Self-hosted! Is it possible to do without hosting providers
The modern world, modern problems and modern solutions are contributing to the fact that many people are moving some or all of their business online. Running an online business expands your boundaries literally, allowing you to collaborate with people from anywhere in the world.
One of the first and key steps in launching a business online is creating your own website, whether it’s a simple business card, your personal blog or an online store. Naturally, this requires investments, the payback of which is difficult to calculate at the initial stages. You need to create and customize the database, think about the design, build the site, pull the finished layout on WordPress or other CMS, add scripts for user friendliness and much more.
One of the expense items is hosting. For example, you can order Gigabyte shared hosting with a favorable tariff and enjoy all its benefits, but can you launch a website without using a hosting provider? Let’s get to the bottom of this.
How the site works
Any website has content that uses a network-connected server to store it. The moment a user types a link to a website in the address bar, a request is made from the browser to the server that is used to store the information. The server responds to this request, and as a result, information is displayed on the user’s device screen.
What is hosting? What types of hosting are there
Hosting is a special service to provide a certain amount of space on a server. To ensure the normal operation of the online resource, you need to choose the right hosting for Magento or other content management system. In other words, it is impossible to ensure the normal operation of the site without a server.
There are many aspects that need to be taken into consideration to ensure that the website is up and running, namely ensuring that data can be backed up, measures to protect against hacker attacks, choosing the right hosting for Joomla or other content management system, etc.
There are several types of hosting available now, each with its own characteristics. A list of the most popular options includes these types:
- virtual (for one-page sites, blogs);
- virtual server – VDS or VPS (for small online stores);
- dedicated physical server (for large sites and resources that include large databases).
To choose the right mail server hosting, you need to familiarize yourself with the available rates beforehand.
How to create hosting by yourself on your computer
If the user is not ready to spend money to pay for hosting, there is an opportunity to use the alternative option of creating a home hosting on a local machine. The algorithm for creating the hosting is as follows:
- Selecting an operating system. Linux, macOS or Windows will do, but it is Linux that is often used by hosting providers because of its stability and performance.
- Web Server Installation. At this stage, you need to select and install a web server such as Apache, Nginx, etc. These servers are capable of handling HTTP requests and serving web pages.
- Installation of programming languages and databases. If your site uses programming languages (e.g. PHP, Python, Ruby) and databases (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL), you need to install and configure the appropriate components.
- DNS Configuration. In order for your computer to recognize local domain names, you will need to set up a DNS server. In most cases, this can be done in your web server configuration or in the operating system’s hosts file.
- Website development and hosting. At the current stage, you can create a website and place it in the desired directory.
- Security customization. A mandatory step that includes setting up firewalls, software updates, and other security measures.
- Testing. Once configured, you should test the performance of your server.
Already from one brief enumeration of the steps it becomes clear that this is a rather complex, long and painstaking process. So this option is definitely not suitable, if you want to quickly start your online business or transfer it from offline here it makes sense to turn to professionals who will save you a lot of time (and in the long run money).
Why we don’t recommend organizing your hosting at home
Create hosting at home hosting is not worth it, if you need to realize a complex project, which requires a lot of power and voluminous data flow. First, it is problematic to ensure the smooth operation of hosting, because it depends on your home computer, not on servers specially equipped to minimize risks. Any force majeure, up to and including a power outage, can “put” your site down and bring you losses.
Second, home Internet connections tend to have limited bandwidth and may be subject to resource utilization restrictions. This can limit the availability and performance of your site, especially under heavy load.
Third, all of this costs more than it might seem at first glance. Creating and maintaining your own server involves costs for hardware, electricity, internet connection and more. It is much easier and cheaper to buy Ukrainian web hosting for sites with a favorable tariff, saving yourself a lot of risks and associated headaches.
What is the alternative to hosting
An alternative for people who don’t want to buy hosting is free hosting. But even from this option is best to refuse, as it conceals a lot of dangers, and its quality is noticeably lower than the paid one.
In order to choose a company that provides quality services, you need to familiarize yourself with the rates, features and reviews. Many companies provide a trial period of use to help you make an informed decision about a future purchase. You will be able to evaluate the performance, quality of services provided and other parameters.
To avoid overpaying, you need to choose your tariff responsibly. You can also cut costs by paying for hosting all at once for an extended period of six months or a year.
Why it is better to turn to a hosting provider
For a small web resource or one-page site is quite suitable and home hosting, but in other cases it is better to cooperate with a hosting provider. This will ensure the smooth operation of an online store, marketplace or other portal that concentrates a lot of information and involves interaction with a lot of customers.
What you get by purchasing hosting services
If you choose your hosting provider responsibly, you can expect to receive several significant benefits:
- technical support, which is usually available 24 hours a day and provides active assistance in case of questions;
- SSL-certificate is provided free of charge and its installation is carried out by specialists, which reduces the probability of errors;
- daily backups;
- providing reliable protection against DDOS attacks.
- the ability to select advanced virus protection that will be continuously updated;
- variety of tariffs and conditions, which allows you to choose the best option.
Before cooperating, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the basic terms and conditions and rules.
Conclusion
Of course, you can also configure the server on your PC yourself, but it is better to use the services of professional providers. This will allow you to choose the best rate, reduce costs in the long run and get effective support.
