Do you know where your website is hosted? And do you know why a hosting place is important for your organisation?
The hosting provider stores, on its servers, all the data that makes one portal available online. A domain is a registered a unique URL that points to a site, and domain and hosting may or may not be part of the same service package. Organisations can choose whether to host their site domestically or abroad. When choosing, they should consider questions pertaining to business and security. There are some advantages if a media organisation hosts its domain in their own country – the organisation can directly see the quality and security of the server room provider, where the site is located, the availability of technical support, online communication is increased, and the liquidity and reputation of the hosting provider can be verified in their own community. One of the bigger advantages is that there is no risk of implementing regulations related to the disclosure of data in the field of personal data protection. Also, if the site is intended for domestic audiences, if it happened to be under DDoS attack from abroad (which is usually the case) by temporarily blocking foreign IP addresses, the site can remain stable and accessible to domestic users. If the organisation is hosting abroad, the website is outside the jurisdiction of the responsible state authorities, as hosting is not subject to domestic legislation, so legal and administrative procedures regarding content removal cannot usually be carried out without the consent of the site owner and server.
In technical terms, there are four types of hosting- Shared hosting, VPS, Dedicated Server and Cloud hosting.
Shared hosting is the principle of sharing resources. Different sites can be hosted on a shared server share processor, speed, disk space, etc, which means that if one of the sites on the shared platform has increased access, the data flow to other sites on the same server will be slower. Also, if one of the sites is under attack, there is a big possibility that the other sites on that server will be compromised as well.
VPS – Virtual Private Server is a hosting platform where everyone has their own resources. Technically, multiple virtual servers are raised on one physical server and each of them has certain resources that are not shared with the others. Also, if one of the virtual serves are attacked, the integrity of the others on the platform will not be compromised.
Dedicated Server is a type of hosting where only one site is hosted on a physical server, the user is granted the exclusive right to access the machine, and the user disposes of it as it wants. Additionally, it can build virtual servers and use them for various purposes, web hosting, email, data storage (data storage), and more.
Cloud hosting is hosting on multiple servers that are connected in order to function as one, which contributes to the decentralisation of the system and leaving it more incorruptible. In the case of a failure on one of the servers, the others assume its role, so the problem will not affect the operation of the site.
Shared hosting is not recommended in cases where the site is composed of active content that changes relatively often and when the number of visitors varies, while dedicated hosting and Cloud hosting are better solutions, but their costs are a little higher. Choosing one option or another depends on the needs of the organisation. Technical support is one of the most important segments of hosting requirements because, in case something goes wrong, this service becomes a point of contact that needs to be fully cooperative to resolve the problem as soon as possible. It is advisable to choose a company whose technical support is operational day and night, every day of the week. Additionally, while all content and traffic on the internet is mostly virtual, these devices are still machines, that is why it is important to check what kind of hardware the hosting company uses. The technical specifications of the packages are, finally, the most important feature and their scalability is most desirable; that is, they can be adapted and upgraded to meet the changing needs of the organisation. Good hosting also means decentralisation. It is not recommended that the same server be used to host the site as a mail server, or data center. The web server must be accessible from the public internet, while the availability of a data center from that same domain would be a serious security issue. If there is a need to access data stored in a centre remotely, it is best to use VPN services. There are portals for comparing hosting packages on the Internet, such as HostMonk and Web Hosting Reviews. When an organisation buy a domain, it should be careful and invest in a name with as many top level domains as possible (.net; .org; .com), because if the organisation buy all of them, nobody else can abuse their uniqueness.