Hosting In its broadest meaning, is a process by which computing and storage resources are offered the user or business to support the operation and maintenance of one or more websites as well as related services. Although hosting does not have to have IP connectivity, majority of the instances are web-based solutions that permit the website or web service to be globally accessible via the Internet.
Hosting can also be referred to as Web hosting or Cloud-based web hosting.
As a vital services, it has been instrumental in the growth and development in the Internet. Hosting is typically offered by a hosting service company that creates a specific computer infrastructure for back-end processing. It is then the webmaster/developer uses the infrastructure for hosting its website by uploading its source code. Each website can be identified through its unique domain name, as well as logically allocated web storage and space. When the domain name is entered within the Web browser, a site can be accessed via the Internet.
As technology advances and delivery systems hosting has developed into a myriad of forms, such as dedicated hosting, shared hosting, and cloud hosting. In addition to websites, hosting could include data/storage hosting, software or application hosting and IT service hosting. The lines between hosting and IT services are blurred by virtualization and cloud computing that allow for a higher degree of sophistication and customisation.