In order to understand the working of web hosting, it is first important to understand web hosting and its need. When we open the internet we come across many websites that offer different products, services and information. These websites are like real estate in space and to build a website you need to have place and platform and website providers are the ones that provide that place and platform to the owners of the website.
For these services the website providers charge rent that is payable either on quarterly, monthly or yearly basis depending on the plan chosen by the website owner. In addition to making a website for the owner, website provider also has to launch the website in the space and connect it to his powerful server so that the website can be run and people can view the contents of the website through internet.
Therefore it becomes very important for a website owner to find a web hosting company that has name in the market, which is dependable and offers best services in relation to the viewing, maintenance and upgrading of website from time to time. Since websites can be viewed all over the globe and various countries are located on different time zones, server should be available in full capacity at all times around the year.
In order to be at the top of the market and be recognized by various website developers, web hosting companies regularly upgrade their server capacities, bring new technologies and use best operating systems that is compatible with the most computers around the globe.
The main aim of web hosting is to provide web space to publish and run website on the internet. Web hosting services enable the website owner to publish their desired matter or information on the internet 24×7 round the year. These web hosting companies have strong firewall software installed on their system that protects their server from being attacked by hackers that tend to take complete control over the content and operating system of the computer.
Types of Web Hosting
There are many types of web hosting services and the choice of web hosting service depends entirely on the type of website that the user has created. There are companies that offer free web hosting to the user. Such companies offer very limited functions to their clients and are good only for domestic use.
The other type of web hosting service is dedicated web hosting service. This kind of service is required by very large companies that can afford high levels of expenses and want free will in terms of usage and functionality. Such kind of hosting also offers very high traffic and web space to the website owner and the owner can choose the operating system and language to be used for website development.
How Does Web Hosting Work?
When an internet user types an address, the web browser look for the IP address and domain through DNS look up. Then the web browser sends the request to http server. If the server is running, it sends the request pages on the browser and the browser displays the same to the user.
The server plays an important role here as it hosts all the web files on its hard disk. When the user makes a request for a particular file, the apache server running on the main server serves the file and its content to the user.