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About Web Hosting
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If you
want to take part in the internet as a business, information resource, directory, or as a
hobbyist wanting to share data, information and knowledge with the many people and
communities on the internet, you have to contain this in a central spot on the internet.
You have to own a piece of space in cyberspace.
Web hosting empowers you and anyone with a computer and internet connection to own a piece
of cyberspace. In your space, you can have news, bulletins, documents, data, files (your
web site) and your own post office (mail server) to accept mail, all in the context of you
or your business. This is your space and to get this space you either have to own a piece
of the physical internet with a network connection to the internet backbone and
computer(s) operating as server(s) offering access to your files and post office, for
people on the internet to view your web site or send and receive email with you.
The cost of owning a direct connection to the backbone and a server dedicated to a web
site and email is out of reach for the average business and especially general members of
the internet. Even running a web site and mail server on your own computer when it is
connected to the internet requires a lot of technical ability and knowledge. The internet
itself has to be your business for either of these options to be viable.
In our modern society, for every person in business or with a career in most industries
today, it is imperative to have a place in cyberspace, not just to be competitive but to
survive. Web hosting companies were born out of this great need to provide an environment
for the masses to own a piece of cyberspace, to offer an environment where people could
have their piece of cyberspace on the internet 24/7 without the great cost. Web hosting
companies developed a model where they could split up areas on the servers connected to
the backbone and ‘rent’ this space, cutting the costs across many people sharing
the server and backbone connection to the internet.
In a web-hosting environment, you are offered a web site to place your files, data,
documents, and bulletins for people to access with their web browser and an email server
for you to send and receive email messages. The web host will also provide you a means to
get an address for people to get to your web site with a web browser and post email to
you.
To obtain space in a web hosting environment you become a member and agree to terms and
conditions of renting the space – just as if you were to rent a house or commercial
premises for your business. Once you agree and become a member, you are given an access
code, a key, to your piece of cyberspace. This key, in the form of a login and password,
allows you to connect to the web hosting server and up-load (transfer to) your web site so
it can be accessed on the internet. Your login and password is also used to connect to a
mail server to create and administer mailboxes to send and receive email for you, your
staff, or family members. |
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