The reason that web hosting costs money is because the data that flows through the Web servers is not free to move. The companies that own Web servers are charged a certain amount for data usage, and they pass that cost on to the customer. However, most professional web hosting companies will also provide maintenance and upgrades to your web hosting experience so that you do not have to worry about any of the technical aspects of hosting a website on the Internet. After all, the physical hosting server is not in your possession. If they did not take care of the maintenance, there would be no one to fix your website if something happened to the physical server or the data within it.

If you have the proper expertise, you can actually purchase your own Web server and host your own websites. The only criteria for having a website is that you have a server that is capable of connecting to the Internet backbone. Barring this, you will most likely want to invest in a Web server with the appropriate amount of webspace and the proper expertise in hosting a website efficiently.

Uptime with Htop

You should look for a web hosting service that is familiar with all types of files. You should invest only in a web hosting service that is able to translate your website onto all different sorts of mediums, including desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets. You should also invest in a hosting service that guarantees your “uptime,” or the amount of time that your website will be online out of the time that it has its data on the server. Ideally, your uptime should be 100%, and web hosts can ensure that this happens by what is known as a “redundant server.”

Familiarity with how to use the operating system doesn’t matter in a hosted environment. The actual inner workings of the web server itself are the responsibility of the hosting company’s staff. Instead of saying, “I don’t know Linux so I don’t want Linux hosting,” companies need to educate themselves on the benefits of hosting on a Linux server. Considering benefits like increased uptime, better performance and inexpensive licensing is enough to sway any company toward Linux hosting.

Increased Uptime

Any site that needs the maximum amount of uptime should consider Linux hosting over Windows hosting. Linux is a very simple operating system that usually features a stripped down command line interface. Even Linux distributions with a GUI — graphical user interface – are less resource-intensive than Windows. This means that Linux servers don’t crash nearly as often as Windows servers and don’t need anywhere near the amount of care and maintenance, increasing server and site uptime dramatically.

Better Performance

Linux hosting web servers have much better performance than their Windows counterparts for the same reason they have superior uptime. With Linux, the operating system doesn’t take nearly as much from the server’s resources as in Windows. This means that processor cycles, hard drive access and memory, the three main factors impacting server performance, can be far more dedicated to web applications instead of the OS.

Inexpensive Licensing

Windows Server licensing costs a lot just for the basic flavor of Server 2003 or 2008. Add higher-end Windows Server platforms like Windows Server Enterprise or factor in per-seat licensing costs and the price goes even higher. While companies buying hosting don’t pay for their own server OS license, they do subsidize the hosting company’s increased cost through higher hosting fees. Linux distributions are usually either free or come with far lower prices and virtually no added fees, so Linux hosting is much more cost effective, making it another reason to favor Linux hosting.