OakenPage and hosting

OakenPage does NOT do website hosting - this is not our area of expertise.

However we can recommend some good hosts whom we have used before. We are happy to setup the necessary agreements, and to upload and manage your site as required.

Introduction to hosting

Your website has a name. When someone types that name into a browser, the browser has no idea initially, where to get the website text and graphics from.

The browser makes a request to one of the master computers running the internet [tech: dynamic name servers] - these act as enormous directories to the intenet - and tell that browser where to go! They provide the address of the computer that is holding or "hosting" your site.

The host computer will then provide the text and graphics and formatting data for the requested page, which travels over the physical cables back to your user's PC, Mac or mobile device. The browser takes this raw information, and with the formatting data, will generate the final page that you see.

The host computer must therefore be constantly linked to the internet, fast, reliable and secure against outside interference.

What a host company does

A hosting company owns one or more host computers. These host computers live [or should live] in a specialist data center - air conditioned, protected against theft, fire and flood, their every need tended to by well paid minions. The hosting company is therefore responsible for maintaining the computers physically, for security against hackers and fools, and for the connection to the internet.

Connection to internet

The internet consists of a huge network of cables - fibreoptic mainly, and other forms of communication - joining continents and cities and villages.

These cables are owned by various corporations, who lease out 'space' [tech: bandwidth] to companies that wish to send data [website text, graphics etc] from point to point.

A hosting company will therefore lease a link from their host computers to the internet from one or, preferably, more companies. If they have not leased enough capacity for all the sites they host, then your pages will arrive slowly or erratically.

Security

To act as a host, the computer must have the necessary sophisticated hosting software. This software is regularly updated by its creators, but the hosting company is responsible to apply the updates.

These updates are necessary because of various vile hackers who might deface your site or worse.

The updates and proper setup are also necessary because the host computer will typically hold many sites. Some site owners are not good programmers and might undertake tasks which can impact other sites - if the hosts are not setup properly.

Backup

A good host will backup your site at regular intervals, just in case something dire happens. However, you should not relay on this, even with a good host. We therefore keep archives of the sites under our management

Email

Emails are carried over the internet, and can be sent from websites. However typically a hosting company will redirect emails to your site, to a 'proper' email address of your choosing - this is known as re-direction.

More information on hosting

if you want to learn more, you could do worse than start with the wikipedia article on hosting.

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