Web Hosting Concepts
Understanding where websites live, from shared servers to modern global edge networks.
What it is
Web Hosting is a service that allocates space on an internet-connected server to store and serve the files that make up a website.
**Shared Hosting**: Multiple websites share a single physical server's resources. It's cheap but prone to slowdowns if a 'noisy neighbor' gets too much traffic.
**VPS (Virtual Private Server)**: A physical server partitioned into isolated virtual servers, offering dedicated resources and more control.
**Dedicated Hosting**: Renting an entire physical server for maximum performance and configurability.
**Serverless / Static Hosting**: A modern approach where static assets (HTML, CSS, JS) are distributed globally via a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and backend logic runs in serverless functions, eliminating traditional server maintenance.
Why it matters
To share your website with the world, it must move off your localhost and onto a server accessible via the public internet.
Understanding different hosting models helps you choose the right deployment strategy for your frontend assets, balancing cost, performance, and scalability.
How it works
When you publish a website, you upload your files to the hosting provider's web server.
When a user types your domain name into their browser, the DNS system routes their HTTP request to your server's IP address.
The web server software (like Apache or Nginx) receives the request, locates the requested files on its hard drive, and sends them back to the user's browser.
Try it
Explore the different hosting environments and see how they handle traffic spikes.
Shared Hosting
Shared CPU/RAM. Cheap but affected by noisy neighbors.
Check yourself
Pick an answer to lock it in, then read why. Getting one wrong is part of how it sticks.
Remember this
- Web hosting moves your code from localhost to the public internet.
- Shared, VPS, and Dedicated hosting offer different trade-offs of control and performance.
- Modern frontends are best deployed on Static/Serverless platforms.
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