Every website in existence is hosted on the Internet. If you’re starting a new website for the first time, it’s normal to have some questions about what web hosting is and how it works.
You definitely want to learn about the different types of web hosting so you can figure out which option is the best for your website. Don’t rush through this process.
Before we go any further, I want to start with the basics to make sure you have a full understanding of what web hosting is and how web hosting works.
What is Web hosting?
Web hosting (in layman’s terms) is the service of providing storage space for a website or application on the internet. Once your website is made available on the internet, it can be accessed by other computers connected to the internet.
Websites are hosted on servers, which are powerful pieces of hardware that house websites and data related to those sites. Every component of your website is stored on a server and accessed through your web host. This includes elements like files, text, images, videos — everything.
Servers are physically located in data centers, which are typically run and managed by different web hosting companies.
Web hosts provide the technology and server space required for your website to be accessed on the Internet. This allows users to search for your site and view your web pages online.
How web hosting works?
How to choose the right web hosting?
Often overlooked, web hosting is one of the key components of every successful website. The simple basic requirement for any hosting services even for hosting wordpress sites are:
- PHP version 7 or greater
- MySQL version 5.6 or greater
- HTTPS support (SSL)
What are the web hosting options available in Nepal?
There are various different types of hosting options available in Nepal such as Free, Shared, VPS and Dedicated.
1. Free Hosting
There are free web hosting available, but almost all of them have some sort of catch. Usually, you can find free hosting being offered in online forums or small groups. In most cases, these are managed by an individual who is reselling a small part of his server space to cover up some revenue. Often the catch is that you have to put their banner ads on the site. Some may ask you to put a text link in the footer of your site.
The biggest downside of having a free host aside from the ads is that they are unreliable. You never know when this person will stop offering the free service. They can leave you hanging at any time. If you are serious about your website or business, then avoid Free hosting at all costs.
2. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is by far the most popular type of hosting used by beginners. It is the most affordable and quite frankly a good starting point for new users. Shared hosting is where you share a large server with a lot of sites. By having multiple sites on the same server, hosting providers can offer the service at a more affordable rate.
The biggest catch that we see with shared hosting across all providers is the unlimited resources. There is no such thing as unlimited, its actually Unmetered. While it says unlimited, you still have usage restrictions. If your site starts to take up substantial server load, they will politely force you to upgrade your account. If they don’t take this action, then it can have a negative effect on the overall performance of other sites hosted on the same server. It gets back to conventional wisdom. As your business grows, so will your overhead cost.
Shared web hosting is the best solution for small businesses and starting bloggers.
3. VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) refers to a virtual machine. It is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers with respect to the individual customer’s need.
Even though you are sharing the server with a handful others, this gives you almost as much control as a dedicated server. You will have the root access to physical computer and can be configured to run specific server softwares which option is not available in shared hosting. Often developers, intermediate users, and medium-sized bloggers utilize VPS to scale their websites.
If you do NOT have any technical knowledge, then you need to make sure that you purchase a managed VPS. This means that the hosting provider manages all system upgrades, and they are available to assist you if needed.
VPS hosting is best for medium-sized businesses, high traffic blogs, and aspiring designers/developers.
4. Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated server is a physical server that you can lease from the hosting provider. This allows you to have full control over the server including the choice of operating system, hardware etc.
This is the most expensive type of web hosting, but it comes with added benefits. If you get a dedicated server, you should expect extremely high uptime rates and lightning fast loading speeds. You won’t have to worry about traffic from other websites impacting your performance.
If you do not employ a system administrator or have no experience with servers, then we recommend that you get a managed dedicated server. hosting providers who offer managed dedicated servers employ full-time system administrators that maintain your servers. Along with doing software updates, they also do server monitoring, offer phone support etc. Most top websites use clusters of dedicated servers.
Dedicated Servers are best for extremely high traffic blogs, eCommerce sites
5. Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is a newer type of web hosting. It can best be described as a hybrid version of a VPS, but more cost-effective.
Cloud hosting plans come with multiple remote servers. Each server has different responsibilities. If one of the servers is compromised or has a problem, the other servers on the network will take over those responsibilities and pick up the slack.
With cloud servers, your website will have higher uptime rates and won’t have as much unexpected downtime due to server errors. Your site will remain fluid and perform at a high level.
Cloud hosting is the best option for large business websites that are growing at a rapid rate.
How to choose the right web hosting package
Well you get the overall idea of different hosting option available in Nepal. Each hosting package has different options like storage, bandwidth, Operating system(Linux/Windows) etc.
To know which one would be right for your business, ask yourself following question.
- What kind of website do you plan to host online- a blog, an eCommerce portal, a news website, etc ?
- How much web traffic you get or expect?
- Which programming language you want to code?
- Is it important that you have root control of your server?
- How much are you either willing to spend or need to spend?
Your answer will determine how much you need of the following:
- Storage space
- Bandwidth
- OS (Linux/ windows)
- Control (root)
- Cost
To conclude, you can always upgrade your hosting plan so try to get most cost effective plan as per your need and upgrade hosting plan as your website grows.
