Web Hosting Features, Tools & Types Explained

If you are shopping for web hosting service, you undoubtedly know that there are lots of options available. Unless you are someone who is very familiar with the technologies used in web hosting, understanding exactly which hosting package is best for you will be quite difficult.

This article will explain what some of the various key elements of web hosting are, and how they will impact your experience.

After reading, you should be able to better evaluate all your options and make the best choices based on your specific needs.

Types of Hosting

One of the first things you will need to do is narrow your search down based on the type of hosting you want to use. The following are the four most common hosting types available, and a brief explanation of how they work and what situations they are good for.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is when multiple different customers are all sharing the same physical hosting server. All the resources on the server are available to all the customers.

This is a good option for very small websites since it is the least expensive.

However, if one site on the shared server becomes overloaded with traffic, it can cause the other to experience slower response times.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is where the hosting company creates hosting environments that are spread across multiple physical servers.

The newest of the technologies, it is quickly becoming very popular as it makes it possible to add or remove system resources for a particular site and allows customers to pay for only what they need. This is also a very stable option because a hardware problem on one physical server won’t necessarily bring a site down.

VPS Hosting

VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is similar to shared hosting where multiple customers are all housed on one physical server.

The difference, however, is that each customer is given their own virtual environment with their own dedicated system resources so what happens on one site won’t impact the others.

Dedicated Servers

Dedicated servers are physical servers that are entirely dedicated to one hosting customer. This allows the customer to have complete control over things like what operating system, what software, and more. This is almost always the most expensive option but can give you a powerful system that will be able to handle a large amount of traffic.

Web Hosting Components Explained

Learn about the most important hosting features, and how they can impact your hosting experience.

Disk Space

Disk space is the total amount of hard drive space you will have for your website. The amount you will need will depend on what type of site you are running.

For most basic sites that post articles and simple images, something as low as 1 gig will be sufficient.

As a site grows and adds in videos and other multimedia features, additional space will be required, sometimes reaching hundreds of gigs.

Many respected hosting companies, including us here at Verpex, offer unlimited disk space so webmasters don’t need to worry about running out.

In addition to the amount of disk space available, it is also important to look at what type of hard drive is being used. The two most common options are standard hard drives and solid-state drives (SSD). SSDs are much faster and more reliable, which is why they are a better option in almost every situation.

RAM (Memory)

RAM, or Random Access Memory, is where information is stored in a server while it is actively being used, or is frequently accessed.

Having enough RAM in your hosting package is essential for being able to provide your visitors with a fast hosting experience.

The more visitors your site has, the more RAM you will need. In general, the amount you can get will range from 1gb up to 32gb or more.

CPUs or vCPUs

CPUs (Central Processing Units) and vCPUs (Virtual Central Processing Units) are the ‘brain’ of the hosting servers.

In most cases with web hosting packages this will be listed in the number of CPUs that are allotted to a particular customer. The more CPUs or vCPUs available the more visitors the hosting server will be able to handle at a time.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the total amount of data that is allowed to be sent and received by the website each month.

Every time a visitor comes to a site, it has to get the data from the server, so this can add up quickly. This also includes any data that the webmaster uploads to the web server. It is often best to go with a hosting provider, like us at Verpex, that does not limit the amount of bandwidth available for most hosting packages.

Get the Help You Need

These are the most important factors that need to be considered when signing up for a hosting package.

There are, of course, a variety of other features that will often be listed. If you are ever unsure about exactly what you need based on the type of site you will be running, don’t hesitate to reach out to the sales and support team with the hosting company.

The team here at Verpex will always be more than happy to answer questions and guide you to the right hosting package based on the type of site you will be running.

Frequently Asked Questions