Web hosting

Web hosting

Making a Web site available on the Internet. Many ISPs host a few personal Web pages for an individual at no additional cost above the monthly service fee, but the address is subordinate to the ISP; for example, www.friendlyisp.com/pat_smith.

Multi-page, commercial Web sites are hosted at a very wide range of prices, and the customer's registered domain name is used. A single computer can hold dozens to hundreds of small Web sites, while a dedicated computer or multiple computers (from a handful to thousands) may be used for one large Web site.

Entirely or Partially Managed
Web hosting organizations can provide full service, including site design and programming as well as all e-commerce facilities. If customers wish to use their own servers and software, all their privately owned equipment can be co-located at the ISP, which provides power, Internet access and some level of management, which may be as little as ensuring that the servers are always running.

Host Yourself
Many medium to large enterprises host their own Web sites and manage their own servers in their own facilities. Even home users can try, although many ISPs block traffic going to a customer's Web server (see DDNS relay). See ISP, co-location and how to register a domain name.