GIIT Is More Than A Hosting Company
To own a website, you need three things: domain name, web hosting, and a developed website. But what's a domain name? What's a web hosting? Aren't them the same? It's important that you are crystal clear on their differences before you move on to create and host your first website.
Web Hosting Explained
What is a Web Hosting?
A web hosting is a computer where people store their websites. Think of it as a house where you store all your stuffs; but instead of storing your clothes and furniture, you store computer files (HTML, documents, images, videos, etc) in a web host.
More often than not, the term “web hosting” refers to the company that rent out their computer/servers to store your website and provide Internet connectivity so that other users can access to the files on your website.
Example of hosting companies: InMotion Hosting, SiteGround, A2 Hosting, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Whois
How does Web Hosting Work?
Usually, a web hosting company do more than just storing your website. Here are some value-added services and features to expect from your hosting provider:
Domain registration – So you can buy and manage domain and hosting from the same provider
Website builder – Drag-and-drop web editing tool to create a website
Email hosting – To send and receive emails from email@yourdomain.com
Basic hardware (server setup) and software (CMS, server OS, etc) support
Web Hosting vs Data Center
The term “web hosting” usually refers to the server that host your website or the hosting company that rent that server space to you.
Data center usually refers to the facility that is used to house the servers.
A data center could be a room, a house, or a very large building equipped with redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls – ie. air conditioning, fire suppression, and security devices.
A domain is the address of your website. Before you can setup a website, you will need a domain.
