I have coded a website. How do I host it?

Now that you have designed and developed your website on localhost you need to host it on a server that can serve your files all over the Internet. After you host your site on the server, your site can be viewed from any system/computer from any location if the system/computer is connected to the Internet.

You need three basic things to make your site go live>>

  1. Domain
  2. Hosting
  3. Name servers

Domain

A domain name is your website name. A domain name is an address where Internet users can access your website. A domain name is used for finding and identifying computers on the Internet. Computers use IP addresses, which are a series of numbers. However, it is difficult for humans to remember strings of numbers. Because of this, domain names were developed and used to identify entities on the Internet rather than using IP addresses.

The domain name must be registered before you can use it. Every domain name is unique. No two websites can have the same domain name. If someone types in www.yourdomain.com, it will go to your website and no one else’s.

You can purchase domains from variable sources like GoDaddy, bigrock, redserverhost, etc.

Search your domain here.

Hosting

When you make a website and want other people to see it, you will need to publish (or upload) it with a web hosting service. Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or web page to be viewed on the Internet. Websites are hosted or stored, on special computers called servers. For more details read this blog >> What is web hosting?

Overall, a Server is a rented place where you buy/rent various resources like CPU, RAM, Hard disk, IP-address, etc.

Now there are two types of hosting that people generally purchase:

  • Windows Hosting: Windows hosting platform has OS like Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2. If your web application or website is designed using ASP.NET, MSSQL, MS Access, Visual Basic development, Remote Desktop (dedicated servers only) then you should go for Windows Hosting as these technologies are supported on Windows Server.
  • Linux Hosting: Linux hosting platform has OS like Centos, Ubuntu, etc. On Linux web hosting you can host your PHP, Python, MySQL, Perl files. Linux Hosting is more famous as compared to windows hosting.

You can purchase hosting according to your requirements from anywhere. You can go here for one of the best web hosting solutions.

Nameservers

As already explained in detail here, the name server is a fundamental part of the DNS – Domain Name System. It allows using domain names instead of the server’s IP. When any domain name is browsed, then the name server behind the domain points to the server on which it is hosted. They are primarily two in number but it can be three or four also.

The basic structure of the name server looks like this:

dns1.hosting-server.com
dns2.hosting-server.com

When you have all the three above then you can simply upload your files in your hosting panel and point your domain name servers towards the server using name servers. That’s done.

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