New Advances in Web Hosting

One of the things that happened after the dot com boom was there was a massive need for companies of all shapes and sizes to have an online presence. This has also been seen with regards to tech people who want to share their wisdom and ideas with the world on the internet. This has meant that Web Hosting has grown at a dramatic rate as all users, organizations and individuals have been looking to interact. This has meant sharing ideas, information, footage, selling and marketing services and products and all of this has been made possible by operating systems which have supported the platforms of web hosting. In recent times there have been numerous advances in hosting web sites and these providers are always looking to provide customers with the most up to date technologies.

What are Web Hosting Platforms?

The two main types of web hosting platforms are the Windows and Linux systems and these are the operating systems that are used to support the hosting of websites.

Linux can be seen as the older and standard type of web hosting platform. Linux is seen as very reliable and is able to utilize its disk space and memory effectively. It is said that in excess of 70% of web servers use the Linux / Unix system because it is cheap and has fantastic power and can be relied upon.

The other platform is Windows - Window is what Microsoft has offered to the world as a response to web hosting and its popularity is on the increase. Part of the reason for this surge in popularity is due to the programming aspects contained within it which offers developers the chance to use ASP and ASP.NET programming environments. Another string reason for using this platform is due to the way it integrates with other .NET server technologies, including:

* SQL Server 2000

* SQL Server 2000

* BizTalk Server 2002

Web Hosting packages used to be bundled with only the minimum features but many of these features are vital to the package and they include:

Space available on the Disk - Each and every web hosting account contains a finite amount of disk space that can be utilized by a customer to place all their files on. The total size offered on the disk varies by firm and by each individual package. Potential clients should be aware that the disk space offered by a shared web host will be smaller than the space offered by a customized host.

Accounts relating to emails - The actual amount can depend on the physical cost of the package but there will be a provision of email accounts with a Web Hosting package. Amongst all of these packages, the provision of email accounts is extremely common and come in useful when hosting a domain. Having control over the email account can be offered to the customer if the Web Host wants to but there are many Web Hosts who will perform all the set-up processes for the customer. Whilst different users may have their favorite type of email account and their own preference there are 4 key types of email accounts and there are auto responders, aliases, forwarding and POP3 accounts.

Uploading files via FTP access - Another feature that appears in a great number of hosting accounts is the ability to have FTP access. If the user wishes to load files to their site or edit or erase content held on the server, the simplest way to do it is via FTP access, which is far quicker than utilizing a web=based interface to do the same task.

Modern breakthroughs in Web Hosting:

As technology surges onwards and more companies find a presence online, the needs and wants of individuals and companies are evolving rapidly. This means that Web Hosts also have to progress to be able to deliver the most modern technologies to their clients.

What is available today is seen as the best performing environment with regards to servers and a lot of this is due to the improvements in Windows Server technology and the Windows 2003 Server. This advance provides exceptional support for developers and Microsoft is fully behind its continual development and improvement.

These improvements have meant that Windows and Linux are closer and there are instances of inter-operability between the two. Previously, each system has distinct advantages over the other but now there is not the same distinction between the two. This means that which system is offered by a host is not as important to a client as it once was. The majority of clients today are able to base their web his decision of features and factors if the company itself as opposed to the operating system they use.

Software for hosting a Web Site

The development of the new Web hosting software is the recent advancement in the Web Hosting field. This software makes Web Hosting more efficient and effective. They are available to assist in the functioning of Web Hosting in the following ways:

* Automation of account creation

* Allowing users a better quality of management with regards their dedicated servers

* Ensuring that monotonous tasks can be automated saving the time of system administrators

There are numerous ways that this software is of benefit to a company. In choosing an automation software approach, the company is able to make the management of their dedicated server an easier process and vastly reduce the time spent on providing this resource.

The Windows dedicated server software are Plesk for Windows, Helm for Windows, Easy Admin Exchange Control Panel, Cold Fusion MX, Anti Virus & Security Software to name a few.

Similarly, the Linux server is supported by software packages including centos Linux, cPanel / Web Host Manager, Red Hat Enterprise, Anti Virus Software and Security Software, Fantastico De Luxe and Plesk for Linux.

Web Hosting and Voice over Internet Protocol technology

Like any growing industry, Web Hosting is creating new technologies to provide a better service to their customers. Due to the competition in the market there is a need for firms to provide improved services and one of the areas of advancement is Voice over Internet Protocol and this technology has been widely used in the web hosting industry. Basically, this technology enables people with a broadband internet connection on their computer to communicate with other people around the world without having to pay the usually associated high costs.

The service providers have discovered that the VoIP can add a new, and often very appropriate, dimension to their services without much difficulty. The VOIP companies are coming up in great numbers in hopes of cashing in on the rather new industry.

It can be seen that the Web host genre is coming up quickly with regards to this provision and is looking to follow on. A sizable proportion of the key Web hosts have devised plans to launch VOIPO, a telephone services that utilizes the benefits of VOIP. This is something that a Web Host provider would seek to distribute across the world

The Launch of Virtual Rack:

One major Web Host provider has created the "virtual rack" solution and its aim to offer the much liked private rack solution to clients who can only run a limited number of servers. The ultimate goal of this product is to enable customers to have the full range of customization on their Web Hosting.

As soon as the customer is in their private rack, they can choose which servers they would like. There is also the ability for them to select security technologies or advances networks which best suit their needs. This may range from the top of the line firewalls from Cisco ASA or perhaps a load balancer from server iron. However a customer wants their configuration, they can request it from their web host as well as asking for the IP arrangement they would like to receive.

The recent advances and developments are sure to make Web Hosting more efficient and effective. They will help in serving the purpose of the consumers in a way more than expected!