Continuing with the ABC of Internet Business, you must know what web hosting or web hosting is.
Once you have the Design of your Website (web pages, portals, etc.), so that your site can be seen and accessible on the Internet, you will need to host your files on a computer connected to the global network and that it has the configuration of software packages necessary to act as a Web Server. Additionally, it is essential that said computer access the network through high-speed communication links in order to handle the volume of simultaneous visitors it will receive. These and other benefits represent the set of services called Web Hosting (or Web Hosting according to its English word). When you hire the hosting service, you are essentially paying for the rental of a certain space on the hard disk of a Web Server,as well as for the services necessary for such a server to be available and accessible on the network.
Web servers are usually offered with one of the Linux or Windows Operating Systems. The advantage of Linux servers lies in managing the security aspects they allow. Currently 65% of web servers are Linux-based and 15% are Windows-based while the remaining 20% are various minor systems. Standard Internet applications run well on Linux servers, limiting themselves only in cases where Microsoft's own languages and / or databases are used, in which case Windows servers are used.
In order to use private emails (not free) under your own domain name (eg First [email protected]) it is essential to contract a hosting service. By doing so they will provide you with the DNS (Domain Name Servers) addresses to which your domain name must point so that the emails can work for you. Once you hire a hosting service you will have access to a control panel on the Internet through which you can easily configure your emails. After they are created, you can assign them to your computers and / or mobile devices to be able to send and receive emails from / to them.
If you wonder about the prices related to hosting, they are very cheap. Today you can afford an annual hosting plan to handle emails and a small business website (up to 5 employees with emails approximately) for less than the price of 4 lunches in an inexpensive location. That is to say, the service for AN ENTIRE YEAR for what it would cost to sit down to eat with three friends for a single day!
If you buy a small web hosting plan you can later switch to a larger one. Basically you do the management with your provider, pay for the difference to the largest plan and voila, in a matter of a few hours you will have your largest space contracted.
Hosting works like the real estate market, where instead of selling land with certain square meters, space is sold on the server disks with certain amounts of Megabytes or Gigabytes.
In addition to the contracted space, the hosting services are configured according to the data traffic that enters and leaves the server for your domain name. This defines a contracted monthly traffic capacity. In the event that your website and / or the use of your emails consume a lot of traffic due to the large volume of visitors or users, it is possible to contract expanded web hosting plans, in such a way that they cover your usage requirements.
On the other hand, when a simple hosting service is hired to start, then a shared server is used, that is, multiple client companies use the same server although this does not affect them and is transparent for them.
To the extent that the needs for space, traffic and processing capacity are more demanding, for example, for sites or portals with a large volume of visitors or simultaneous users or with a large number of online transactions, it is necessary to hire a semi-dedicated server, which is used only by a minimum number of companies.
Now, when the volume of information to be handled or the processing capacity is excessive due to the fact that the server is used in a massive way (for example, in the case of traditional media well positioned on the Internet), it is required that the server is for exclusive use by a single company, which is why it is called a dedicated server.
There is also the ability to connect multiple servers together to form clusters or server farms for cases in which the management of resources requires it due to the various types of processing and / or functionalities required at a global level.
Among the aspects that you should take into account to select a suitable hosting provider are:
• Availability of the desired operating system according to the site or web portal to be published
• Types of programming languages and databases available to be used
• Space and traffic of each hosting plan according to the required estimate
• Online support, manuals and control panels in Spanish
• Guarantees of online availability of servers higher than 99% (minimal failures)
• Updates in the technology, capacities and operating speeds of servers
• Adequate technological infrastructure for information security
• History of the company and portfolio of clients that endorse it
• Existence of a physical headquarters that can be visited for meetings if required.
• That it is a formally constituted company and that it has its tax registration
• That they have various methods of contacting online and by phone (call center)
• That you have an excellent post-sale technical support service through a technical support ticket system and a knowledge database for your self-help.
We hope that with this information you have better understood what a web hosting or web hosting is for hosting your emails, electronic files, backups, websites and Internet-oriented software applications (or what some call cloud computing).
Success for all…
