- Hosting (also known as
Web site hosting, Web
hosting, and
Webhosting) is the
business of housing, serving,
and maintaining files for one
or more
Web sites. More important
than the computer space that is
provided for Web site files is
the fast connection to the
Internet. Most hosting services
offer connections on
T-carrier system lines.
Typically, an individual
business hosting its own site
would require a similar
connection and it would be
expensive. Using a hosting
service lets many companies
share the cost of a fast
Internet connection for serving
files.
A number of Internet access
providers, such as America
Online, offer subscribers free
space for a small Web site that
is hosted by one of their
computers. Geocities is a Web
site that offers registered
visitors similar free space for
a Web site. While these
services are free, they are
also very basic.
A number of hosting
companies describe their
services as
virtual hosting. Virtual
hosting usually implies that
their services will be
transparent and that each Web
site will have its own
domain name and set of
e-mail addresses. In most
usages, hosting and
virtual hosting are
synonyms. Some hosting
companies let you have your own
virtual server, the
appearance that you are
controlling a
server that is dedicated
entirely to your site.
Dedicated hosting is
the provision of a
dedicated server machine
that is dedicated to the
traffic to your Web site. Only
very busy sites require
dedicated hosting. Many
companies purchase their own
servers and place them on a
site that provides fast access
to the Internet. This practice
is called
colocation.
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