What is Web Hosting?

For the web pages on your website to be viewable, they need to be "hosted" on a computer that is continuously attached to the Internet — companies that rent such hosting are, not surprisingly, called Web Hosts.

These computers that are always connected are called Web Servers, as they serve web pages and other files that we tend to associate with using the web (such as Adobe's PDF formatted files). These Web Servers are really not much different to the computer you have at home, they tend to be no-frills boxes that use reliable hardware together with a special software program, also called a Web Server.

By far the most popular of these web server software programs is called Apache and is the open source standard that you will find on all low-cost hosting packages. Apache is the de-facto standard and most of the web pages you will view. Microsoft also sells a web server that is popular with many businesses who use Windows. Microsoft's web server software has the catchy name of Internet Information Server, or IIS. As it costs more to get a Microsoft based web server, due to the licensing costs, you most likely only will want IIS if you need something specific for a Windows based company.

Small or Large?

Normally for smaller projects you will rent some space a Web Hosting company's server. Usually these computers are quite powerful and will often host many different web sites on a single computer — this is called Shared Web Hosting, and is the cheapest way to get your website project on-line. Some of the cheaper packages cost only a couple of dollars/Euros/Pounds a month and can be sufficient for many projects.

Larger projects and companies such as Google or Apple require the use of what are called Dedicated Servers. These are machines that are dedicated to a single project (and for larger sites, there are often many such servers working together to handle the load that such sites may generate, when tens of thousands of people are using them at the same time). Dedicated Servers offer many benefits, but are usually much more expensive to set up and maintain than an account on a Shared Server.

You will most likely want to start your new website project off on a cheap shared hosting package, from a reputable Web Hosting company — if your site grows past this, it's usually simple to upgrade to a more powerful shared package or finally move to a Dedicated Server that is just for your use.

The Extras — Email, Databases, etc.

Depending on the hosting package you purchase, you will receive various extras, beyond simply letting you upload some .html and .jpg web page files. Most packages will include a number of email accounts, that you can set up as you please. Often you will also have the option of using a database and/or various programming languages that run on the web server.

All of these extra features are normally accessible via a special password protected web page that resides on your web server, called a Control Panel. When you purchase a web hosting package the web hosting company will send you an email with information on how to log into this Control Panel.

Setting up your Web Server

Once you've got a web server hosting package organised, you'll probably want to purchase a Domain Name for it, so that others can easily find your website. We strongly recommend that you register your Domain Name with a different company than you use for your Web Hosting. Read our article on Domain Names to find out why this is a good idea.

Once you've got a Domain Name, you'll need to have it point to the account on your Web Server. You can do this yourself. All this talk of IP Addresses and Domain Names can be completely confusing however, and you can often ask the company that you registered your Domain Name with to set it up for you.

If you aren't afraid to dig a bit into things, then normally you will have to have your Domain Name set up to use your Web Hosting's DNS (Domain Name Servers). This information is normally provided to you when you purchase a Web Hosting package.

Working with your Web Server

After you purchase a package from a Web Hosting company, how do you actually get your files onto it, so that the wide world can view them?

The free, open-source FTP program, called FileZilla.

You can either use a Content Management System (like our Webascent) or you can connect directly to the Web Server, using various software programs, such as FileZilla or Adobe's Dreamweaver (that both use a connection protocol called FTP, or File Transfer Protocol). Which program you use to work with the web pages (and other files too) on your web server is a fundamentalstep towards being able to run your own website.

Article Links and other Related Reading:

Here is a short list of Web Hosting Companies that we've had good experiences with:

• Heztner.de — an excellent hosting company, located in Germany. They also speak English.
• Aventure Host — located in Ireland, and offers excellent support and fair prices.
  

Some software that you can use to work with web pages and connect to your web server (via FTP or other protocols).

• Adobe's Dreamweaver — commercial web design and editing software.
  
• Aptana — an open source html editor, based on the Eclipse platform. Has a free standard version and a commercial Pro version.
• KompoZer --- free open source html editor. KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.
• FileZilla — a free open source FTP program, that lets you up and download files to your web server.