In our first article we discussed domain names. Buying a domain name gets you just that but it doesn't give you a web site or e-mail. To get that you need to rent Internet hosting.

What is Internet hosting?

Hosting is simply a computer that is on the Internet that can be accessed from the Internet. When you are using the Internet you are using a computer (PC, laptop, tablet, phone, etc) and connecting to other computers on the Internet (hosting). The hosted computers on the Internet run software such as web servers (for web sites) or email servers (for sending and receiving emails) or other useful things.

Types of Internet hosting

For hosting you just need a computer on the Internet that will do what you want. This seems simple enough but you need it to always be available (not crash/reboot) and fast (high speed Internet and a fast enough computer). This can be difficult to manage and expensive so there are different types of hosting to suit different needs:

• Application hosting. These hosting services run an application (eg. Wix, SquareSpace, WordPress) that helps you build your web and email services and does the hard work for you. These have the advantage of being easy to get started and have the disadvantage they might not be able to do everything you want.
• Shared hosting. This presents as a computer but it is shared with other people. There is security in place to ensure you can't affect the other people but you get a lot more control. As this is shared with other people it generally has software installed that will be used by everyone on the host but installing more software is usually not allowed.
• Virtual/Cloud computers. These are what are known as virtual computers, they are multiple simulated computers running on an actual computer. The advantage of these are that they are for all intensive purposes a computer and you can manage them however you like. Also the providers usually give the ability to assign resources as necessary (eg make computer faster, give more disk space, etc) and they also give backup services and redundancy (if your virtual computer dies another one will take it's place).
• Actual computers. These are known as bare metal and are usually computers you can physically touch. These are used when high performance is needed (no virtualization) or when a company wants to manage their own hosting computers.

What do I do with hosting?

Usually a hosting service will provide service to three basic needs: DNS, web hosting, and email. 

You will already own a domain (eg. mycompany.com) but you will need you own domain server to use that. This domain server (DNS) will let you set up thing likes www.mydomain.com and mail.mydomain.com and point those at software that will manage it properly.

The web server will let you set up a web site that can be accessed over the Internet.

The email server manages sending and receiving of email for your domain. This is useful in that it looks more professional as you can use email accounts such as me@mydomain.com instead of something like mycompany@gmail.com.

Most hosting services also provide a database server which is used for storing data such as customers, sales, or whatever your business needs.

Virtual and real computers can be set up to do virtually anything.

How do I get hosting?

You simply find one that suits your needs and rent it. Of course that is overly simplistic and needs further discussion. First examine the type of hosting you want. If you need virtual hosting you are hosting from the likes of AWS or Azure but if your are using that or actual computers you should know what your doing or hire someone that does. If you want application or shared hosting, make sure they are a price you want, have the services you need, and perform well at least in the locality (eg country) you want.

This site is using VentraIP and this is being written on Google's Blogger. The DNS server at azegia.com.au is configured to point blog.azegia.com.au to Blogger.