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If you are going to connect with a web hosting service, you'll have
to first figure out exactly what you're in the market for. The
specifications of hosting accounts can be baffling if you aren't a
dyed-in-the-wool computer nerd.
The first thing you will have to decide is whether to
get shared space or a dedicated server. If you are just starting out,
and nobody knows about you, and you don't have a giant budget to
promote your site, then you will probably have traffic that starts
small and builds gradually. Since a typical web hosting computer can
display thousands of web pages per hour, and most people starting out
will only have a few dozen visitors per hour, hosting companies can
offer a cheaper service by putting many customers on one computer. This
shared hosting is the web equivalent of an apartment
building. Everyone gets their own directory to fill with their own
pages and pictures, but many of the services are shared amongst
clients. This is good for low-volume sites, but can be a problem if the
host puts too many sites on one machine, or if you happen to share a
machine with an extraordinarily popular site which hogs the shared
computer resources.
The middle-class of the hosting world is the
Virtual Dedicated Server
or VDS. It is a hosting machine running special software which creates
a "virtual computer" which is under your control and can only be
accessed by you. This is good for people who have special software
which isn't compatible with shared hosting plans, but who don't need
the high levels of disk storage and bandwidth allotments of a
full-blown dedicated server.
The best (and most expensive) type of hosting is a dedicated server.
This is a hosting computer that will host only your site(s). Since
today's servers can serve thousands of pages per hour, a site hosted on
a dedicated server can deal with much more traffic than a site using
shared hosting. Dedicated servers are like owning your own home. You
can have everything just the way you like it, and can install and
configure whatever programs you might need to make your site work. If
you want shopping cart software, or a database, you are free to install
whatever one you need. This type of control comes with a price, as you
will be responsible for keeping up the software controlling your
server, and some regular effort will be required to keep it functioning
well.
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