Congratulations! You have just created your maiden website. But that is just as far as it goes. For you to have your website be accessible to the whole world, you need to find a web hosting company or a web host that enables your contents to be permanently put on the internet. This is achieved by way of a computer that has permanent connection to the web.
In your quest to look for a company that will host you, chances are that you will be meeting many unfamiliar terms of which you only have scant understanding. This article introduces you to the basics terminologies and concepts that you are likely to encounter as you compare various hosting packages. This beforehand knowledge is particularly important because it will enable you to not only to understand but also to compare the various offerings from web hosts and also to be in a position where you can ask intelligent questions in case something does not make sense to you. The end result is that you will land a package that dovetails with your needs as well as your budget.
Some of the concepts in web hosting include the following :
- Windows hosting
You will agree that when it comes to desktop PC’s nobody can beat the Windows Operating System. It is arguably the commonest of all the operating systems today. However, the same cannot be said of its market share when it comes to web hosting. On the contrary, it has a very small market share. The reason for this is often attributed to its cost which is far much higher compared to others like Linux Hosting. For example, one needs a paid license from Microsoft to use Windows Hosting. Linux hosting, on the other hand, is free. These costs will finally be passed down to consumers who find using Windows hosting a lot more expensive. - Linux hosting
Linux is also a type of operating system that works like Unix and which was designed by Linus Torvalds, who was a Finnish student at the time. Today however, it is under further development by large international developer s. it is an open source software, which basically means that its source code can be viewed and modified by everyone who uses it. It is often cheaper than windows hosting when it comes to web hosting. This explains their relative large market share of Linux and other Unix-related Operating Systems. - Domain namesIn the example www.goal.com, .goal is the domain name. .com is referred to as a top level domain or TLD. Top level domain names are usually generic and this means that they are not particular to any countries. Examples of TLD domains include .com, .net, .biz, .org etc. Generally, the domains to the right of the web address are more top level than those to the left. Other domain names are country-specific and they are associated with specific countries. For example .uk, .ke, .can etc.
Armed with the basic knowledge, it is therefore easy for you to make educated decisions because of your understanding of the terms.
