Web hosting services are services that companies provide so their clients can make web sites available on the Internet. Web hosting companies typically provide a web site, but storage, domain services, email, and other connectivity services. The servers on which these web sites are located are typically not at the client’s site.
There are many types of web hosting services that are available to clients. Sometimes companies offer web hosting services that are free and are supported by advertisements but offer restricted capabilities to clients. Other times, companies offer shared web hosting services where several client websites reside on the same server with hundreds or even thousands of other websites. The services available with this type of hosting are typically quite extensive.
There are also dedicated hosting services where the client has a web site on a dedicated web server and maintains full control of the server. Maintenance and security of this dedicated box is provided by the client and the hosting company provides little support except for the server itself. A managed hosting service environment is similar to a dedicated one in that the client has a dedicated server but is not allowed full control over it. The client needs to use remote management tools like the terminal emulator Putty or a remote desktop software application like Tight VNC to manage it. The hosting company sets the service this way so that they quality of service can be guaranteed by not allowing the client to potentially create technical problems on the server.
Another way of hosting web sites is to use clustered hosting where there are multiple servers that host a web site to insure better utilization of resources. Web sites that require high availability and scalability do well with clustered web hosting solutions. Cloud hosting is a new type of hosting that also offers a clustered solution with the addition of balancing the load on servers.