HTTP: The Definitive Guide

Hosting Services

In the early days of the World Wide Web, individual organizations purchased their own computer hardware, built their own computer rooms, acquired their own network connections, and managed their own web server software.

As the Web quickly became mainstream, everyone wanted a web site, but few people had the skills or time to build air-conditioned server rooms, register domain names, or purchase network bandwidth. To save the day, many new businesses emerged, offering professionally managed web hosting services. Many levels of service are available, from physical facilities management (providing space, air conditioning, and wiring) to full-service web hosting, where all the customer does is provide the content.

This chapter focuses on what the hosting web server provides. Much of what makes a web site work—as well as, for example, its ability to support different languages and its ability to do secure e-commerce transactions—depends on what capabilities the hosting web server supports.

A Simple Example: Dedicated Hosting

Suppose that Joe’s Hardware Online and Mary’s Antique Auction both want fairly high-volume web sites. Irene’s ISP has racks and racks full of identical, high-performance web servers that it can lease to Joe and Mary, instead of having Joe and Mary purchase their own servers and maintain the server software.

In Figure 18-1, both Joe and Mary sign up for the dedicated web hosting service offered by Irene’s ISP. Joe leases a dedicated web server that ...