Introduction to Linux Based and Reseller Web Hosting

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center.

Most people that have any affinity with Internet and Internet websites will have heard of Linux and UNIX Hosting. The true question that you might have is of course, what is it and how can it benefit me?

Although the terms are often used interchangeably to describe a single platform, Linux and Unix are actually two separate operating systems. What are the differences?  In terms of power, functionality and reliability, there are no significant differences.  Unix is the oldest operating system and the one to heavily influence all modern platforms running today, including Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X especially.  It is the system from which Linux was derived, an open-source version created by Linus Torvalds and currently one of the most widely used operating systems in the web hosting environment.

A Linux-based (also commonly called Unix-based) Web host uses the free and open-source Linux operating system to drive its servers. Linux hosts usually rely on a LAMP structure, which means they use the Linux operating system, Apache server software, MySQL database and PHP scripting.

Because it's open-source-based, Linux hosting allows you to take advantage of a wide range of other free and open-source applications and scripts, including CGI, Perl, PHP and the MySQL database. That means Linux-based hosting offers great flexibility at a typically lower cost than Windows hosting and they tend to run faster than Windows servers, which means faster load times for your Website.  

Linux hosting provides a stable and reliable environment for your Website, as it places fewer resource demands on servers. With the proper configurations and a premium piece of hardware, this platform can run for incredibly long periods of time without needing to be rebooted for maintenance or technical issues. The open-source programming community also means you'll be able to quickly access repairs and patches for any bugs and glitches your site might encounter.

If you search, you'll find there are a large number of Linux-based hosting plans out there offering everything from the cheapest (even free) basic shared service to advanced and dedicated hosting with multiple databases, secure e-commerce capabilities and support for a wide range of applications. The right one should be able to meet all your hosting needs, including ample disk space and bandwidth, email accounts, databases, a Web-based control panel, WebMail, FTP access, ecommerce and support for applications like Weblogs, discussion forums, php hosting, live chat, photo galleries and more.

There is another kind if hosting - Reseller web hosting
Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host's services wholesale and then sells them to customers, possibly for a profit. A certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to the reseller account. The reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company, or resell shared hosting services. In the latter case, the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from a web hosting company he signed for a reseller account with.

People managing reseller hosting is usually not responsible for maintaining and fixing issues with the web server. This is most often the work of the web host where the reseller web hosting is hosted. Many web hosting resellers set up their own web hosting company where they sell the hosting under their own brand name. A couple of the resellers offer custom made control panels but the most common is them offering any of the more well-known control panels, such as Plesk, Helm and cPanel.