INTRODUCTION TO SHARED WEB HOSTING SERVICES

INTRODUCTION TO SHARED WEB HOSTING SERVICES

A Shared Web Hosting service is also known as Virtual Hosting Service. It is a web hosting service where many websites dwell on one web server linked to the Internet. The service must include system administration as it is shared by many users. 

In common shared hosting will be inappropriate for users who need extensive software development outside what the hosting provider uphold. Almost all applications planned to be on a standard web server work well with a shared web hosting service.

But on the other hand, shared hosting is less expensive than other types of hosting such as dedicated server hosting. Shared hosting usually has usage limits and hosting providers should have major reliability features in place.

Shared hosting services typically offer basic web statistics support, web mail services and email, updated PHP and MySQL. It also frequently uses a web-based control panel system, such as DirectAdmin, cPanel, Plesk, InterWorx, H-Sphere or one of many other control panel products.

Most of the large hosting companies use their own custom developed control panel.

In shared hosting, the provider is generally responsible for installing server software, managing servers, security updates, technical support, and other aspects of the service. Most servers are based on the Linux operating system. Some providers offer FreeBSD-based or Microsoft Windows-based solutions.

A large portion of the shared web hosting market is driven through pay per click (PPC) advertising while some are purely non-profit.

Shared web hosting can be done privately by sharing the cost of running a server in a colocation centre; this is called cooperative hosting.

IMPLEMENTATION

Shared web hosting can be achieved in two ways: name-based and IP-based.

IP-based

1) Name Based Virtual Hosting: With the name based virtual hosting you can host severaldomains/websites on a single machine with a single IP address. All domain on that server will be sharing a single IP address. It is easier to configured than the  IP based virtual hosting, you should only need to configure DNS of the domain to map it with its correct IP address and then configure Apache to recognize it with the domain names.

Where Name-based virtual hosting can make the use of multiple host names for the same IP address and also it uses the host name that is presented by the client. This helps in saving the IP address and the associated administrative overhead but the protocol that is being served must supply valid host name at an appropriated point.

There are some difficulties while using name-based virtual hosting with SSL and TLS as, it becomes very difficult to host multiple secure website that runs SSL and TLS because their handshakes takes place even before the expected hostname is sent to the server, the server is unabled to detect that  what kind of certificate is to presented in the handshake.

Moreover if the Domain Name System(DNS) is not functioning properly, it becomes difficult to access virtually-hosted website even if the IP address is known.

2) IP Based Virtual Hosting:  With the IP based Virtual hosting, you can be able assign a separate IP for the each domain on a single server side, these IP addresses can be attached to the server with single NIC cards and as well as multiple NICs. Port-based virtual hosting is also possible in its principle but it is rarely used in practice as it is unfriendly to  users. By default the port number for HTTP is 80.

Name-based  and IP-based virtual hostings can be combined that means a server can have multiple IP addresses that serves multiple names on some or all of the IP addresses.