Quick Web Hosting Wiki

Web hosting

Web hosting implies a computer, somehow similar to the one you have at home, connected to the Internet, where your website’s files reside. This type of computer is called a server, and people who browse the Internet can view your website by accessing your website files on that server.

The company that provides this service is a web hosting provider, or web host. A web host is a service provider with a server or a network of servers connected to the Internet, where you can place your website.

Domain names

Each computer on the Internet has a numeric address that acts like a telephone number, allowing each computer to find each other and talk. Mnemonic names are often used which resolve to these numeric Internet addresses, because numeric addresses are hard to remember.

Like telephone numbers, these names are broken down into hierarchical parts. A dot (.) represents the root of the hierarchy and is used as a boundary between domains (as defined in English as an area or realm under control of an entity). Below are some examples showing the hierarchy.

• . : The root namespace
• com. : The "com" top-level domain
• example.com. : The "example" domain name
• www.example.com. : The "www" host name

In the above example, "example.com" is a domain name that represents a specific domain of computers under the "com" top-level domain, and "www.example.com" is likely the web server in the "example.com" domain. The top-level domains such as ".com", ".net", and ".org" are controlled by the domain name registry, but users can register a domain name under the top-level domains in order to name the computers that they control.

The domain name registrant does not "own" the domain name but is the registered controller of it for the period of time that the domain name is registered. A domain name can be registered through a domain name registrar

Bandwidth

In normal electronic terms, bandwidth refers to a range within a band of frequencies, or data sum being transmitted in a fixed amount of time. However, in the web hosting industry, bandwidth refers to the amount of data that is transferred between a server to its client computers within a certain period of usage.

The less bandwidth you have, the slower your site loads, regardless of the visitor's connection type. If you have more visitors, some of them will have to wait their turn. The less data transfer you have, the more often you'll find your site unavailable because you've reached the maximum allowed until a new month rolls by or you upgrade your account.

From variuos sources