The Different Kinds of Hosting

Whether you are setting up a new blog/site or are outgrowing your current setup, finding new hosting can be a very daunting challenge.

One of the biggest problems with hosting is the terminology. There are so many different kinds of hosting out there and their descriptions are not always helpful. Worse still, every kind of hosting is targeted at a different type of user and getting the wrong kind of hosting can leave you either overpaying for your needs or with a setup that isn’t powerful enough for your site.

So how do you know what kind of hosting is for you? Here’s a rundown of some of the more common host types, their advantages and who they are targeted at.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most basic and least expensive form of hosting you can find. Most large hosting companies such as Dreamhost, Hostgator, etc. primarily provide this kind of hosting.

A shared host is a host that puts hundreds, if not thousands of sites, on the same physical server. Since most sites use very little bandwidth or server resources, this is rarely a problem and it allows them to offer hosting at an extremely cheap rate, often just a few dollars per month.

The drawback is that shared hosting is not designed for high load. Though you can mitigate against it by using WP Super Cache or other caching programs, if your site uses too much resources it will be temporarily suspended before it takes the whole server, and hundreds of other domains, down too.

The majority of bloggers use a shared host when they first start out and works well for most smaller to medium sized blogs.

Grid Hosting

Grid hosting is a new kind of hosting that was first brought to everyday bloggers by Media Temple and is designed to mitigate against the problems commonly associated with shared hosting.

Grid hosting works very much like a shared hosting normally, but when a high load hits, the “grid” element takes over, spreading the load of your site across many different machines. This keeps your site alive even during traffic spikes, such as the Digg Effect.

The problem is that grid hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, usually about $20 per month, and there is a new metric to worry about, processing units. Where shared hosts just worry about bandwidth and disk space, grid hosting customers have to worry if their site is taking up too many processing units lest they get a larger bill.

Grid hosting is ideal for sites that don’t normally require a lot of hosting power, but experience occasional traffic spikes and would like to stay active through them.

Virtual Private Server

Virtual Private Server hosting, better known as VPS, is similar to a shared host in that multiple sites share the same physical server, but it is different in that the number of sites is much smaller and each site has a dedicated portion of the server’s resources (usually including both a RAM and CPU allotment). Furthermore, each account has root access, meaning that, to the customer, it is the same as running their own full server.

VPS provides much greater power and access than a shared or grid account but it comes at a higher price. Also, where shared and grid hosts are easy to set up and run, many VPS hosts require a great deal of expertise. Bloggers that aren’t comfortable running a server should probably stay away or pay extra for a managed solution.

A VPS is usually a good solution for bloggers that need more processing power than a grid host can cheaply provide or want to host many sites on the same server. It is also a popular option for the computer-savvy that love playing with their own server.

Dedicated Server

Finally, at the highest end of the hosting spectrum (at least before you start with enterprise hosting) is dedicated servers. The name pretty much explains the service, it is a an entire server available for you to do with as you see fit. You do not share the server, or any of its resources, with any other users.

Though dedicated servers usually provide the highest level of control and power, that isn’t always the case. A powerful VPS may have more resources available than a meek dedicated server. It all depends on the specifications.

That being said, not sharing a server has a great deal of benefit for anyone who wants to run very high traffic of very resource intensive sites. However, dedicated servers are also very expensive, usually many times more expensive than a grid or shared host, and are intended for hosts well beyond the needs of most bloggers.

Hybrid Solutions

In addition to the solutions above, there is a great deal of experimentation going on with file hosting services such as Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files as they let users host static files, such as images, on a powerful server for cheap while keeping their site on a less expensive host.

These setups can be both very cost and speed effective but require at least some degree of understanding both of the underlying technologies and DNS and Web site configuration. However, there are great guides on how to use Amazon S3 as an image or file host.

Bottom Line

The question every blogger has is which hosting is right for them? The answer is that it depends.

Most bloggers start out using a shared host and typically move up to a grid or a VPS as their traffic levels rise. Typically, I encourage people to be one step ahead of what they need. Though a solid shared host may be good enough for most bloggers, stepping up to a grid host offers little extra expense and a lot of peace of mind.

You don’t want to just meet your current needs but prepare for your future ones so you aren’t constantly moving from host to host. When you sign up for a host, plan on being there for two years and estimate your needs accordingly.

Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself searching for hosting a lot more often.

Written by Jonathan Bailey from Plagiarism Today
Posted on March 26th, 2009 and filed under Domain Names & Hosting
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