The term web hosting is not something new to all web designers and website administrator as we will somehow need to deal with it either for the clients or for our own website. Initially we probably will choose a shared hosting to begin with and then eventually consider upgrading to Virtual Private Server or Dedicated Server when the website outgrows the resource allocation of the shared hosting package.

Shared hosting packages usually have lower resource limit in term of CPU and memory (RAM) allocation as compared to Virtual Private Server and Dedicated Server. Low resource limit is the main problem a website will face when it starts to get more visitors because the same server resources (CPU & RAM) are shared among many other websites on the same server as well. On top of that, limited freedom in server configuration on shared hosting account would be another reason for many website administrators to upgrade the hosting account. Therefore, a Virtual Private Server or Dedicated Server would be a better choice for a website with high traffic and also when we want to have total control of the server we are hosted on.

Basically, a Virtual Private Server is in fact a Dedicated Server divided into a few virtualized partitions that are functionally equivalent to a separate physical computer. Each partition is allocated a separate resource (CPU & RAM) limit so they can run on their own without interfering each other. On the other hand, a Dedicated Server is a server dedicated for a particular user or website that the user or website is allowed to fully utilize all server resources.

Picking the right web host for our website could be a tough decision because there are just too many web host companies on the Internet nowadays. The decision gets harder to make when we need to look into many aspects of the web hosting companies such as the price, hosting features, server specification, the level of technical support included, guarantees, and so on. A web hosting company’s experience and history in providing a specific hosting solution should be take into account too, be it in Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server or Dedicated Servers industry. Besides, reading customer’s genuine reviews about a web hosting company would definitely be helpful in finalizing the decision that we are considering a web hosts.