Description of Website Hosting

Running your own personal site is very important in present-day society. The introduction of the Internet in our daily lives means that, in order for someone to become seen, or to get his voice heard, one needs to have a web site and post it online. In order to fulfill that, you actually need 2 things - a website and a hosting service. Prior to devising a website, though, it's vital to realize that there are distinct kinds of website hosting services and that not all sites can function with a randomly selected website hosting. In order to explain this better, let us begin with the primary point:

What is Website Hosting?

Hosting, or also famous as 'web hosting', is a name that refers to the server itself, or the web hosting provider that offers the hosting server. A server is a computer that's connected to the web and that's configured to work with PHP, MySQL, Perl, etc., which enables the users to upload their web site files on the hosting server and to have them published on the Internet. There are two main varieties of web servers, determined by the Operating System of the web hosting server - Windows and Linux. The two OSs are quite different and, in the majority of cases, not at all compatible with one another. Hence, prior to picking the relevant service, one should first examine what sort of server is needed for their web page.

If you haven't designed the web site yet, then let us take a more exhaustive look at the difference between the 2 types and at what their positive sides are.

What platform should you pick - Windows or Linux?

As stated, there are web applications, which are only consistent with a given Operating System. For instance, JAVA scripts, .ASP pages, .NET Framework, Adobe ColdFusion are all based on Windows and will not function on a Linux server. Thus, if you want to design your website using any of the above, you should be searching for a Windows platform. Windows, though, is not an open-source software platform, which means that it provides limited opportunities as far as server safety and privacy are concerned. Thus, Linux is utilized by web server admins around the Globe and most hosting distributors use it on their web servers. Utilizing Linux, the admin can configure the web server in a fully modifiable manner, and if the hosting server is correctly configured, it can provide absolute defense against computer hackers and malicious software. Additionally, the customizability of Linux permits for greater software optimization, which results in better site functioning. For that reason, if you want supreme protection and server performance, then you should construct your website in such a manner that it performs with a Linux-driven web server. This is not a troublesome thing to do, as the most commonly used Content Management Systems, also known as CMSs, like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Moodle, and so on, are completely compatible with Linux servers and are popular all over the Globe for being one of the best software apps for creating and administering websites. By all means, this doesn't mean that each hosting supplier that's using Linux will have admins who are capable to properly administer a Linux server. Choosing the right service provider is very difficult these days, since the majority of them do not have the ability to engage an accomplished, practiced web admin. A Linux hosting server that hasn't been appropriately configured can be highly hazardous to your site and personal info. So, when choosing a web hosting company, it's always recommendable to choose a bigger hosting corporation that's been in business for at least a few years.

How to identify the appropriate hosting vendor for my website?

These providers are easily identifiable by the way in which they are supplying their web hosting services. Experienced web hosting corporations provide custom-built functionality, diverse free open-source scripts or web applications. The most practiced, though, have even their very own custom-created CPs made particularly for their platform. A web hosting CP is an online-based graphical user interface, via which the client manages the whole web hosting account. Smaller-sized web hosting companies utilize pre-built website hosting Control Panels like cPanel or DirectAdmin. In order, however, to ensure utmost safety and efficiency for their services, the leading web hosting firms offer to their customers their own in-house developed CPs created by their very own admins. We, at 'Chicago Web Hosting', don't simply offer our very own personal custom-developed Control Panel, but have also set up a free-of-cost open-source PHP-driven script installation tool, which enables our customers to easily activate any of the aforesaid web application frameworks. Specs such as these are evidence that we have the capacity, the means and the experience to be entrusted with maintaining your personal information private and your site - up and running on the World Wide Web.