Web hosting service

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web hosting services are sometimes called web hosts.

Typically, web hosting requires the following:

• one or more servers to act as the host(s) for the sites; servers may be physical or virtual;
• colocation for the server(s), providing physical space, electricity, and Internet connectivity;
• Domain Name System configuration to define name(s) for the sites and point them to the hosting server(s);
• a web server running on the host;
• for each site hosted on the server:
  • space on the server(s) to hold the files making up the site;
  • site-specific configuration;
  • often, a database;
  • software and credentials allowing the client to access these, enabling them to create, configure, and modify the site;
  • email connectivity allowing the host and site to send email to the client.