What does the word hosting mean? How do I benefit from it? Where do I get it from?
Hosting (or as some people call it web hosting, or Hosting or the Web Host, name it as you wish, it is), the bewildering word for many of us, and we are here to explain everything related to it, its meaning, types, and what kind suits you, and what difference Among the companies offered for hosting? The most important thing of course, is the prices!
In order to understand the meaning of web hosting, let's talk a little about how websites work, and how they connect to the Internet, before that, to emphasize the basis of the work of the internet that we learned in school which is (a group of networks connected to each other across the world), meaning that any website must be connected With the Internet so that the world can access it.
Excellent, so where is this site? A place must "host" the site's files and content, in order for people to access it, and this place must be permanently connected to the Internet, secure from hacking, the speed that it reaches is high and it bears a high data rate, and many other features.
This is where your site will be hosted.
From here the hosting companies, which offer you this place, arose to put you files on your site, the website (i.e. a site in the world) works in this way, but the difference between a site that has 100 visitors per month, and a site that has a million visitors is the specifications of this server (the place ) Which hosts the site, the economic hosts are not fully booked server, usually they are part of a virtual server on the internet, i.e. there is no concrete server hosting the site,
Let's get through the complications here, this topic we explained in another article about the types of servers and hosts, but what is worth mentioning here for example is that the global sites are not on an imaginary server, nor a real server, there are sites like Google and Facebook that are present on the "farm" servers of the server farms , You can be among the largest Data Center you have ever seen, so you can accommodate millions of requests in one second.
The following video takes you on a tour to see Google's (server farm) data center
What is the difference between hosting and domain (domain name)?
You may be wondering now: What is the link between the domain name and hosting?
We mentioned in our article about domains that you can buy a domain from a company, hosting from another company, or in the dominant case the domain is from the same company, because you will mostly get the domain for free when purchasing hosting from the same company, we will talk here simply about how a system works Domains in the world, to understand how Dominic is linked to your site and what is the difference actually between domain and hosting.
When you enter the address of any site on the Internet page, the process of converting the site name to IP, and the system responsible for converting the sites from names to IPs called DNS, is a shortcut to the Domain Name System, and this system is in the form of a pyramid, we will not expand in the explanation here, But what matters to us is that when we inquire about our site (our domain name), the request will be directed to a server called Name server managed by the hosting company, and this server will respond to the request that the requested domain is present on the IP as well.
Not clear enough? Let's apply it to the site you are reading from now.
When you type the site name on your browser, HostingTops.net, the DNS server will communicate with the top of the pyramid here, which are global servers that forward these requests to the responsible servers, and one of the main DNS servers in the world will respond to your request that the domain you requested is managed by the server. Located on the following DNS server address:
ns1.depro2.fcomet.com
Then your DNS server will ask this server for the HostingTops.net domain, where is it located? And this server is actually managed by the hosting company that hosts this site, which is FastComet, the server will respond to your DNS server with the address of the hosting server that this domain refers to! A bit complicated, right? This process occurs in milliseconds, by the way.
In the event that the domain and the hosting are from the same company, the settings for the domain redirection will be ready, but when the hosting is from another domain, the hosting company will give you the names of its Name Servers to link to your domain name, when your domain is queried, the Name Server will be Owners of the hosting company are known to the company from which you purchased your domain, and you will direct the request to your site based on this information that came from the hosting company.
Learn how to transfer and forward name settings from one host to another
A quick comparison of the prices of the most famous hosting companies
Here we show you a table showing the prices of subscriptions for basic hosting for the most famous foreign hosting companies, but we advise you to be patient and not to purchase before you complete reading the article and fully understand the meaning of hosting:
Hosting (or as some people call it web hosting, or Hosting or the Web Host, name it as you wish, it is), the bewildering word for many of us, and we are here to explain everything related to it, its meaning, types, and what kind suits you, and what difference Among the companies offered for hosting? The most important thing of course, is the prices!
In order to understand the meaning of web hosting, let's talk a little about how websites work, and how they connect to the Internet, before that, to emphasize the basis of the work of the internet that we learned in school which is (a group of networks connected to each other across the world), meaning that any website must be connected With the Internet so that the world can access it.
Excellent, so where is this site? A place must "host" the site's files and content, in order for people to access it, and this place must be permanently connected to the Internet, secure from hacking, the speed that it reaches is high and it bears a high data rate, and many other features.
This is where your site will be hosted.
From here the hosting companies, which offer you this place, arose to put you files on your site, the website (i.e. a site in the world) works in this way, but the difference between a site that has 100 visitors per month, and a site that has a million visitors is the specifications of this server (the place ) Which hosts the site, the economic hosts are not fully booked server, usually they are part of a virtual server on the internet, i.e. there is no concrete server hosting the site,
Let's get through the complications here, this topic we explained in another article about the types of servers and hosts, but what is worth mentioning here for example is that the global sites are not on an imaginary server, nor a real server, there are sites like Google and Facebook that are present on the "farm" servers of the server farms , You can be among the largest Data Center you have ever seen, so you can accommodate millions of requests in one second.
The following video takes you on a tour to see Google's (server farm) data center
What is the difference between hosting and domain (domain name)?
You may be wondering now: What is the link between the domain name and hosting?
We mentioned in our article about domains that you can buy a domain from a company, hosting from another company, or in the dominant case the domain is from the same company, because you will mostly get the domain for free when purchasing hosting from the same company, we will talk here simply about how a system works Domains in the world, to understand how Dominic is linked to your site and what is the difference actually between domain and hosting.
When you enter the address of any site on the Internet page, the process of converting the site name to IP, and the system responsible for converting the sites from names to IPs called DNS, is a shortcut to the Domain Name System, and this system is in the form of a pyramid, we will not expand in the explanation here, But what matters to us is that when we inquire about our site (our domain name), the request will be directed to a server called Name server managed by the hosting company, and this server will respond to the request that the requested domain is present on the IP as well.
Not clear enough? Let's apply it to the site you are reading from now.
When you type the site name on your browser, HostingTops.net, the DNS server will communicate with the top of the pyramid here, which are global servers that forward these requests to the responsible servers, and one of the main DNS servers in the world will respond to your request that the domain you requested is managed by the server. Located on the following DNS server address:
ns1.depro2.fcomet.com
Then your DNS server will ask this server for the HostingTops.net domain, where is it located? And this server is actually managed by the hosting company that hosts this site, which is FastComet, the server will respond to your DNS server with the address of the hosting server that this domain refers to! A bit complicated, right? This process occurs in milliseconds, by the way.
In the event that the domain and the hosting are from the same company, the settings for the domain redirection will be ready, but when the hosting is from another domain, the hosting company will give you the names of its Name Servers to link to your domain name, when your domain is queried, the Name Server will be Owners of the hosting company are known to the company from which you purchased your domain, and you will direct the request to your site based on this information that came from the hosting company.
Learn how to transfer and forward name settings from one host to another
A quick comparison of the prices of the most famous hosting companies
Here we show you a table showing the prices of subscriptions for basic hosting for the most famous foreign hosting companies, but we advise you to be patient and not to purchase before you complete reading the article and fully understand the meaning of hosting:
| الشركة | السعر يبدأ من | رابط الخصم | شرح الشراء |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goddady | $5.99 |  | جودادي |
| Fast cmet | $4.95 | | |
| HostG | $2.75 | | هوست جيتور |
| Bluehost | $3.95 | ||
| A2Hosting | $2.96 | | A2Hostin |
And do not forget that we have a specialized article to compare the top 10 global hosting companies.
Important terms to know and understand before purchasing a hosting
We branched out a little, but it is important information for how to understand how the topic works in general, from the scope and hosting and linking them, so let us now start talking about the core of our topic, from what ever? How do I compare hosting company services? What is the difference between the types of hosting? How do I determine the type I need?
Up-Time Guarantee
As a website owner, you are primarily interested in being online with at least 99.9% of the days of the year. This guarantee is provided by most companies, which means that your site will not stop for more than some hours during the year! Excellent ratio is not it? Of course, but not for everyone, there are companies that need to keep their site functional throughout the year, 100%!
Bandwidth site capacity
After that comes the importance of what is known as the bandwidth of the site, which means the amount of data allowed to flow to and from the site during a certain period (usually a month), why is this number so important?
Suppose that your site has many images, some videos, in addition to the existing design and texts, when any visitor opens a page with pictures or plays a video (uploaded to the site itself and not the YouTube link), the page will be loaded with its design, content and images from the site to the visitor's device.
The amount of this data is calculated, if the site capacity is 50 GB, for example, and the number of visitors to your site is high, it is possible to reach the maximum capacity before the end of the month, also note that this capacity is two-way, that is, if your site receives files from visitors (upload Files, uploading photos, documents, videos), this will also be calculated within the allowed capacity, so you should focus on this point greatly in order not to surprise your site visitors with such a message:
Some sites say that they offer endless capacities, and this topic is purely marketing, it is not logical to make your site a place to upload files, and visitors can download and upload files of fantastic sizes up to several terabytes, to host the cost of $ 5 per month!
You have to make sure of that if your site will need high capacities, this "no limit" is considered a marketing tool only and nothing more. They force you to upgrade to higher services with higher amounts because your site does not fit the type of hosting you have chosen.
Technical Support
It is also an important point to have good technical support to help you in what problems you may face, whether by hosting, hosting, or stopping the site. Of course, it is preferable that the site has technical support through chat, Chat support to ensure the speed of response, some sites such as A2Hosting and Hostgator BlueHost and others offer this feature.
On the other hand, a site like G is excellent on their site to show you what you need, but of course if the site is Offline, not all their articles will benefit you, this is another very important point when choosing a hosting provider.
Website Space
You should also pay attention to the site area, which is completely different from the capacity that we explained before, the space is the sum of the size reserved for your site, and it is usually measured in gigabytes, meaning that your site files, with its images, videos, databases and content, should not exceed this number, some sites define you with 10 GB, some with 20, and some not specified.
As we mentioned in the capacitance point, the word Unlimited in any offer is not real, whether in hosting or otherwise! It is possible that the space is not limited, but they put a small point below that says that the fair use policy applies, that is, the space is 100 gigabytes and is not unlimited (as we see in the advertisements advertisements, talk without limits, but it is limited to 5000 minutes per month for example), if Your site will need high space, you should check the site for this point.
Download tools and software with one click
A lot of hosting companies offer you programs that allow you to manage your hosting in terms of downloading the software with absolute ease and with one click and it is called One-Click Install, they are through additional programs such as Softaculous that allow you to install whatever programs you want (hundreds) with the least required steps, you can for example install any A content management system like WordPress or Joomla with just one click.
In order not to expand too much here, and to need to clarify a very important point, which is related to how the site is built, whether WordPress or Joomla or even by writing lines of code, we will talk in a different article about that and about the sites' support for these systems.
control Board
This is also a very important thing to know about any hosting: What is the control panel used for hosting?
First of all, what is the control panel?
Hosting on the server that you will buy, you have to control it in one way or another, some very specialists control all matters of hosting through command lines without control screens, but the vast majority (if not all) of the shared hosts come with a control panel, this panel It helps you manage your website files and databases, create emails, control domain settings used on hosting, install SSL security certificates, and more, through easy-to-control screens.
The most popular of these panels is cPanel, and the majority of shared hosts use them being widespread and available in several languages (including Arabic) and easy to use, there are some other panels that are less well known or that are used with other operating systems, some companies (such as iPage) use their own control panel ! It is bad compared to cPanel properties, so you should check this point exactly before purchasing hosting and know the type of control panel used.
Types of shared hosts
We have now reached a stage where we understand hosting, and what it means to us, we will now talk about the types of shared hosting, (we will talk about private hosting in a separate article here):
Basic hosting: Its name differs between companies, such as Starter, Economy, Basic, or Essential, and usually it is the cheapest among the rest of the types. Compared to others, but it is a first choice for many owners of one site, such features such as the site’s capacity, area, number of email boxes provided, capacity, etc., this hosting “as usual” does not exceed $ 5 per month.
Advanced hosting: It also has several names, such as Professional, Deluxe, Premium or Essential also (you can find the name at a company that means basic, and when another company means advanced), this hosting is at an average price among 3 types, most companies follow this system by dividing Shared hosting offers to 3 sections, this hosting is distinguished from the basic with greater capacities, the ability to put more than one site on it, more emails, prices are slightly higher than the basic, usually between 3-8 $ a month.
Premium hosting: Business, Premium, or Ultimate, and this hosting is considered the most expensive, as it is often characterized by more space and capacity, a large number of emails also, a priority of technical support sometimes, and it may also contain a free SSL certificate, the advantages of this hosting also are that The server is somewhat better (it is actually not the server, but let's say that the default operating system on which this hosting is on it is better than others, and we explained that in the specialized hosting article here), and other additional features, the price of this hosting is usually between 7 to 15 $ Per month.
Learn more about WordPress-related hosting types!
How do I choose the best hosting type for my site?
Now let's try to determine the right type for you, if your company is emerging, you of course want to give some credibility to your company by creating a website for this company, so that people know that you are present, and offer your services and products and how to communicate with you, in this case, it is better for you to choose the basic type , So that you save yourself additional expenses in exchange for benefits that you do not know whether they will benefit you at the present time or not, noting here that you have only one site, as we mentioned previously, mostly, basic hosting allows only one site, knowing also that most of the sites allow you Upgrade your hosting type from lowest to highest if I needed that.
In general, you should start with the cheapest hosting, unless you have requests that are not in it (such as the number of emails or the space), you can choose the advanced or distinct hosting.
One thing that we mention here is the operating system that the server is running on, yes you are familiar with Windows, but here the situation is different, the vast majority of websites are built using Linux for a number of reasons, the most important of which is security, and free, and you do not need, you will not need knowledge of Linux To manage the site, this is a completely different system than the operating system itself, but if you want to build a site using a programming language from Microsoft like ASP.net, in this case you will need to purchase Windows hosting, it is preferable to contact technical support from the site to make sure that the hosting supports what you want Before buying.
Thinking about creating a site with a high visitor volume (for example, news)? Mostly, these sites do not depend on shared hosting, but their owners buy special hosting services, the price of which in some types reaches $ 300 and more per month, learn more about them here.
Important terms to know and understand before purchasing a hosting
We branched out a little, but it is important information for how to understand how the topic works in general, from the scope and hosting and linking them, so let us now start talking about the core of our topic, from what ever? How do I compare hosting company services? What is the difference between the types of hosting? How do I determine the type I need?
Up-Time Guarantee
As a website owner, you are primarily interested in being online with at least 99.9% of the days of the year. This guarantee is provided by most companies, which means that your site will not stop for more than some hours during the year! Excellent ratio is not it? Of course, but not for everyone, there are companies that need to keep their site functional throughout the year, 100%!
Bandwidth site capacity
After that comes the importance of what is known as the bandwidth of the site, which means the amount of data allowed to flow to and from the site during a certain period (usually a month), why is this number so important?
Suppose that your site has many images, some videos, in addition to the existing design and texts, when any visitor opens a page with pictures or plays a video (uploaded to the site itself and not the YouTube link), the page will be loaded with its design, content and images from the site to the visitor's device.
The amount of this data is calculated, if the site capacity is 50 GB, for example, and the number of visitors to your site is high, it is possible to reach the maximum capacity before the end of the month, also note that this capacity is two-way, that is, if your site receives files from visitors (upload Files, uploading photos, documents, videos), this will also be calculated within the allowed capacity, so you should focus on this point greatly in order not to surprise your site visitors with such a message:
Some sites say that they offer endless capacities, and this topic is purely marketing, it is not logical to make your site a place to upload files, and visitors can download and upload files of fantastic sizes up to several terabytes, to host the cost of $ 5 per month!
You have to make sure of that if your site will need high capacities, this "no limit" is considered a marketing tool only and nothing more. They force you to upgrade to higher services with higher amounts because your site does not fit the type of hosting you have chosen.
Technical Support
It is also an important point to have good technical support to help you in what problems you may face, whether by hosting, hosting, or stopping the site. Of course, it is preferable that the site has technical support through chat, Chat support to ensure the speed of response, some sites such as A2Hosting and Hostgator BlueHost and others offer this feature.
On the other hand, a site like G is excellent on their site to show you what you need, but of course if the site is Offline, not all their articles will benefit you, this is another very important point when choosing a hosting provider.
Website Space
You should also pay attention to the site area, which is completely different from the capacity that we explained before, the space is the sum of the size reserved for your site, and it is usually measured in gigabytes, meaning that your site files, with its images, videos, databases and content, should not exceed this number, some sites define you with 10 GB, some with 20, and some not specified.
As we mentioned in the capacitance point, the word Unlimited in any offer is not real, whether in hosting or otherwise! It is possible that the space is not limited, but they put a small point below that says that the fair use policy applies, that is, the space is 100 gigabytes and is not unlimited (as we see in the advertisements advertisements, talk without limits, but it is limited to 5000 minutes per month for example), if Your site will need high space, you should check the site for this point.
Download tools and software with one click
A lot of hosting companies offer you programs that allow you to manage your hosting in terms of downloading the software with absolute ease and with one click and it is called One-Click Install, they are through additional programs such as Softaculous that allow you to install whatever programs you want (hundreds) with the least required steps, you can for example install any A content management system like WordPress or Joomla with just one click.
In order not to expand too much here, and to need to clarify a very important point, which is related to how the site is built, whether WordPress or Joomla or even by writing lines of code, we will talk in a different article about that and about the sites' support for these systems.
control Board
This is also a very important thing to know about any hosting: What is the control panel used for hosting?
First of all, what is the control panel?
Hosting on the server that you will buy, you have to control it in one way or another, some very specialists control all matters of hosting through command lines without control screens, but the vast majority (if not all) of the shared hosts come with a control panel, this panel It helps you manage your website files and databases, create emails, control domain settings used on hosting, install SSL security certificates, and more, through easy-to-control screens.
The most popular of these panels is cPanel, and the majority of shared hosts use them being widespread and available in several languages (including Arabic) and easy to use, there are some other panels that are less well known or that are used with other operating systems, some companies (such as iPage) use their own control panel ! It is bad compared to cPanel properties, so you should check this point exactly before purchasing hosting and know the type of control panel used.
Types of shared hosts
We have now reached a stage where we understand hosting, and what it means to us, we will now talk about the types of shared hosting, (we will talk about private hosting in a separate article here):
Basic hosting: Its name differs between companies, such as Starter, Economy, Basic, or Essential, and usually it is the cheapest among the rest of the types. Compared to others, but it is a first choice for many owners of one site, such features such as the site’s capacity, area, number of email boxes provided, capacity, etc., this hosting “as usual” does not exceed $ 5 per month.
Advanced hosting: It also has several names, such as Professional, Deluxe, Premium or Essential also (you can find the name at a company that means basic, and when another company means advanced), this hosting is at an average price among 3 types, most companies follow this system by dividing Shared hosting offers to 3 sections, this hosting is distinguished from the basic with greater capacities, the ability to put more than one site on it, more emails, prices are slightly higher than the basic, usually between 3-8 $ a month.
Premium hosting: Business, Premium, or Ultimate, and this hosting is considered the most expensive, as it is often characterized by more space and capacity, a large number of emails also, a priority of technical support sometimes, and it may also contain a free SSL certificate, the advantages of this hosting also are that The server is somewhat better (it is actually not the server, but let's say that the default operating system on which this hosting is on it is better than others, and we explained that in the specialized hosting article here), and other additional features, the price of this hosting is usually between 7 to 15 $ Per month.
Learn more about WordPress-related hosting types!
How do I choose the best hosting type for my site?
Now let's try to determine the right type for you, if your company is emerging, you of course want to give some credibility to your company by creating a website for this company, so that people know that you are present, and offer your services and products and how to communicate with you, in this case, it is better for you to choose the basic type , So that you save yourself additional expenses in exchange for benefits that you do not know whether they will benefit you at the present time or not, noting here that you have only one site, as we mentioned previously, mostly, basic hosting allows only one site, knowing also that most of the sites allow you Upgrade your hosting type from lowest to highest if I needed that.
In general, you should start with the cheapest hosting, unless you have requests that are not in it (such as the number of emails or the space), you can choose the advanced or distinct hosting.
One thing that we mention here is the operating system that the server is running on, yes you are familiar with Windows, but here the situation is different, the vast majority of websites are built using Linux for a number of reasons, the most important of which is security, and free, and you do not need, you will not need knowledge of Linux To manage the site, this is a completely different system than the operating system itself, but if you want to build a site using a programming language from Microsoft like ASP.net, in this case you will need to purchase Windows hosting, it is preferable to contact technical support from the site to make sure that the hosting supports what you want Before buying.
Thinking about creating a site with a high visitor volume (for example, news)? Mostly, these sites do not depend on shared hosting, but their owners buy special hosting services, the price of which in some types reaches $ 300 and more per month, learn more about them here.
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