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Companies that provide space and bandwidth for a domain with one or more web sites through an internet connected server are called Web Hosts. Major companies can host domains on their own equipment and IP address range, as allowed by their private networks. But for most of those who want an internet existence, a ‘rented’ web host is essential.

A wide selection of hosting plans is available. Some charge up to $100 or more per month while others are free. Some only offer a token amount of disk space and miniscule amounts of bandwidth use. For anything else, the web site owner is on his own. Others offer a broad set of services, including email server administration, backups, design help for your website, technical support, etc.

With web hosting, you may be sharing a server with one to a thousand web sites. This lets the web hosting company keep expenses down. These arrangements go fine when the web sites are simple and low-volume. You may want to consider a dedicated server to handle a rapidly growing web site.

As suggested by the name, a dedicated server only hosts your domain. You can put one web site on the server, or as many as you desire. The access is something you can control. Much of the server administration can be taken over by yourself, as an option.This will cost you considerable time, but may save you money on support costs. You can end up costing yourself much more than you save if you don’t have the expertise.

It’s advisable to have some technical knowledge to your credit if you are going to perform these administrative functions on your own, even if you do hire assistance. Some of that knowledge will be useful not only for dealing with emergencies, but for daily tasks as well. It will be necessary for you to familiarize yourself with FTP, backup methods, email administration, and other technical areas.

You’ll begin to find it worthwhile to look at implementing a database when your website grows to a certain size and level of complexity. However, that requires greater technical expertise as well as logistical planning and creative design.

It is relatively easy to implement a database. With careful thought, you can design what you want with decent performance that doesn’t become a nightmare. Everyone does not have the temperament for that type of work, especially the ones who prefer graphical design, content creation or development, and the many other web site tasks that are part of every implementation.

There are other, more menial administrative issues that must be addressed. “Utilitarian” tasks, such as managing disk space, maintaining domain names and dealing with registrations and changes are not enjoyable to most people. Knowledge about DNS workings as well as the design of the Internet itself is helpful. You will be more prepared if you have gained a comprehension of those tasks and their purposes.

All these factors should be considered before you begin to seek out a web host to implement a web site. Which web hosting company you should go for depends on a combination of who you are and what’s offered. Don’t jump in right away.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 4:47 am and is filed under Web Hosting.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.