Web Hosting: Colocation for Profit
29 March 2008Web hosting companies provide an easy and virtually free means of owning a website to their clients. ISPs or Internet service providers often gladly provide some web space to their clients. The address they provide usually does indicate the relatively subordinate status of the client, but it nevertheless serves the guest’s purpose adequately.
The ISP attaches or “hosts” a few web pages on behalf of its client in its own domain territory. Such an arrangement is also known as colocation, i. e. a location adjacent to one’s own. The colocation is also termed as a data center. What are the functions that a data center performs? This is a matter of mutual choice.
The ISP might just lend web space and power to the client, and ensure a smooth running of the servers. In such a laissez faire equation, the web hosting company need not bother with troubleshooting, or with a maintenance of the website. Alternatively, the host may be assigned the tasks of the initial design of the website, including the home page and other pages, as well as the structure of the entire website, extending to such provisions as a shopping cart to maximize online sales of its products or services.
Reseller hosting is an accompanying form of web hosting wherein the account owner is at liberty to utilize his allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller might purchases the host’s services wholesale and then sell them to his customers for a profit. A certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth gets allocated to the reseller account. The reseller host may either rent a dedicated server from a web hosting company or resell shared hosting services.
The VDS or VPS, respectively denoting virtual dedicated server and virtual private server, are a relatively modern variant of web hosting. In this mode of web hosting, the mainframes are partitioned multiple times to effectively convert a computer into virtually separate servers. This configuration may be viewed as a server functioning within another server.
What is the profile of a typical web hosting reseller? Well, it could be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to launch their own companies. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to frame their own service plans and pricing structures. Web hosting resellers are usually able to establish their own branding through customized control panels and name servers.
The data center works as the nerve center of the website’s overall data storage, processing and communication purposes. Web hosting has grown into a highly technical activity. The quality and speed of communications are dependent upon the computing power and bandwidth of the servers. Hence, it is crucial that one choose a colocation with modern facilities that can promote a venture’s future growth and requirements, rather than stifling it with bottlenecks. For a data center to be able to enable near-perfect uptime, it is necessary that the following three be adequately taken care of: an uninterrupted source of power, smooth Internet connectivity, and climate-controlled server rooms.
Thus, with a bit of care, an enterprise can select a web hosting company that provides it with a virtual identity, and the means of employing the platform of Internet for online advertisement and sales. A smart set of choices can galvanize an enterprise’s sales and profits several times over, at practically negligible cost.
