A quick introduction and summary into web hosting and to identify which type is best for your website or web project.???
Fundamentally, there are 3 types of web hosting available to the average consumer.
1. Shared Hosting
This is the most common form of web site hosting. In this situation a small part of a larger web server is partitioned off and designated to a particular website. This allows you, the client, cheaper hosting by only paying a fraction of the cost for running the server.???The majority of websites amount of space provided in a shared server environment is more then enough???.???All maintenance issues, both with server hardware and software are the responsibility of the hosting company.
Shared Hosting is the recommended option for most websites.
2. VPS Hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. In this case the client receives access to a large part of a physical server. This server???thinks and behaves???as if it is it's own individual machine.
People who have Mac that runs both Mac OS and Windows are familiar with this concept - (IE: although there is only one physical machine, it behaves as if there are 2: a Mac and a Windows machine). The advantage here is that you can run as many different websites as you wish on your VPS, space allowing, as well as access to how the web server is set up and what software it runs. VPS' are usually employed for more complex tasks such as running other software parallel to web site software.
Like Shared Hosting, VPS' are maintained offsite by the hosting company.
3. Dedicated Hosting
Similar to VPS Hosting, Dedicated Hosting allows complete access to all parts of a server allowing multiple websites and different software to be run. However, unlike VPS or Shared Hosting, the physical server is not shared by multiple parties - it is solely operated by one client or company.
Dedicated Hosts were traditionally kept on site at the companies premises and maintained by an in-house technician. More frequently Dedicated Hosting servers are now kept offsite and maintained within a larger hosting company's premises.
Radian Web offers very reaonsably priced hosting for websites.???View our web services to learn more.