Types of hosting services
A hosting solution pertains to saving and/or sharing given content on a server managed by a web hosting vendor. There are different types of hosting services utilized for different ends, so let's explore them. Thus, you can elect what you want, on the basis of whether you wish to establish a web site, mail accounts, or to share files with friends and partners.
- File hosting: a service distributed by particular vendors, which enables you to share enormous files. These could be disk images, movies, audio files, archived documents, and so on. This service is also known as file storage, and its only objective is to share files, since it does not support web site uploading. The moment the files are uploaded, you will either obtain a randomly created download link for each of them, or you will be able to survey a table of all the files in a directory, but you will not be able to view .html or .php web files in your browser. Free-of-cost file storage services often include ads next to the download links, while a timer obliges you to wait for a given interval of time to see them. A single file can be downloaded with limited speed. If you possess a paid file hosting account, there are no limits as to how many files you can upload/download instantly, and also there is no restriction in regard to the download speed or the file size.
At present, with the assistance of the cPanel hosting distributors, "file hosting" is being renamed to the more trendy "cloud hosting". This is an entirely inaccurate interpretation of the literal denotation of "cloud hosting". An actual cloud website hosting environment would split the tasks at hand between different packs of hosting servers in a cluster, which are devoted to attending different web hosting services (mail, storage space, stats, DNS, databases, webspace hosting CP, etc.) So, the file hosting service is simply a kind of a data storage hosting service, not a cloud hosting one. It's not even near.
- Image hosting: akin to file hosting; some suppliers provide a hosting solution for pictures exclusively. This hosting variant is good if you wish to share a huge amount of pictures with mates or partners since the service is typically free of cost. You will receive a randomly generated link for each and every picture or album and you can then share this link. As with the file storage solution, .html and .php files are not compatible, so the service cannot be utilized for web sites.
- E-mail hosting: a service devoted to tackling your mailbox accounts. Some companies offer web page hosting solutions for web pages, but do not provide an email hosting service. If you wish to run an e-mail address with your domain name but do not want to have a site, then the e-mail hosting solution is what you want. You can open email address accounts and administer them, but there will be no web solution for the domains. The e-mail hosting service involves incoming POP/IMAP and outgoing SMTP servers.
- Video hosting: this solution enables you to upload and share video files. You can either share a link to some video, or you can embed the video file in your web page that is hosted somewhere else. The advantage of using this method in lieu of uploading the video clip in a hosting account is that the video creates a given amount of central processing unit load, so with a couple of video clips and several hundred site viewers, you may have a problem with your web page hosting reserves. Embedding the video file will permit you to keep as many videos as you wish without bothering about system supplies.
- Web site hosting: this is the solution that you require if you would like to have a web site. To a certain extent, it embodies all of the aforesaid hosting groups since, along with your web pages, you can also host pictures and files, you can create databases and e-mails, upload video files, etc. At Best Quality Hosting Services, for example, you can see web hosting and dedicated hosting packages that enable you to get all of the aforesaid services in one single location. There may be limitations depending on the type of hosting service that you've selected - a free hosting plan, a paid shared hosting plan, a VPS or a dedicated server. Based on that, your web hosting account may be better or worse compared with the conventional email/file/video/image hosting plans that are conceived for particular content solely.