What is web hosting?

A website is a bunch of files and images (and sometimes databases) that are located on a computer's hard drive. So that your website can be seen by anyone in the world, this computer needs to be wired up to the internet. The computer that a website lives in is called a web server. Web servers are very similar to the PC sitting in front of you, but because they are working 24x7 they need to be very tough, and very reliable.

But the web server itself is only part of the story. A professional web hosting company such as 123Live will locate it's web servers in a physically secure building that is designed specifically to house web servers. The building will have backup generators to cope with prolonged power cuts and have advanced fire detection and control mechanisms in place. The web server will be connected to the internet via two or more ultra high speed connections, which ensures that if there is a problem with one connection, the other connections take over automatically to provide uninterrupted service.

The web host (the people that look after the web servers - that's us) will have highly skilled engineers available at short notice to take care of any problems with the web server, to ensure that your website is available at all times. The software on the web server will be maintained in order to ensure that it is secured with the latest security patches, and will be wired to the internet via industrial-strength firewalls to ensure that unscrupulous people cannot electronically "break in" to the web server and compromise your website. The web server's performance and traffic patterns will be monitored to ensure that it can deliver web pages without keeping your visitor waiting.