Many people run their own private Web sites from PCs at home. Larger companies also manage Web sites using their own equipment. Many organizations lie in-between these extremes and build their sites on computer space rented by the month. Millions of companies, groups and individuals use services collectively called "Web hosting," which provides secure Internet access at a reasonable cost.
Companies called ISPs, or Internet Service Providers, sell Web hosting services. The ISPs house thousands of server computers in large data centers. They divide each computer into hundreds of shared units and assign a customer to each unit. The units are isolated from one another, keeping each customer's data private. The data centers connect to the Internet via multiple high-capacity network lines, so service continues if any one line develops a problem. The ISPs also use automatic backup electricity so the computers keep running if the main power goes out.
Space and Bandwidth
A Web hosting account buys you hard drive space on a server. When you upload Web pages, graphics and other content to your account at the ISP, it becomes part of your website. Because hard drive space has become very inexpensive, even a low-cost hosting account typically provides unlimited storage, so a site with hundreds of pages, graphics and video files is not a problem. In addition to renting space, you buy what's called "bandwidth" -- the ability to send and receive data to people from your site. The ISP's high-capacity network connections handle far more traffic than your home DSL or cable connection can, making hosted Web sites responsive even with many simultaneous users.
Most ISPs include a database with their Web hosting accounts, as databases are essential for online stores, forums and other dynamic, useful applications. The database stores and organizes the site's data according to your specifications. For example, an orders database contains tables for customers, sales and shipping charges. When a new customer types her data into a Web form, a programs adds her record to the customers table and the items she purchased to the sales table. For Linux-based Web hosting accounts, ISPs typically offer the MySQL database. Windows-based hosting accounts have Microsoft's SQL Server database.
Web hosting accounts usually come with software that analyzes your site's traffic. This software gives you numerical and graphical summaries of the pages visitors see when they browse your site. Statistics include total visits for a day, week or month, pages ranked by popularity, and countries and regions of origin for your visitors. When you run sales and other promotions, these statistics help you gauge their effectiveness in a very clear way. For example, for a pet-related site, a surge in visits to the dog food page indicates a successful promotion for those products.
In addition to the data storage space and bandwidth, ISPs offer a variety of services; some are included with the cost of an account and others come at additional cost. ISPs usually include email forwarding with basic accounts, where messages sent to the site's address are routed to your personal email address. Service providers sell marketing packages to commercial accounts; these help boost public awareness of your site and its ranking in search engines.
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