What Is Hosting?

Once a website has been built, the next stage is to put it ‘live’ on the web. In order to do this, the site must be uploaded onto a web server.

A web server is a computer that is constantly switched on and connected to the web. This computer holds one or more web pages and can be found by typing in a domain name (such as www.deltawebdesign.co.uk).

When you request a page on this site, your pc uses various procedures to find the web server and the server pulls the page out of its memory and sends it to your pc.

People that have a web site have two choices; to set up their own web server, configure it and leave it permanently on and connected to the web so that people requesting the site can access it day and night or, much more easily, get another company to “host” the site for them. This is essentially what hosting is.

In addition to keeping your website live, the web server also provides any email services that are associated with your domain name.  Each time you send or receive an email, it passes through the server where it is routed to the appropriate destination. All of this activity requires lots of storage space and large amounts of bandwidth, which incurs costs.

If you are not sure of your hosting requirements please do not hesitate to contact me by fill out the contact form on the 'Contact Us' page at the top of this page.