Web Hosting (Linux Hosting / Windows Hosting)

Web hosting is an internet hosting system that permits people and companies to access their own websites that are accessible on the World Wide Web. The companies that provide web hosting services are called web hosts.

They give their customers server space to use, on their own servers, along with internet connectivity. In addition to this, web hosts also provide their clients with data centre space and internet connectivity to servers that are not included in their data centre. This form of web hosting is called collocation.

Free and paid web hosting

The huge growth of the IT sector has lead to an increase in the number of web hosting companies. Generally, web hosting is offered as part of an internet access plan and is available as either free or paid web hosting services.

At a glance, most people would consider free web hosting a better choice as they think that they can save money through it. However this is not true as free hosting is rather unprofessional and does not provide the same level of support and features as paid web hosting.

These free hosts offer you a bare minimum features. They don’t usually provide great accessibility if compared to paid web hosts which give you a good connection to the net with greater accessibility. Free hosts tend to keep on piling as many sites as they can on their servers, leading to your sites running slow.

Look out for storage space offered by web hosts

Paid hosts usually have a limited number of sites on each server. This leads to your website accessibility being high and your site running efficiently. Free web hosts also tend to place many banner ads on your site, making it look rather ugly. In the case of paid web hosts, you are in control in deciding which banner ads to add to your website and these, of course, would be for your own financial gain as opposed to the web hosts.

Besides considering between free and paid web hosts, there are some points to bear in mind when choosing your web host. Make sure that the storage space offered by the web host meets your requirements. Its data transfer rates also have to be fast enough for people to access your site quickly.

Choose reliable web hosts, which have a good and prompt customer support service. In addition to this, their technical support should be good and have additional features like email forwarding options, shopping cart functions and provision of web statistics. Avoid companies that force you into a long term contract, where you will be prevented from changing hosts, if you are not happy with the services offered.

Choosing between Linux and Windows hosting

Today, Windows and Linux hosting are the most widely used web hosting platforms. Of the two, Windows hosting proves to have a friendlier interface, with its own products and services. Moreover, it supports most Windows web development services and thus let’s people make websites or web applications in their chosen language.

Linux hosting does not actually support dot NET technologies, but is incredibly efficient and offer some cheap hosting options. It is up to you to choose between free and paid web hosts, and Windows and Linux web hosts based on your budget and the requirements of your company and website.