Hosting is a service for hosting a website on a server. The owner of a website that uses hosting rents space on a server where the website's files and data will be stored. This service is paid for and provided by special hosting providers. Hosting is a necessary condition for a website to function and be accessible.
Hosting should not be confused with a domain. These two terms are closely related but have completely different meanings. A domain is the name of the website on the internet, through which users access the resource. Hosting, on the other hand, plays the role of the technical foundation for the website, maintaining its operability and providing the ability to use the resource. In simple terms, hosting can be compared to a storefront - various goods are displayed on it, and customers can choose each one. Without a storefront, the goods would be randomly scattered, and customers would not be able to buy them.
Hostings are divided into several different types. They differ in technical characteristics and how websites are hosted on them.
- Shared or virtual hosting is one server on which many different websites are hosted. Hosting clients share server resources, and no one has any special privileges. For this reason, there may be a situation where one website consumes resources from others due to the greater load on the server. As a result, this will cause problems on your website. Due to such drawbacks, shared hosting is suitable only for small websites, such as landing pages or business cards.
- Virtual private server hosting. The hosting provider takes a physical server and divides it into several virtual ones. The website owner who uses such hosting no longer needs to share resources with others. They will have their own dedicated server characteristics and capabilities tailored to the website's needs. This type of hosting is sufficient for managing medium-sized websites, such as online stores.
- Cloud hosting. The most modern and technically advanced type of hosting. Website owners who are hosted on it do not pay for a specific server. The provider provides a group of servers that evenly distribute the load between them. If one server is overloaded, resources are transferred to another. Thus, the website owner pays only for the volume of resources used.
- Dedicated server hosting. The website owner gets a dedicated physical server for their own use, which they manage independently, within the provider's rules. For example, they can install the necessary operating system, set specific settings for it, etc.
- Colocation. A type of dedicated server with the difference that the website owner places their own equipment on the provider's platform, rather than using someone else's. In this case, the hosting provider provides technical support for the server and provides space for its storage.
