shar·ed adj. to divide and distribute; apportion - usually used with out or with
Web n. a part of the Internet designed to allow easier navigation of the network through the use of graphical user interfaces and hypertext links between different addresses 
host·ing v. to serve as host to, at, or for

Overview of Web Hosting

The complex web of servers, which make up the Internet, consists of computers that have Web-server software installed on them and connected to the Internet. These servers can be found in any facility with Internet connectivity. The process of maintaining and operating one of these servers is called Web hosting. Web hosting can be conducted in-house by the owner of the Web site, or it can be outsourced to a Web hosting provider.

Web hosting providers are typically companies with one or more data-center facilities that are connected to the Internet. Service quality and cost can vary widely. Some providers consist simply of a room in the basement of a house and a DS1 or DSL line connected to the local ISP; others however, are corporations with state-of-the-art hosting centers consisting of redundant fiber paths for high-speed Internet connections, redundant electrical power sources, a dry fire suppression system, and an experienced operations group - available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Web hosting can be provided on a shared computer environment or on a dedicated computer system. The complexity of the website, the applications, the importance of security, and expected traffic are all considerations when determining if a shared or dedicated environment is best. For example, if a Web site consists only of standard HTML code and receives a small number of visitors, shared hosting service is the best solution. If a Website contains mission critical or proprietary applications, has complex CGI scripts and receives a large number of visitors, dedicated hosting service is the best solution.

What is Shared Web Hosting?

Shared web hosting in its most basic form is hosting many different Web sites on one computer system. The shared environment offers economic benefits to both the Web host provider and the customer. Because the Web-hosting environment is the same for all customers, the provider gains economic benefits from allocating portions of the total cost of the hardware, software, maintenance and operation, and customer support amongst all customers. Therefore, the total fixed cost is less on a per-customer basis than with dedicated hosting. The customer gains economic benefit by the reduced price of the Web-hosting service.

The essential components of Web hosting on a shared computer environment are the same as with dedicated hosting, except for the configuration of the software and the management of system resources. There are two basic ways to configure Web-server software for multiple Web sites. The first method is to configure the Web server with each Web site's specific configuration information. The second method is to operate multiple Web-server software on a single computer environment. The first method—a single configuration file with all of the Web site's information—has greater scalability but does not provide a means of limiting the resources consumed by each Web site. Therefore, a combination of both methods is ideal for creating a scalable shared-hosting service. A combination is achieved by using the single configuration file method for Web sites requiring small amounts of resources and using the multiple Web-server method to limit the resources consumed by Web sites that demand large amounts of resources. When a Web site demands large amounts of system resources, the logical next step is to move the Web site to a dedicated computer system (i.e., dedicated hosting). 

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