What is web hosting?

A web hosting server is a high-powered computer that processes user requests to access a website. Each time someone types a uniform resource locator (URL) in a browser or clicks on a website link, they are asking to connect to a web server. The web server processes the request and sends the web page files plus the associated media files back to the browser, where that person can view the website.

While it is possible to host a website on your own IT equipment, this option requires more time and therefore cost. All web server configuration and ongoing maintenance of always-on resilient systems needs to be carried out by the organisation or person who is publishing the website. It also requires a high level of technical knowledge to manage the infrastructure, which most individuals and many businesses may not possess. This is where the services of a web hosting service or provider come in.

A hosting provider, or web host, offers services that make it easy to publish, maintain, secure and back up websites online. From individuals who want to publish a blog to a large enterprise looking for professional hosting services with a high level of assurance, there are numerous advantages to using a web hosting provider.
Not only do they provide additional security and automatic back-up, they also avoid the need for a business to purchase IT equipment and data storage. Plus, the heavy lifting of upgrades, security patches and maintenance is carried out by the hosting provider.

Web hosting services usually include 24/7 monitoring to ensure each client’s website is always up and running. Built-in anti-virus and threat protection, as well as website backup are usually provided as part of the service to minimise service disruption. In most cases, customers remain responsible for managing back-ups and ensuring they have available storage, usually in a secure offsite location.

This model is where many users share the same server resources for their websites, including memory, processing power, bandwidth, and storage. Shared hosting is the most popular choice, since server space, compute power and storage is shared with many other websites, minimising costs. It is ideal for businesses that don’t have the technical resources to manage a web server — this is carried out by the hosting provider, along with security and maintenance. Since shared hosting is fully managed, users are freed up from having to concern themselves with infrastructure management, writing their own code or having to handle web application and website files. It is ideal for WordPress website hosting and for using a well-known content management system (CMS) such as Joomla! or Drupal. Shared hosting is often chosen by small businesses, and individuals, where web traffic is relatively predictable, although many companies offer more sophisticated and powerful shared hosting services for popular e-commerce sites.

At OVHcloud, we offer an easy-to-use and deploy, one-click installation of popular CMSs, including WordPress, Drupal and Prestashop. Our Performance Hosting package can support large e-commerce websites — handling thousands of simultaneous users. Customers can be assured that surges in traffic during busy sales periods, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Christmas are easily handled with no service disruption.

So, what are the questions to answer when choosing the best web hosting service? It might seem obvious to say that you should choose web hosting services according to your web needs and by how much you are prepared to manage yourself.

Using a web hosting provider will minimise the technical aspects you need to manage yourself. If you want more control over the use of operating systems or open-source distribution, you will need in-house technical experts to manage these. With such a large range of hosting services available, there are several considerations to look at, including the type of website you want to build in the first place. Is it a blog, an e-commerce site or do you need a website for a small or large business? Do you want unlimited web hosting for multiple websites?

Next, what kind of resources do you need? Do you expect your business to grow, or do you need to reach customers globally? Are you just starting out? If so, do you have a domain name yet and will you need email services?

OVHcloud offers a wide range of web hosting services for all sizes of business — from those starting out with their first website to businesses with multiple sites and deep levels of technical knowledge.

All our Cloud Web solutions make it easy to get started and can scale with your business as it grows. Our solutions support everything from a blog, or small business website, to powerful e-commerce solutions and the more complex web deployments required by large enterprises.

At OVHcloud, you can host multiple domains and enable developers to publish their own software code with our Web PaaS platform. All this comes with different levels of support, documentation and access to our online community where you can exchange ideas with your peers.

We help you on any stage of your web journey for whatever level of performance you need for your website. We also provide unlimited bandwidth and optimal security to safeguard your valuable data across all our web hosting plans.