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What is Web Hosting?
Last updated: March 28, 2011
The term web hosting is basically used to describe a variety of services necessary to support a web site. Web hosting (also known as web site hosting, hosting, and webhosting) is the business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Web sites.
In the most general sense, a web site requires:
- Hardware
- Software
- A connection to the Internet
- An administrator
Roles of each:
1. Hardware
- Server
- Network devices (switches, routers, wiring)
- Tape backup
- Secure physical racks or lockers
- Storage Area Network (SAN) - Optional
- Premise securityNetwork Firewall
- Load balancing
- Fire control systems
- Uninterruptible Power Supply
2. Software
- Operating System
- Web Server (i.e., Apache/Nignix)
- Services (i.e. FTP email)
- Traffic Reporting
- Credit Card Software
- Databases
- Digital Encryption (i.e., VeriSign)
3. Connectivity
Connectivity is the manner in which the ISP or MSP(Managed Services Provider) provides Internet access to the website. At a minimum this should be a Frame Relay or T1 connection. Better providers will provide redundant connections to diverse upstream Internet providers.
4. Administrator
The Administrator performs the following duties:
- Configure Server / Install Software
- Monitor Server
- Run Traffic Reports
- Run Backups
- Monitor site responsiveness
- Manage disk storage space
- Security monitoring and management
- Administer Databases
Levels of Service
Hosting services can be divided into four different categories, with each providing a different set of administrative, hardware, software, and connectivity services. Generally, as the level of service increases, the costs increase. The four categories are:
- Shared
- VPS
- Co-location
- Managed Dedicated
Due to our structure we at Network Redux are able to provide fully managed services for all our VPS and enterprise customers.
