Types of Hosting

In the previous article, we discussed about Hosting and domain name and their functionality.In this article I will explain the types of Hosting,their uses,application and how they differ from each other.

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server owned or leased for use by clients, as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center.

Now to the types of Hosting..

In all there about 17 different types of web hosting services.All of them have their own pros and cons.More or less,the particular type of hosting is based upon the type and requirement of the website or as the administrator wants it to be.

But in general,there are 4 types of web hosting.They are Shared Hosting,Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting,Dedicated Hosting and Cloud Hosting.

While all types of hosting servers will act as a storage centre for your website, they differ in the amount of storage capacity, control, technical knowledge requirement, server speed, and reliability.

Let’s have a look at the main differences between a shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared web hosting is the most common type of web hosting, and is also the easiest to start out on. Shared hosting is a service where one server is shared between many customers. This typically offers the following advantages and disadvantages:

• It's cheaper – you don't need to pay for the whole server upfront.
• It's easier to use – the server is preconfigured with the most popular options and your hosting company will take care of any maintenance and security updates for you.
• You share the server resources with your neighbors – if one site becomes really busy it may affect (and slow down) all other sites on that server.
• It can be less flexible – like living in a shared apartment block your neighbors need to be considered. Similar to exclusions on keeping pets or throwing wild parties (but less fun), you probably won't be able to block a specific port or modify a core component.
• Because shared web hosting is the most common type of web hosting, most hosting companies simply refer to it as web hosting or website hosting.

Disadvantages:

No root access, limited ability to handle high traffic levels or spikes, site performance can be affected by other sites on the same server.

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting 

Also known as Virtual Dedicated Server.VPS hosting is a type of web hosting that uses Virtual Private Servers. Although the websites are hosted on the same physical machine, VPS allows each website to be fully independent as if each were on its own separate machine.

Somewhere between shared hosting (a lot of people on one server) and dedicated hosting (one account on a server), is Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. In this model you have your own dedicated server, but the server is a virtual machine, not a physical one.

This provides a mix of the benefits (and disadvantages) of both shared and dedicated hosting plans.

With VPS hosting, you have complete control over the environment, just as you would with a dedicated server. This is especially helpful if you are developing custom applications or are running a SaaS (software-as-as-service) business.

You generally have much more access to server resources with VPS hosting as compared to shared hosting. While the various virtual machines are all sharing server resources, there are usually many fewer of them on a server in a VPS environment. You are alloted a much larger portion of the overall computing power and bandwidth.


There also many fewer security issues. VPS accounts have their IP address, and the virtualization layer means that you are insulated from any problems that might arise from problems on other sites.

Disadvantages:

Limited ability to handle high traffic levels or spikes, your site performance can still be somewhat affected by other sites on the server.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

With dedicated server hosting, you have complete control over an entire server. This has many advantages, but it is also more expensive and more complicated.

When you have direct and complete access to the server that is running your website, you can install any kind of niche software you like, make changes to the operating system or language interpreters, tweak configuration settings. For certain applications, like running an enterprise management system or building custom software, you need this level of control.

The other major advantage to a dedicated server is that you are the only one consuming server resources. This significantly increases your speed and performance.

Of course, if you are able to do anything you want on your server, you also become responsible for doing pretty much everything that needs to be done. This includes keeping all the software up to date and debugging issues if you accidentally create any weird conflicts or problems.

Dedicated server hosting can be very expensive also. With shared hosting, there might be 100 customers on a single server. With a dedicated server, you are the only one — and the difference in cost reflects that.

Disadvantages:

With great power comes a greater cost. Dedicated servers are very expensive and it’s only recommended to those who need the maximum control and better server performance.

4. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is essentially a meeting place half way between shared hosting and dedicated hosting, yet has some pretty cool advantages as well. Cloud servers still share the physical server hardware with other cloud servers, but special virtualization technology partitions, or splits-up, the physical hardware so that each cloud server has its own dedicated resources and can be configured almost like a fully dedicated server.

VPS customers still share the physical server hardware with other VPS customers, but special virtualization technology partitions the server so that each partition has its own dedicated resources and can be configured almost like a full dedicated server.

This typically offers the following advantages :

• Get the most flexibility - cloud servers provide the most flexible environment available in the hosting sphere. 
• The cloud adapts to physical hardware problems and puts your site in a reliable location automatically. It also offers a fast and seamless upgrade option for those times when website traffic gets high.

• Your website will have dedicated resources – with dedicated bandwidth, CPU and memory. So even though you are sharing server equipment with your neighbors, you are not sharing the resources that you purchased. That way, those high traffic neighbors sharing the same equipment won’t be stealing your server resources when you need them for your business.

• Fewer websites occupy the same server – your website will have more resources at its disposal than shared web hosting.

• Freedom to configure your server – the virtualization software provides much more freedom to make your server they way you want it; but it also assumes a higher level of technical experience.

Cloud hosting offers unlimited ability to handle high traffic or traffic spikes. Here’s how it works: A team of servers (called a cloud) work together to host a group of websites. This allows multiple computers to work together to handle high traffic levels or spikes for any particular website.

Disadvantages:

Many cloud hosting setup do not offers root access (required to change server settings and install some software), higher cost.

These are the general types of web hosting.Please do share if you found the article useful. 

Here is a list on Other Hosting Types.

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What is Hosting

To start a website,registering a Domain name and opting a Hosting service is Important as they will give you space and unique domain name (which will be your site's name) where you'll install WordPress and install your themes.

In the following article I'll discuss about Hosting.

Hosting is generally termed as to store a website or other data on servers or computers so that it's available and can be accessed all over the internet.The business of maintaining ,housing and serving files for a website is called "Web hosting".



The website space provided by the Web hosting company may differ from plan to plan but what actually matters is the fast connection to internet they provide.Most of them have up to gigabits of network connection lines.

Typically when compared to a company which wants to host their own site individually,would require similar infrastructure which would be very expensive.

Using a hosting service lets many companies share the cost of the internet connection for serving files.Some of the Internet Service Providers (ISP) offer their customers free space for a website which is hosted by one of their computers or a part of the server.



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.

Now what is a "Domain Name"

A Domain Name is the name of the website.It can be anything you decide.Technically,a domain name locates an organisation or an entity on the Internet.It is used to identify one or more IP addresses.Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages.



For Example : Domain name google.com represents to a dozens of IP addresses.

It’s important to remember you have to have a domain name so your website can be found on the Internet. The domain name is essentially your company’s Internet address; the same way your company’s street address is used to find your offices, a domain name is used to find your website.
Considering this, pick a domain name that’s memorable and relevant!

The conversion of the Domain names to IP Address is done by a server named DNS.DNS stands for 'Domain Name Server'.

The function of Domain Name Server is pretty simple.The website fetched in browser goes to the Domain Name Server and then sends the site's IP Address back to the browser then is directed to the website you want to browse.

This is how the DNS works.Make sure you have a unique domain name and email address for it.

In the next article I'll Write about the types of hosting,their features and the application of each Type of Hosting.

Thanks for reading the article.Please comment below.

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Why College Students Must Blog

Blogging is getting great exposure all over the world.There are many blogs online that show the reality of money that they earn through blogging.Many people scare to blog as they've got no time for blogging or they think that spending time in it is not worth.



Is there any right time to start a Blog ? Honestly there's no right time or wrong time to start a blog. Any small kid with good writing skills and little technical knowledge can start a blog.Read on to know why students need to blog when they are in college.

There are many college students in India that pursue various degrees.Most popular being the engineering field.It's easy for an engineer to blog as being in technical field.Blogging also requires technical knowledge and there's a lot to share if you have free time apart from your study schedule for blogging.

Read On: Harsh Agarwal's article on "Why Engineering Students Should Blog" on ShoutMeLoud.

There are many government and private universities where students pursue their high school,graduation and post-graduation degrees.A student who is doing well in one subject can also help other students all round the world who are facing difficulties in same subject.Or he can share something or the other in which he has experimented or done a group project.

If you have excellent Entrepreneur skills,you can also start a company right from college since it's easy to find people who can contribute and help promotion.At school and college level creativity is out of the box.Moreover thinking out of the box always helps going from bottom to top.

We all know what blogging is.If  you don't know then you can check out my article on 'Why blogging'.Many bloggers have proved that blogging can be done on a professional level.It can give you all the benefits that you get from a job.In India there's a long list of bloggers who are successful in blogging and are from engineering stream.

This does not mean that other stream students cannot blog.There are many niche websites such as medical,arts,science,writing,poetry are popular as well.My brother Shantanu Nagdeote is a poet and is a good writer.He has a website 'Palace Of Poetry' where he publishes his poems.You can check it out here.

Having engineering background only helps in many know how and it's easier to setup a blog on technology as it's a broad niche and there are many topics to select from such as security,software,gadgets,gaming,reviews,coding and many more.

Tips For becoming a successful blogger:

• Have Passion and interest in Blogging.
• Take inspiration from other bloggers.
• Visit your competitors' website to see which topic or keyword gets more clicks.
• If you create a blog solving many people's question,you will end up having a high traffic on your website.
• Be honest with your content.
• Have patience and research for different sharing ideas you can do to share your posts.

So that's it guys please do share the article if you've liked it or found it useful.Do post your comments below.

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Why Blogging

If you are new to blogging or want to start a blog,then this article is for you.

Blogging is a global platform where a person can share experiences,knowledge,interests,portfolio, and many things.It has given many people the power express their ideas,creativity and to setup an online business in an easy way.If you have a passion for blogging,you can make it as your full-time profession and earn money from it.

Every person in this world is unique.Everyone has their own skill set which are not possessed or have in common with others.In this age of technology getting information is very easy.There are a ton of websites on the Internet that are based on some topic or subject that might help the website readers to learn something from.

Almost any person can blog.It can be a housewife, a teacher,an employee,a banker,a lawyer to name a few.Even college students can blog.It's based upon your will whether you want to keep your knowledge classified or want to share with others.

People start blogging for various reasons.Some for passion,for earning money,for showcasing their articles,stories and achievements.

If you start blogging with only sole purpose of earning money then let me tell you that it's not easy.To earn money through blogging,you have to monetise your blog and most importantly you need to have an adequate number of followers.Only when your website traffic is high there's a chance of getting paid by the advertising networks.

If you want to blog for long term,do it passionately.Because unless you love blogging,you will not get many readers.The fun and enthusiastic you feel while writing an article,the more interested the user will be to read it.

There are many platforms to start your own blog/website.Sites like blogger,WordPress,tumblr,typepad help you to create a blog for low cost.You can also create video blogs on YouTube.

I started blogging because I like to help people and to share what I've learned.I selected tech niche which is a generic one and there are many similar sites.So getting traffic is a bit tough.But I don't care because I'm passionate about technology and love writing it.

Always love and do whatever you like.Don't just select a niche for clicks.If you do that,you would eventually end up having no traffic and your google ranking will go down.

Be honest with your content.Do not copy content from other websites as Google's algorithm will cross check all the keywords and accordingly places the rank for the page.So,honesty is important.

Take Inspiration from bloggers who took blogging as their hobby to becoming full-time bloggers.
Bloggers such as Harsh Agarwal,Pat Flynn are some to inspire from.

Happy Blogging !!!

Thank you for reading the article.Let me know if you liked it and have any questions regarding blogging.Do share it on social media if you found it helpful.

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