In this era of digitalization, everyone wants to create their presence online. Be it an individual, product, business all of these are now easily available on the internet.All of this would not have been possible without the use of domain and web hosting.

Let us now learn everything from scratch & see how we can run a business online through domain and web hosting.

What’s in it for me?

WHAT IS WEB DOMAIN?

 A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet ~ Wikipedia

Taking an example here:

You are a businessman and you own a garment shop with the name, Designer centre.

Here the name of your shop, Designer Centre is the Domain.

In simple words, the domain is the name of your website.

For example www.lapaas.com Here lapaas.com is the domain.

Similarly, youtube.com, facebook.com are all domains.

Domains comes with various prefixes like .com, .in etc.

From which site we should purchase the domain?

The domain is available on a rental basis.

The rent can be annual or it can be every month. It is a contractual agreement between the user and the domain providers.

There are certain factors that we must consider before renting a domain name:

A) TRANSFER PRICE

Transfer price refers to the fee charged from the user if he/she wishes to change his/her domain provider.The domain provider with the least transfer price should be selected.

B) GO FOR THE CHEAPEST DOMAIN

There are numerous domain providers providing domain names at different prices.The domain name with the cheapest price should be selected.

C) CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Before, selecting the domain name we must check the customer support of the domain name provider.It can be done by checking the Google reviews of the domain provider.

D) DOMAIN RENEWAL

After the expiry of the contract, every domain is required to be renewed.Today, most of the domain providers inform the customers well in advance regarding the expiry of the term.

WHAT IS WEB HOSTING?

 The first thing you need to understand is What is web hosting? So first learn what is web hosting. “A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible” ~ WIKIPEDIA

We all know Land is one of the most prominent factors of production.A businessman requires land to run his operations at a physical place.The land can be purchased or it can be rented.After the land is purchased/rented a shop is created on it to commence the business.Similarly, to run a business online, a platform is needed.That online platform is known as Hosting.Before moving forward let us learn the concept of browsers in web hosting:Browsers are the platforms wherein we call the domain names.There are many browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, & Internet Explorer, etc.For example, we search for youtube.com in chrome browser.When we open youtube.com a request is generated & it is sent to its (you tube’s) hosting.Now, the browser’s task is to download the website that is stored in the hosting.The user can now use the website downloaded by its browser. I hope you got everything related to What is web hosting and now you understand what is web hosting. If you have any doubts related to what is web hosting you can comment on your doubts in the comment box. After getting web hosting, website on the internet designing and development plays an equally important role:

Web designing and development services

INTERNET SPEED  

The uploading and downloading frequency depend upon the internet speed of the hosting.This is also known as port speed.The higher the port speed the faster the uploading/downloading takes place.

DATA CAP

Every server/hosting has its capping capacity.For example, We must have faced a situation wherein the network providers like Reliance, Vodafone, etc. have set certain data limits on the usage of mobile data.Similarly, when we purchase hosting there is certain capping on the transferability of the data at a specified charge/rate.It indicates the maximum allowed amount of data in a month for an agreed charge.However, the providers may charge the users if he/she exceeds the capped limit.For example, a mobile user is charged when the user’s mobile data is exhausted.

OPERATING SYSTEM

Every server/hosting has one operating system.The operating system is a kind of foundational software on which everything runs.While purchasing hosting, you need to decide regarding whether you require something that runs on:

A) Mac OS

B)Microsoft Windows

C)Linux

D)Chrome OS

 NOTE: Operating systems are not only limited to computers. Smartphones and tablets also run operating systems. For example I iOS or Android.

Types of Hosting:

A) Dedicated Hosting

The first Types of hosting is dedicated to hosting. It is a flexible Types of hosting wherein the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone else.In dedicated hosting, there is full control over the server, operating system, hardware, etc.The host provides the server equipment, administration, and other services.Dedicated hosting is also known as a managed hosting service. So the first Types of hosting is dedicated hosting. 

B) Virtual Private Server Hosting

The second Types of hosting is  vps hosting. Total control over the server is provided to the clients of dedicated hosting.VPS Hosting is a virtualized server.It emulates a dedicated server hosting and creates a shared hosting environment.

For example: 32 GB RAM 16 CORE PROCESSOR 1TB SSDThere is a dedicated server with 32GB Ram, 16 Core Processor, and 1TB SSD. Now, it is partitioned into 4 Virtual private servers of 8GB Ram and 250 TB SSD each.Every individual server will be known as a Virtual private server. So the second Types of hosting is virtual private server hosting. 

C) Shared Hosting

The third Types of hosting is shared hosting. Shared web hosting is similar to using public transportation.When we travel in a bus it carries many passengers. All of them want to go to different destinations.This results in more number of stops which increases the travel time.Shared hosting is similar to this example.

All of the resources on the shared network are used by multiple users at the same time.This is suitable for most of the start-ups and entry-level businesses.It offers many features that are user friendly and easy to use. So the third Types of hosting is shared hosting. 

D) Cloud Hosting

Another type of hosting is cloud hosting. involves the attainment of resources from a computing provider to host data or services. It combines the capacity of several servers to deliver one single cloud-hosted server. It includes hosting a website on different dedicated web server. Whenever, an individual calls for the website, the load gets shared among different servers resulting in faster downloading. So the fourth Types of hosting is cloud hosting. 

SUMMARIZED EXAMPLE

Now, let us summarize and see how these calculations work:

Assuming your website is of 1MB. This means 1MB data is downloaded from your server to the browser.Now assuming the upload speed is 100Mbps and the user’s internet speed is also 100 Mbps.This implies the user will be able to download the entire website in a 1/100^th second.Now let us take a situation where 1000 users are coming to the website at one single time, internet speed is 100 Mbps.This means the website will get downloaded in 10 seconds.Now let us assume that the user’s hard disk’s speed is 10 Mbps.This implies the data transfer rate cannot exceed more than 10Mb per second.To download 1000 MB it will take 100 seconds which is never recommended.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A) It is recommended that the website loading time should not be more than 5 seconds.

B) To improve this time we can increase the hard disc speed.

C) Additionally, we can improve the download speed of the website.

D) Initially, you must start with a shared server/hosting.

E) You can shift to the VPS or dedicated hosting keeping in mind, load on the website.

Let us now learn the ROLE OF HARD DISCS in web hosting:

Traditionally, we have seen in our daily lives:

A)It takes more time to transfer files with less amount of sizes.

B) It takes less time to transfer a single file with greater storage.

For example, The transfer speed reduces when we transfer 20 files of 10 Kb.

On the other hand, the transfer speed increases when a single file of 100Mb is transferred.

This mechanism is based on IO operations i.e. input-output operations.

It tells how much input-output operations a server can handle.

Ideally, we need to select that hosting that offers a greater amount of input-output generations.

HOW TO CHECK LOAD ON YOUR WEBSITE?

You can check from here whether you need to upgrade your Ram, Processing or the bandwidth.According to me, if your website size is small in size, you must focus on your internet speed.In cases, where website size with a large number of plug-ins, you must focus on CPU.

ROLE OF SERVER’S LOCATION

The greater the distance from the server’s location and the user, the more time it will take in downloading.For example: If your server is in Delhi and a user from Delhi opens your website, it will take less time in data transfer.On the other hand, a user from the US opens the website then it may take relatively more time as compared to the above case.Ideally, you must select that server location that is relatable to the area of your operations.

ROLE OF CLIMATIC CONDITIONS

Yes, climate conditions do play a role in web hosting.In hotter countries like India, the server may be costly.This is because the efficiency of server decreases in hot conditions.Recently I read an article which stated that companies with very large servers are being shifted to cooler regions like the North Pole.This could reduce the costing up to 50%.

HOW MUCH TIME DOES A WEBSITE TAKE IN OPENING?

WHAT IS SWAP MEMORY?

While plugging a pen drive in your system, have you ever seen an option of converting its storage into Ram?Well, this is swap memory.Swap memory is a space on a hard disk that is used as a virtual memory extension.For example:You have SSD in a server & Ram of 4GB.Let us assume, 4GB Ram gets exhausted due to heavy load.Now, the work will be done on SSD i.e. it will make a swap memory on the hard disc.Relatively, SSD speed is much slower than the speed of Ram.The reason behind this is, Ram’s work is to perform tasks fastly whereas hard disc’s task is to store data.

INPUT-OUTPUT WAIT TIME

 I/O bound refers to a condition in which the time it takes to complete a computation is determined principally by the period spent waiting for input/output operations to be completed. ~WIKIPEDIA

It is the time that the server takes when a browser calls it for a website.

We need to minimize the input/output time to the maximum possible extent.

TOP WEB HOSTING PROVIDERS

Their are many companies which provide hosting solution like;

A) HOSTING: It is one of the top hosting service providers. Hostinger has the cheapest plan with fast load time

D) HOSTGATOR HostGator is known for its FREE site migration & excellent services

E) BLUEHOST BlueHost has the best uptime hosting. It is easy to use and sign-up.

I hope after reading this blog, you know everything about web hosting, types of Hosting, Best Web Hosting you should buy.

If I missed something, do let me know in the comments below.

Best Web Hosting Recommendation: Hostinger

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After buying Hosting, do have a look at this blog on How to start a blog

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