Hosting and Storage

People who are working with a website builder often find themselves bombarded with a variety of professional terms and slang, which they do not know. Two of them, 'hosting' and 'storage', are very confusing, yet knowing the difference might be critical. The following paragraphs will make an effort in demystifying those scary-sounding terms, while providing you with tools to assess the quality of both.

What is hosting?

Hosting – like a hostel – is the act of preserving the entire website. A hosting server basically attends to everything the website requires and provides the base to its well-being. A website is being hosted on a server in the same way that a guest is hosted in a hostel, if we maintain the aforementioned analogy.
A website hosting provider is in charge of the collection of services the website uses – traffic, bandwidth, availability, backups and so on. A good hosting provider will support multiple technologies while providing you with management options and tools, so you can run your website with ease.

What is storage?

Storage is essentially the disk space allocated for the files of the website. A common website stores several kinds of information: the pages themselves and their code, images, clips, Flash files, audio files, settings, databases and more. The storage should be swift and reliable, while providing you with enough space to run the website in a proper manner.
A storage provider that provides storage exclusively, with a limited set of management tools, leaves the webmaster with a website that would be rather difficult to manage, since the latter will be responsible of uploading his files with a designated program and be fully in charge of the management system.

What is the difference?

The difference between the two is evident in the following sentence: “I've chosen a hosting provider that offers me 1GB of storage space”. Thus, storage is a characteristic of hosting – the amount of space offered within a complete service plan. In addition to that, the existence of a hosting plan often suggests that the tools required to run a website are already there, whereas working with storage alone will require you to work directly with files – without an intermediary interface – or install your own CMS.

Types and definitions

When speaking about hosting, there are many variables to consider prior of choosing your host of choice. Some of them are:

• Server durability and survivability
• Server location
• Regular updates and backups
• Database type
• Your management interface (panel) and its abilities
• Additional services, such as domains and mailboxes

You can see that that there are many factors involved when choosing a hosting provider. Frequently though, the main motivator turns out to be the ease of use. This trend is based on the fact that these days, most website owners are not as tech-savvy as before, and they would like to run their commercial websites with ease, without putting thought in the processes that take place in the background, as long as their interface is easy to use. Because of that, the type of interface and the steepness of the learning curve are often the dealbreaker. It is also important to check who's in charge of installing and maintaining the interface: there are companies that require you to sign up and get a work-ready interface, while others require you to upload files for several hours, set up the database, set up permissions and initiate the installation. If you do not consider yourself a professional in this field, beware of impending time-waste, frustration, requirement of technical support and be ready to learn new things for a process you'll end up doing once.

As far as storage goes, the amount of knowledge required is lower, as well as the number of properties to be considered. Generally, you'll want to consider the amount of space you're getting, the type of the storage server, the speed it offers and the price-tag. Be aware of a recent trend, which consists of the premise that the client is offered with a ridiculous amount of space for a teeny-tiny price (such as a couple of terabytes for few bucks a year), but be aware of the fine-print: there are limitations regarding the amount of server requests, monthly bandwidth, the maximal number of concurrent connections and more. Obviously, stepping on any of these landmines will make you open your wallet once again and pay for not-so-fairly-priced additional features...
That's why, in case you choose strictly storage, you should consider the specific system you are aiming to install and present the salesperson a complete specification of your website, to avoid surprises and be sure that you stay within your boundaries.

CMS-based hosting

In recent years, the trend of “one-stop-shops” is ever-growing, and it has not skipped the field of website builders. Those solutions offer all of the required services within a single service deal, which the client chooses in accordance with his specific needs.
Such plans provide the webmaster the freedom to choose the subscription package that best suits his business needs, and get the services he requires, without paying extra.
Such solutions will often provide you with an interface that is designed to manage every aspect of the website and will grant you access to every parameter of your website, including the storage. Most CMS solutions already offer you a file manager that is not too different from the one you already work with within your operating system.
It is easy to recommend such solution for every kind of demand, as you have flexibility and the option to customize the services it provides you. CMS-based hosting providers rarely require you to have any technical skills, while enabling you to start a website with a single-digit number of mouse clicks. Another advantage lies within the fact that CMS systems are aimed at users, not at programmers, system-administrators and other professionals – they are aimed at the common folk who needs a website. The preparation and set-up are being conducted behind the scenes, in a manner that is transparent to the customer – leaving him the responsibilities of construction and planning, with no technical implications involved.
As most websites never surpass several megabytes of storage, the bloated sizes provided by storage providers are irrelevant – there is no justification for a website to surpass the total weight of several megabytes at most. Having heavy-duty Flash animations, music files and high-fidelity images may raise the bar to several dozens of megabytes, but even large corporations rarely require terabytes.

You should be aware that CMS installation is a profession on its own. Installing a CMS system, even if it's free (typical for open-source CMS systems) would still require an effort that must be considered, time and knowledge that are both beyond the average that the field requires. Also, when speaking of free CMS systems, the templates are often not free, add-ons are required and additional tools must be integrated (for example, do you know how to install a store module?...) - often forcing you to hire a professional. That's why, even when being blinded by the unbeatable pricetag of “free”, keep in mind that you will often be required to take the credit card out of your wallet to pay for things you failed to foresee, which often happens when it's too late to start out fresh.

That's why it is suggested to choose a hosting provider that offers you tools that will not require you to learn and will let you invest your time into construction, rather than schooling. Companies that provide “one-stop-shop” solutions often offer you a trial version of their product – as there's no need to install the system anew for every client. This advantage allows the newly-emerged webmaster to find the system that best suits his needs and remain the owner himself, without the need of getting anyone else involved.