Hosting Fundamentals
Erica Fath
Just “what is hosting”? Well, are you free for the next hour or two?
A discussion about hosting may start out as a simple question that you’d expect a quick answer to, but then it you quickly discover that in can turn into a crazy discussion the more you talk about it. One thing leads to another – just like the Internet. So, let’s start at the beginning.
Simply stated, every web page on the Internet is ‘hosted’ somewhere.
First, let us establish that every web page is nothing more than a collection of files of text, scripts, images files, audio files, and nowadays, video files. These files are created and stored on a computer somewhere in the world. Initially it would be on the C or D drive of your computer, for example (assuming it’s your website). At this stage of the process, the web page is not on the Internet and it is not possible for other people on other computers view the files as they cannot access your computer as I’m assuming you have proper security on your computer to prevent hackers.
Let me back up a minute. When you make the decision to connect your computer to the Internet, your computer is assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number must be between zero and 255. For example, 1.160.10.240 could be an IP address.
This IP address identifies the location of your computer - just as your house and street numbers identify your location so your mail will be properly routed to you. You are now able to turn on your computer, plug into the Internet or dial up, depending how you set it up. Your computer can now access millions, even trillions of websites. However, it is now also possible for anyone who knows your IP, your passwords and has the correct software to access your computer. So, when your computer is turned on, these people could access your files. And visa versa.
Lets consider our example computer of 1.160.10.240. You want to send data to and from another computer, say at address 1.185.25.365.Or you want to see the information on that computer. Now that you have an IP address, you can do just that.
Every time you surf the net, your computer at 1.160.10.240 is connecting to another computer somewhere and seeing the files stored on that computer. The day you browse through 150 sites, you’ve connected to 150 different computer addresses in probably 150 different cities around the world.
Confused yet? Ok, let’s consider the telephone network. It’s simply one phone connecting to another phone number elsewhere. That gives you a pretty clear picture of how the Internet connects as well. Just as the phones only connect when the second phone is picked up, you connect on the Internet when your computer links to another computer that is turned on.
If you have a powerful enough machine and the right software, you can host your own website - and the websites of your family and friends, for that matter. Actually, I did that in the 90’s. I had a server computer that I kept connected to the Internet 24/7. I then gave my select group of clients the IP address of that server so they could access the files and information I put on that server as well as transfer files to my computer. That server was available to all who had the software and security passwords to connect to it. It was like my own mini worldwide web.
However, most of us do not want the world on our computers, nor do we want to be bothered with the maintenance and security issues of blocking unauthorized access.
That’s why most of us choose one of the many options of hosting to put our sites on the Internet. But that’s a topic of discussion for another day.
Erica Fath @ May 17, 2008
Erica Fath