Classes of hosting solutions

A hosting solution implies storing and/or sharing certain web content on a server administered by a hosting provider. There are different forms of hosting services used for different aims, so let's take a gaze at them. Doing so, you can choose what you want, depending on whether you'd like to build a web site, electronic mail accounts, or to share files with friends and colleagues.

- File hosting: a service supplied by particular hosts, which permits you to share bulky files. These could be disk images, films, audio files, archives, and so on. This solution is also known as file storage, and its sole aim is to share files, since it does not offer web site uploading. Once the files are uploaded, you will either obtain an accidentally generated download link for each of them, or you will be able to read a roster of all the files in a directory, but you will not be able to see .html or .php web page files in your web browser. Free-of-cost file hosting services frequently include ads next to the download links, while a timer obliges you to wait for a certain period of time to view them. A single file can be downloaded with limited speed. If you have a paid file storage account, there are no restrictions as to how many files you can upload/download instantly, and also there is no limit as far as the download speed and the file size are concerned.

At present, with the help of the cPanel hosting distributors, "file hosting" is being renamed to the more stylish "cloud hosting". This is a thoroughly untrue interpretation of the real denotation of "cloud hosting". A real cloud website hosting platform would divide the tasks at hand between autonomous hosts of hosting servers in a cluster, which are devoted to attending miscellaneous web space hosting services (electronic mail, storage space, statistics, DNS, databases, hosting CP, etc.) So, the file hosting service is just a kind of a disk space hosting solution, not a cloud hosting one. It's not even close.

- Image hosting: akin to file hosting; certain distributors provide a hosting solution for images exclusively. This hosting variant is appropriate if you wish to share an immense number of pics with comrades or acquaintances since the solution is mostly free of charge. You will receive a random link for each and every picture or album and you can then share this link. As with the file hosting solution, .html and .php files are not compatible, so the solution cannot be utilized for web pages.

- Email hosting: a service devoted to handling your email accounts. Some vendors provide webspace hosting solutions for web sites, but do not provide an e-mail hosting solution. If you would like to have a mail address with your domain name but do not desire to own a site, then the email hosting solution is what you require. You can set up e-mailbox accounts and administer them, but there will be no web service for the domains. The e-mail hosting service includes incoming POP/IMAP and outgoing SMTP servers.

- Video hosting: this service allows you to upload and share video clips. You can either share a link to a certain video, or you can embed the video file in your web site that is hosted elsewhere. The benefit of availing of this method instead of uploading the video file in a hosting account is that the video clip generates a given amount of CPU load, so with a handful of videos and several hundred web site viewers, you may have a hard time with your site hosting resources. Embedding the video clip will enable you to own as many videos as you desire without worrying about system reserves.

- Web hosting: this is the solution that you need if you desire to keep a web site. To a certain degree, it contains all of the abovementioned hosting categories since, along with your web pages, you can also host pictures and files, you can keep databases and mails, upload video files, and so on. At Ability Plus PC Hosting, for instance, you can have a look at web hosting and dedicated server hosting solutions that enable you to have all of the aforementioned services in one single location. There may be restrictions based on the kind of hosting service that you've opted for - a free hosting account, a paid shared hosting package, a VPS or a dedicated server. Based on that, your hosting plan may be better or worse in comparison with the ordinary email/file/video/image hosting plans that are meant for particular web content solely.