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Web hosting companies provide
individuals and organizations online systems for storing
information, images, video, or any content accessible via the Web.
The scope and quality of hosting
services vary widely. The most basic is a simple html web page. The
files are uploaded via FTP or a Web interface. The files are usually
delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing.
Many ISPs offer these free Home pages as a part of their package.
You can also obtain this type of hosting from many of the free
hosting providers. Generally “free hosts” place ads on your
pages.
The next step up is shared web
hosting that provides database support and scripting languages like
PHP, Java, and ASP.NET. This type of host allows the customers to
write or install scripts for applications like forums and content
management. This level of hosting normally provides some type of
control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as
well as other services like e-mail. Three of the more popular ones
are cPanel, Plesk and Helm. By far cPanel seems to be the preferred
choice of the majority of users.
A simplified explanation of the basic
range of services in the hosting arena would look like this with the
lowest level of service at the top and moving to a higher level of
service as you progress down the page.
ISP provided Home page
Free hosting
Basic shared server hosting
Shared server hosting with Addon
domains
Reseller account
VPS, virtual private server
Dedicated server
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