Web hosting service

In the context of the Internet, web hosting is a sort of hosting service that hosts websites for customers, i.e., it provides the tools necessary for them to develop and manage a site and makes it available on the World Wide Web. Web hosting is sometimes referred to as web hosting services. Web hosting services are available by companies that are known to as "web hosts."

Before 1991, the Internet was confined to "research and education in the sciences and engineering," with email, telnet, FTP, USENET, and USENET traffic being the primary modes of communication, with just a small number of web sites being available. The World Wide Web protocols had just recently been defined, and it would not be until the end of 1993 that a graphical web browser for Macintosh or Windows systems would be available. It wasn't until 1995 that the problem became more clear, even after certain restrictions on internet access were lifted.

A computer or server on which to host a website on the internet is required by a person or business in order to do so. In recognition of the fact that not all businesses had the resources or skills to do so, web hosting firms started to provide the service of hosting customers' websites on their own servers, so eliminating the need for the client to possess the infrastructure needed to run the website. It would be possible for the website owners, also known as webmasters, to establish a website that would be hosted on the web hosting service's server and made publicly available on the internet by the web hosting service.

Increased demand for online presence among users of the World Wide Web increased the pressure on businesses of all sizes to have an online presence. The year 1995 saw the introduction of free hosting services from firms such as GeoCities, Angelfire, and Tripod.