What is web hosting?
Web hosting means renting space on a server that is permanently connected to the internet. Your website files sit there, and every time someone types your address, that server sends the page back. Without hosting, your site only exists on your own computer.
Below you will find what a hosting plan contains, how it differs from a domain name, which types exist and how you get from nothing to a working website.
Domain name or hosting — which is which?
This is the confusion almost everyone starts with. They are two separate things you often buy together, but you can also have them with different providers.
The domain name is the address
yourcompany.be is the address people type. You rent it per year from a registrar. It says nothing about where your site sits — it only points at it.
The hosting is the building
The server where your files, your database and your mailboxes actually sit. You pay for that per month or per year, with a hosting provider.
You can have your domain name with one party and your hosting with another. That is exactly what the DNS settings arrange: they tell the internet that the address points at that building.
What is in a hosting plan?
A hosting plan is not just disk space. These are the parts that matter in practice, and where providers differ most from one another.
Disk space
The space for your files, images, database and mailboxes together. What usually fills a plan is old backups and mailboxes, not the site itself.
One or more databases
Your CMS stores its content there: pages, products, users. Every common system needs at least one.
Email on your domain
Mailboxes and aliases on your own domain name. Check whether you pay per mailbox or may create them without limit — there is a large price difference there.
An SSL certificate
Makes your site load over https. Without a certificate, browsers mark your pages as not secure. With us a free certificate is standard in every plan.
Backups
A copy of your files and database, so you can go back after a failed update or a mistake. Always ask how far back you can go and how to request a restore.
A control panel
The web interface where you manage all of this: mailboxes, databases, DNS and the PHP version of your site.
Which types of hosting exist?
The difference is not speed as such, but how much you share and how much you manage yourself. More control means more work comes with it.
| Type | What it is | Suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Several sites on one server, sharing its capacity | Most websites and smaller web shops |
| Managed VPS | A partitioned server with dedicated resources and root access | Your own software, growing shops, more control |
| Dedicated server | A complete physical machine, only for you | Demanding workloads and specific requirements |
| Colocation | Your own machine in our data center | Those who already have hardware or tied licences |
From nothing to a working website
Choose and register a domain name
Check that the name is free and register it. Count on .be for a Belgian audience; .com if you work internationally.
Pick a hosting plan
For an ordinary site, shared hosting is more than enough. You can move up later without starting over.
Set up your site and email
Install your CMS from the control panel or upload your files, create your mailboxes and link the domain name to the hosting.
Force everything to https
Activate the SSL certificate and redirect http to https. After that your site is online the way visitors should see it.
