Know-hows of Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration

Web hosting is a service that makes it possible  to put a website or a webpage on the internet. The service provider is called a Web host or a Web Hosting Service Provider. A Webhost provides the technologies needed by organizations and individuals  to put sites on the web.
Web users access the websites by typing the url of the website aka domain name in the browser, the webpages are made available on the user’s computer through a server.

The Web host may also help individuals and organizations purchase a domain name if they don’t have one already.

Web Host manages the server on which the website is hosted, it is the duty of the hosting service provider to mentain the server’s upgradations, configurations etc. The customer gets the time to give focus to more important tasks like managing their websites’s content, design etc. Web hosting service require a constant and  high speed connection to the internet and a powerful server.
Hosting is a paid service, the hosting service provider charges the site owner on a timely basis, the owner/customer has to pay the rent on a monthly basis.

Computers on the Internet are recognized by a unique address known as IP address that is numeric in nature.

Remembering  numbers is a tedious task as compared to words.  Since there are so many devices across the world that are connected on the internet, each website is given a name, a domain name that gives the address of the page .

If a person wants to visit a website, he writes the address of the website in the address bar on his browser, the address aka url of the website gets converted into an IP Address since the computers communicate using numbers. The system then understands which webpage has to be accessed.

The process of conversion of a domain name into an IP Address is done by a Domain Name Server, whenever an URL is inserted into the address bar, the browser connects the Doman Name Server to find the address of the server or machine where the webpage is located.
DNS can be understood as a directory service for IP Addresses.

A Domain Name has to be registered before it can be put to use, separate individual entities cannot use the same domain name.

Domain names can also be secured using stand-alone domin name registration, using this option an individuall can reserve a domain name without opting for hosting service purchase. This is done to protect a particular domain name since the competition in business is very high, market is tough, many companies working in the relevant fields can be interested for the same domain name for their website.

Here are some types of Web hosting, a customer decides the type of Service he requires depending upon his business needs, his budget and the offerings of the Web Host :

  • Shared Hosting : In Shared Hosting service, more than one customer share a server. This service is cost-efficient since the physical server and the application programs on the server are shared between more than one customer. Shared hosting leads to slow processing because more than one customers avail same resources at the same time.
  • Dedicated Hosting : One customer gets one web server. The speed of processing is fast. These type f servers are used in scenarios where the website needs a lot of system resources to run or in case where the website require high security. The customer has to spend a lot of money for this type oh hosting.
  • Collocated Hosting : The Customer buys his own server and gets it placed at the Host’s location. The complete responsibility of the Server is of the customer. One important advantage associated to this service is that the customer can add any scripts or softwares depending upon his need in the Server.

There are some development firms that along with website creation also take care of the Web Hosting and Domain Name registration for their clients, getting your website development through them is a wonderful experience.

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The author is an experienced digital media professional having experience of more than 25 years in leadership roles at several leading internet and media companies in India.

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