What is the definition of a web host or hosting?

How does it work?

When you decide to take web hosting for your blog or website, you often arrive in an obscure world populated with strange technical vocabulary.

In this article, I will explain with very simple words and comparisons of how a web host works.

Different types of web hosting:

Imagine the Internet as a big city. In a city :

First, we want to build a house, we need materials … and we do not install our house anywhere, so we build it on land.

On the Internet, it’s the same:

When we want to build a website, we need files. There is for example a file that controls the design, a file that allows to connect to the administration, etc … and we do not install these files anywhere, we store them on a machine that we call a waiter.

First A host hires you space on a server where you can install your website. But know that there are several cases such as:

• The free platforms = the hotel: when you arrive at a hotel, the walls, and the furniture are already there and you just have to put down your suitcases. On a blog hosting platform like Blogger or WordPress.com, it’s the same. You just have to register and you can in 5 minutes start writing your first article. You do not have to manage the installation of the files, the maintenance, the security … In the same way, as in the hotel, it is not for you to solve the problems of plumbing or to clean! But the problem is that in the hotel, we can not do everything we like: replace this old flower chair with a designer sofa, it is not very advisable! With free platforms, it’s the same: we impose limits. Sometimes it’s the design that you can not customize to 100%; sometimes, monetization is forbidden, etc.

• Shared hosting = the apartment: when you live in an apartment, you have a certain freedom, you can choose your decor and your furniture … but still, there are rules of life in a community to respect. We do not make too much noise to not disturb the neighbors! Shared hosting is a bit the same principle: we store multiple sites on the same server. Everyone has their independence, their domain name, their look, everyone does what they want at home … but if the website becomes too big or too visited, they can start to disturb the neighbors! We move on to another type of hosting.

• Dedicated hosting = the individual house: for instance  when you have a huge website, you consume a lot of resources. Imagine a website that receives millions of visitors a month: it’s a lot of images and pages viewed, lots of clicks. If we leave the website in question on shared hosting, it will alone consume all resources and other websites of the same server will row, be slow … So, we install the big websites on dedicated servers, like individual houses, where they do not disturb the neighbors! You will understand: your blog will be hosted on shared hosting … except perhaps if it begins to receive hundreds of thousands of visits per month!