Okay.... I'll be honest... I am a hosting virgin and I am trying to get important but very basic info so someday I can become a hosting guru...

Maybe all of you hosting experts can help this hosting virgin become a hosting superstar?


1. What is Shared Hosting?
2. What is dedicated Hosting?
3. What are Virtual Private Networks and why are they important?

Is there an informative Web site that can guide this inexperienced newbie on Hosting matters?

Any books that you would recommend?

Thanks for your help!

In very simple terms...
Shared hosting is web hosting on a computer that also hosts many other clients.

Dedicated hosting is hosting on a machine that is solely yours to run any processes you would like from it.

Someone else can take the time to go into the specifics.

www.findsp.com

It was a bit embarassing to have to ask these very basic questions but I didn't know where to start.... :)

Thanks again....

Now you're started. Soon you will have to change your name to Old2Hosting :D

Originally posted by New2Hosting
Is there an informative Web site that can guide this inexperienced newbie on Hosting matters?

Thanks for your help!

Welcome aboard! Everyone has to start somewhere, so don't feel afraid or anything like that. We try to make this a newbie-friendly area :)

Mike gave a good overview of the differences between shared/dedicated hosting. However, for a very solid overview of the area, have a look at Deb Gillespie's site, HostHelp (http://www.hosthelp.com) which has some excellent definitions and suggestions on getting started.

P.S. Deb, you might want to include dedicated/shared/virtual hosting definitions in the FAQ somewhere ;)

3. What are Virtual Private Networks and why are they important?

VPNs are secure networks that operate over the Internet and are protected by SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security. They're often used by companies with offices around the world so that they can securely exchange information, files and data all around the world. They're often expensive but well worth it.