Web Hosting Series: From A to Z - Part 1 | WebHostingSaver.com

This article is part of the Web Hosting Series: From A to Z, where we will answer some questions and cover the Web Hosting basics.

We will talk about the types of Web Hosting services, and define some of the technical terms including domain names, SSL certificates, shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting and colocation hosting.

1- What are the different types of Web Hosting?

Web Hosting services can be classified into six categories:

Shared hosting,
Reseller hosting,
VPS Hosting,
Cloud hosting,
Dedicated hosting (Also called Bare-metal),
And colocation hosting.

Each of these hosting types has its specific use, benefits, pros and cons.

In order to manage your hosting budget wisely, it is always recommended to:

Start small and expand as needed.

and avoid long term hosting contracts whenever possible.

2- What do You Need to Launch Your Blog or Website?

To launch a blog or website for your business or personal use, you need four things:

Start by registering a domain name, if you don’t have one yet,
Create your website. For this, you may need the skills of web developers and designers based on the complexity of the website.
Rent a hosting space where your website’s content will be hosted. Some complex websites and web applications may require advanced architectures and a combination of multiple web hosting types. There are also some free hosting alternatives and special programs for eligible startups and non-profit organizations. You can visit our blog to learn more.
A SSL certificate to secure your blog or website.

Now, let’s define some of these technical terms. We’ll use high level definitions to keep things easy to understand for everyone.

3- What is a Domain Name?

As an analogy, the same way we identify people with their first name and last name, a website is identified by a domain name.

A domain name is unique and divided into two parts: The domain name itself followed by the domain extension also called TLD (the abbreviation of Top Level Domain). Both parts are separated by a dot.

Some examples of domaine names are: WebHostingSaver.com, google.com, wikipedia.org

Once you own a domain name, like MyDomainName[dot]com, you can create multiple sub-domains for different purposes. You can for example create the sub-domains blog[dot]MyDomainName[dot]com and support[dot]MyDomainName[dot]com.

To instantly compare domain names from different providers and easily find the best and cheapest domain offer that fit your needs, use this Domain Name Comparison Engine 🔎
You can also check these 5 Checklist Points When Registering a Domain Name.

Now, back to the hosting types.

4- What is Shared Hosting?

It represents one of the most popular hosting types. Most people and small businesses use this type of hosting for their websites and blogs because it’s the convenient, easy to manage and most economical choice. Shared hosting allows multiple websites to share the resources of a single server.

As an analogy, this is the same thing as having a group of roommates sharing a single apartment.

5- What is Reseller Hosting?

This type of hosting makes reselling shared hosting plans easy. As a reseller you will use the infrastructure of your provider to sell shared (or other types of hosting) to your end clients. You can also control and manage all your customers’ plans from your reseller panel.

As an analogy, this represents a real estate agent who rents an entire building from the owner and renting the individual apartments to his end clients.

6- What is Dedicated hosting?

In this type of hosting, the entire dedicated or physical server (also called bare-metal server) resources are allocated to a single customer.

As an analogy, this is the same thing as renting a house without having shared areas with others.

7- What is VPS hosting?

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This type of hosting combines some aspects of both; shared hosting and dedicated hosting. In this case, the dedicated server’s resources are divided into multiple VPS servers using a virtualization technology. Each VPS server use it’s allocated resources and operating system.

As an analogy, this is the same as renting an apartment in a building. Tenants will have some shared areas, but each of them have his own apartment as a private space.

To instantly compare VPS Server offers from different providers and easily find the best and cheapest VPS server offer that fit your needs, use this VPS Comparison Engine 🔎

8- What is Cloud hosting?

It’s a type a hosting based on virtual server technologies in which the virtual servers pull computing and storage resources from extensive underlying networks of physical infrastructures.

From the flexibility perspective, and as an analogy, if a VPS represents an apartment in a building where the number of rooms is fixed, a cloud server is a flexible suite in a hotel where additional rooms can be added when needed.

To instantly compare Cloud Server offers from different providers and easily find the best and cheapest Cloud server offer that fit your needs, use this Cloud Comparison Engine 🔎

9- What is Colocation hosting?

The last type of hosting is colocation (also known as ‘colo’). It allows clients to rent a space in a third party data centre where they can house their own servers and network equipments .

As an analogy, this is like renting a parcel of land where you can build your house.

To instantly compare Colocation Hosting offers from different providers and easily find the best and cheapest Colocation hosting offer that fit your needs, use this Colocation Hosting Comparison Engine 🔎

Now, let’s talk about SSL certificates.

10- What is SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. In today’s world, secure communications and trust are very important. The foundation of this trust is created by implementing SSL certificates for websites, applications and blogs.

When a website is secured using SSL, web browsers provide visual indices, such as a lock icon or a green bar.

The most important part of an SSL certificate is that it is digitally signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (known as CA). Note that there are different types of SSL certificates. We will cover them in another episode.

To instantly compare SSL certificate offers from different providers and easily find the best and cheapest SSL certificate offer that fit your needs, use this SSL Comparison Engine 🔎

Bear in mind that WebHostingSaver.com compares Web Hosting services worldwide. It’s an easy to use impartial comparison engine which helps you save time and money.

Read other articles in our blog (you can use the search bar at the top right to find specific blogs) to get an answer to other questions you may have.

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