Shared hosting is popular as one of the most economical web hosting solutions, which is a major contributing factor for it being highly sought-after as a web hosting solution. But the very attribute that is responsible for making it an economical hosting service, also gives rise to some challenges in this type of web hosting. As we progress, we will talk at length about these challenges and how to mitigate them but before that let us discuss the service of web hosting and shared hosting in particular.
The Service of Web Hosting
Web hosting is a service that needs to be availed by every website seeking to be accessible online. The providers of the service of web hosting are referred to as web hosting service providers or web hosts. The service of hosting a website involves providing server space on the web servers of web hosting companies. This is provided through various web hosting packages that cater to different hosting requirements and budgets. The essential technologies and services that are needed for rendering a website accessible are also part of the service of website hosting.
In web hosting, the files of the hosted website are stored on the web server of a particular web hosting company. Web servers store, process and subsequently deliver the web content of websites contained in the hosted files, to the browsers that request for this content, over the Internet. Let us run you through this process in detail.
When a web hosting plan is availed, server space is allotted on the web server of a particular website hosting company as per the web hosting plan that has been purchased by the owner of the website. The content of the website in the form of files is stored on that web server. Each time a browser sends an incoming request for this web content, it is received by the web server and responded to. The response of the web server involves locating the files in its storage and then processing those files, as per the requirement. Finally, the processed files are delivered over the Internet to the browser that had requested for the content and with this step the website becomes accessible to the site visitor.
Web hosting can be of many types. Shared hosting is one of the types of web hosting. The other types are dedicated web hosting, reseller hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting and hosting on VPS (Virtual Private Servers). All these types of web hosting services cater to hosting websites by providing space on web servers but the way in which the websites’ files are hosted, differs in all of these types of hosting solutions.
Next, we shall discuss shared hosting, which is one of the most basic and the most economical solutions for web hosting purposes.
Shared Hosting
As is suggested by the term itself, “Shared Hosting”, is a type of web hosting that is shared by many sites. It entails providing shared server space on a web server to multiple sites. This single shared server hosts the files of these multiple sites. This causes the sharing of server resources among all the sites that are hosted on the same server. Resource sharing for individual sites is based on the web hosting plans availed by these sites. This attribute of shared hosting lowers the price of web hosting for the individual users of the service of shared hosting.
Shared web hosting, which can be Linux Shared Hosting or Windows Shared Hosting, is always in high demand for those that are looking for an economical hosting solution. Despite its shared server aspect, shared web hosting is well-equipped to cater perfectly to the hosting requirements of websites that do not get a lot of web traffic as well the websites of businesses that are small to medium-sized, along with websites that are simple, such as blogging sites.
Since multiple sites are hosted on the same server in shared hosting, it does induce some challenges for the hosted sites. These challenges will be discussed in the next section of the blog, along with the solutions that can mitigate these to a great extent.
Shared Hosting Challenges and Ways to Mitigate Those Challenges
As mentioned previously, the shared aspect of the web server in shared web hosting, brings about certain challenges for the users of this service. But the good news is that these challenges can be successfully overcome. More about that will be discussed later. First let us touch on the issues that the users of shared hosting are most likely to face.
Since the server space and the server resources are shared in shared web hosting, it causes limited resource availability for the hosted sites. That is why this type of web hosting solution is only appropriate for such sites that are not resource-intensive and do not require dedicated server resources. The examples of such sites are blogging sites, simple and small websites, websites that get very less traffic, etc.
Another challenge that is frequently encountered in shared web hosting is slow site speed. Again, it is caused by a lack of dedicated server resources. When server resources are shared among multiple sites, then it naturally impacts the speed of the websites of individual users of this service. Speed is an essential element of any web hosting service. Fast speed is a requirement of every website owner while availing the service of web hosting and this is for good reason. When a website’s pages load quickly, it offers a good user experience of the site. User experience is an important aspect that ensures site revisits. That is why it is important to always ensure the best user experience of the site and speed at which web pages load is one of the important aspects in this regard. Hence, it becomes important to ensure that your web host is able to provide fast speed even in shared server environment and this is something that HTS Hosting has been committed to delivering. All the shared hosting plans of HTS Hosting not only excel at providing high uptime but also fast site loading speed.
Last but not least are the security-related challenges that the sites coexisting on a shared server environment are always susceptible to. With regard to this particular issue, the user can find a solution for it by installing security plugins, setting file permissions and by blocking PHP execution in folders that are unknown.
To ensure the overall seamless functioning of your shared web hosting service, it is highly recommended that you avail the services of a reputed and reliable web hosting service provider. Such a website hosting company will be focussed on ensuring customer satisfaction by providing such shared hosting plans that never fail to deliver speedy and secure shared hosting service. This will prove to be instrumental in mitigating the challenges of shared hosting, such as slow site speed and security threats that are part of the shared server environment. All the reputed web hosting companies take web hosting related security matters very seriously and have dedicated IT teams that are well versed in matters related to server security. Moreover, any web hosting service provider that is known as the “Best Web Hosting Company”, such as HTS Hosting, always keeps itself updated about the latest security threats and how to deal with those, as well as follows the best practices while providing the service of web hosting.
It is also important to take into account your specific web hosting requirements and then opt for the web hosting service that will be able to fulfil those requirements. If your site needs dedicated resources or has strict need for speed, security and powerful performance, then opting for a shared hosting plan would not be an ideal choice. That is why it is extremely important to consider your hosting requirements, prior to selecting any type of web hosting service among the various types. When you choose the right type of web hosting service as well as plan from a reliable service provider, such as HTS Hosting, then you can rest assured that it is highly unlikely that you would face issues with regard to site speed, security, and the like.
At HTS Hosting, we have a proficient team of technical support executives that is available round the clock to assist you with your queries and provide you all the information to help you choose the best web hosting solution for your specific requirements. Additionally, all our web hosting plans, including those of Shared Hosting, are known to deliver high uptime, fast speed, robust security, unrivalled performance and more at the most affordable prices.
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