn’t take the network into the account and it just sees
that how long the system is up and running and serving the purpose