Monday 2 February 2015

The Different Types Of Web Hosting: A Metaphor


Did you know that finding a web hosting package is a lot like finding the right place to live? After all, isn't your website where your business lives online? In this article you will learn how shared, VPS and dedicated hosting are like living in an apartment, townhouse and a house.


Living in an apartment is like shared web hosting

Shared hosting is a lot like living in an apartment. First, most of us start out living in apartments because they are very affordable. They are so affordable because you are essentially sharing the building, resources, walls, roof and amenities with many other tenants in the complex. The same can be said for shared hosting, as most websites start out on shared hosting account because they are so affordable; with some packages starting as low as $1 a month. Shared hosting is so affordable because you share the server resources, maintenance and costs with many other websites. Next, apartments are fully managed by a property manager; where they manage all of the apartments and the property. Similarly, shared hosting is also fully managed by your hosting provider, meaning you do not need any technical expertise.

Living in an apartment does, however, come with its fair share of downsides. First, when you live in an apartment you can be affected by your neighbors. For example, you could have very noisy neighbors that keep you up all of hours of the night causing you to be sluggish the next day. Likewise, with shared hosting you also have many neighbors, sharing your server with as many as several thousands of other websites. And sharing your server means that you can be affected by their bad behavior, resulting in your website experiencing performance issues. For example, when a site on your server has a huge spike in traffic and hogs all of the resources, this can affect your site and cause it to be down. Next, apartments are limited on space, especially if you have a mid to large size family. Similarly, shared hosting also gives your website limited resources and features. Not to mention that your resources are not guaranteed.

Living in a townhouse is like VPS web hosting

VPS hosting is comparable to living in a townhouse. First, living in a townhouse means that you will have fewer neighbors than living in an apartment, giving you more privacy. In fact, you will share only the amenities and property with a handful of tenants. Not to mention that you will have your own yard and roof. Similarly with VPS hosting you will also share your server with far less sites than shared hosting. You also have a more privacy with VPS hosting, as you will reside on your own virtual partition of the server. In other words, your site is separate than other sites where you will be given full root access and your own operating system that can be rebooted independently. Next, a townhouse provides more space than living in an apartment. And much like a townhouse, VPS hosting also gives your website more resources and features than shared hosting.

A townhouse is great, however, it does have its disadvantages. First, living in a townhouse still means that you have to share the property and walls with others, meaning you can still be affected by your neighbors. Likewise, with VPS hosting you still share hardware assets, meaning you can still be affected by the bad behavior of your neighbors. However, unlike shared hosting your resources are guaranteed. Next, living in a townhouse does require you to repair issues within your home. Just like VPS hosting requires that you have some technical skill to manage your VPS server, as you are responsible for some server side management and application installation and maintenance. If you do not require these skills, then you will have to hire a third party or have your hosting provider manage it. Thus, leading to additional costs that could potentially exceed the cost of dedicated server hosting.

Living in a house is like dedicated server hosting

Dedicated hosting is much like living in a house. First, living in a house means that you will have the house all to yourself. And this also means that you will have more privacy because you do not share your walls, amenities or property with anyone else. Much like living in a house, dedicated servers are dedicated exclusively to your website. This means that only your website will be hosted on your server and the resources will not be shared with anyone else. Next, living in a house means that you can also add to your house or property, adding as many ad-ons that you can afford. Similarly, dedicated servers are also so easy to scale and you can keep scaling until you have reached your budget.

Living in a house does have one major downfall: it is more expensive than living in an apartment or a townhouse. It is so expensive because you have the whole house and property to yourself, which means that you will incur all of the costs. Costs that include, for example, property maintenance and repair, 100% of the mortgage; just to name a few. And much like living in a house, dedicated hosting is also more expensive than shared and VPS hosting. Thus, you incur all of the costs because you do not share your server with anyone else. This also means that you are responsible for managing your server, requiring you to have technical skill. You also have the option to have it managed, adding to the cost of your dedicated server web hosting package.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8872145

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