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In order to have a website appear on the web, it has to be hosted on a computer that is reachable from the internet and is running some sort of web service. It is possible to configure a computer yourself and run it out of your home or co-locate it at a data center, but for most people purchasing an account with a web hosting company is the easiest alternative. Once you have decided to enlist a host, the first decision you must make is whether to go with shared or dedicated hosting.

Shared hosting is just what the name implies. Each account shares a system with a number of other accounts. The web hosting company takes care of all the details that route your domain name to your particular folder on that computer. Many hosting companies employ a load balanced system that spreads the load of numerous accounts out among a number of computers. This arrangement makes it less likely that one heavily visited site will bog down many other accounts as it could on a single computer.

The advantages of shared hosting are typically price and options. Many accounts on one platform means that the hosting company can charge each customer less and still recoup the cost of the hardware. Using the same formula, hosting companies can offer a lot of software, options and mail services as well. They are banking on the fact that the majority of customers will not heavily utilize the system. Heavily visited sites will eventually exceed the bandwidth allotment, allowing the hosting company to charge extra when one customer uses more than their share.

The downside of shared hosting is that you do not have full control over your hosting server. You are still free to upload your own applications on most shared platforms, meaning that you can install and configure photo galleries, blogs, useful scripts, etc. But you will not have full control over security or programs that are running directly on the server. For most webmasters this will matter little, but it can become frustrating if an application you want to install simply will not work on the shared platform.

Dedicated hosting does not involve sharing a server, but means that you are essentially renting a server for whatever you want to do with it. The hosting company will set up the server with an operating system, web hosting applications and console, and the rest is largely up to you. The advantage is that you are in full control of your server. You can even sell accounts to other customers and host their websites if you like.

The primary disadvantage of a dedicated server is the level of knowledge that managing one entails. In some cases the customer will be responsible for managing all aspects of the system, including patching the operating system, configuring mail services and maintaining security. It can be a daunting task for a novice.

All in all, most people who want to create a web site should plan on starting with a shared hosting account and moving to a dedicated server only when the need arises.

Learn more about this author, Eric Wolf.
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