Understanding The 3 Key Functions Of A Web Host

A number of clients to web hosting service do not fully understand exactly what they have purchased or are supposed to get from their web host.

We do not all have to be technically minded, but a good and clear grasp of exactly what a web host does is very important and will greatly assist us in making more informed choices that are bound to be better. It starts with a firm grasp of the 3 main functions of a web host.

Provides Disk Space

To most people, this is all a web host provides, a home for your web site. In actual fact, this is only a part of the main function. It is different from data transfer which is what allows your site to be seen in the browsers of those who visit. Every web host will have a limit as to the mount of space you can occupy on their servers.

Provides For Data Transfer

For your site to be viewed, data has to be downloaded to your visitor’s browser. This is probably the most important aspect of web hosting because it is carefully controlled by the web hosting company. Failure to manage this well will mean that your site takes too long to open or is not even accessible at all (probably due to the slow data transfer rate available at your hosts servers). Hosts usually keep a close eye on the maximum limit of data your site has been allowed to download in a month. The technical term used here is bandwidth.

If for example your site gets a sudden surge of traffic, then chances are that you will exceed this limit. It is important to find out well in advance what happens in case of this eventuality. This is because many web hosts have very steep fines and payments that have to be made by sites that exceed their bandwidth.

Provides Email Addresses

The fact is that even email addresses need to be hosted somewhere. Your web host will usually have a limit to the number of email addresses that you can create for your domain. Many people do not pay attention to this one as it is usually not an issue for many small web sites being run by a handful of persons.

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