A website is a platform that includes a number of elements, both in the form of text, images, or codes, for example. However, all these elements occupy a certain space on the canvas.
Imagine it is a store: when you go to make a purchase, you move into a physical place, a building that houses all kinds of items. For a website, it’s the same thing: all the data is kept in online storage spaces: the servers.
A web host is quite simply the entity that makes these servers available to you, on which the data of the websites you visit or that you own are stored. You will understand, a web host is therefore essential for the proper functioning of a website.
Web host, domain name: what’s the difference?
When you decide to create your website, it is essential to have:
1-A domain name
2-Web hosting
Let’s take the example of the store: if the host is the entity that reserves the space occupied by your website, the domain name is the equivalent of the postal address of your store.
The domain name is therefore what allows devices (computers, tablets, laptops, etc.) to find the location of your site on the servers, and then give you access to it. More precisely, this is the URL of your website. You can find this internet address at the top left of your screen, in the URL bar of your browser.
Two elements make up your domain name: a character string and an extension. For example, in dmtwebhosting.com, “dmtwebhosting” designates the name, and “.com” constitutes the extension. In general, the choice of name is free and corresponds to the name of a brand, a company, or a person. It can also include keywords specific to the targeted business sector, depending on the preferred SEO strategy. On the other hand, the extension indicates the classification of the domain, and therefore cannot be completely chosen at random. We distinguish in particular the extensions according to:
The activity (“.com” for commercial organizations, “.org” for non-profit organizations, “.gov.pk” for the Pakistan government, etc.)
The geographical origin (“.pk” for Pakistan, “.it” for Italy, “.uk” for the United Kingdom, etc.)
The 3 main categories of web hosting
Dedicated hosting: you alone use the server. In other words, you are in control and all of its services and resources belong to you. It is particularly suitable for sites generating high traffic, which require the instantaneous display of images and cannot suffer from inappropriate cuts.
Shared hosting: several users share the resources of the same server, as in the context of a colocation. The number of sites hosted on the server depends only on its storage capacity.
VPS hosting: this solution combines the two previous formulas. You share the same server with other people, but the number of hosted sites is limited to a small number of sites. In addition, the server is more flexible and configurable, which allows you to be freer, and to have a faster display than with shared hosting.
What type of web hosting to choose?
Obviously, each formula has its advantages and disadvantages, which could be summarized as follows:
Dedicated hosting: it optimizes the performance of your site, and is configurable at your convenience. However, the formula is more expensive, and the configuration of the server requires specialized knowledge in this area.
Shared hosting is cheaper and very easy to use (your host takes care of its maintenance for you). However, you cannot configure it to your liking, and sharing it with other sites can have an impact on the performance of your platform.
The VPS is a good compromise price/performance because you can customize the server to your needs. On the other hand, you will again need to have extensive knowledge of system administration.
On the web, you can find a large number of hosts offering various packages. However, it is not always easy to choose between these different providers.
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