Several technologies are used in web hosting. Each technology has its own advantages as well as limitations. As such, web developers normally use a combination of at least a few technologies to optimize the web hosting effectiveness. Some of the most common and frequently used technologies are presented here briefly.

The broad classification of web hosting technologies consists of Windows Hosting for computers that use Microsoft Windows as their operating system, UNIX Hosting for web services that use the UNIX operating system, and Linux Hosting for computers having the Linux operating system. Apart from these basic classifications, the actual technologies used for web hosting are ASP, PHP, CGI, JSP, Cold Fusion, Adobe Dreamweaver, etc.

ASP

ASP is one of the most common web hosting technologies. This had been developed by Microsoft as a server-side technology for scripting purposes. ASP helps the developer to create dynamic web pages by incorporating script codes inside the HTML pages. These codes are executed by the remote web server before the web page is submitted to the browser. The ASP technology uses both VBScript and JavaScript for generating the codes. ASP is presented by Microsoft as a standard component in all the Windows versions and can be easily activated on all the computers that run on the Windows operating system.

PHP

PHP is a free, efficient, and widely used alternative to Microsoft’s ASP. PHP had been designed as a perfect tool for web development and it is capable of getting directly embedded into the standard HTML codes. The syntax of PHP is quite similar to other technologies such as Perl and C. A combination of PHP and Apache are generally used on various types of operating systems. PHP supports ISAPI and is used with IIS of Microsoft on Windows operating system. The major advantage of PHP is that it can support different types of databases like MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Solid, Generic ODBC, and PostgreSQL.

JSP

JSP had been developed by Sun Microsystems as a server-side technology and is similar to ASP in web hosting functions. JSP uses Java codes incorporated in the HTML pages for creating dynamic web pages. Due to the use of Java in JSP, this technology is not limited to any specific platform and can be applied on all types of servers and operating systems.

Other web hosting technologies for the development of dynamic web pages are

* Cold Fusion developed by Adobe Systems as a scripting language on the server side to create dynamic web pages
* Chili!Soft ASP that is capable of running on UNIX and certain other platforms
* Microsoft FrontPage that helps even persons without a sound knowledge of web development to host their website easily, if they have Windows operating systems
* Adobe Dreamweaver developed by Adobe Systems to compete with Microsoft FrontPage. This tool supports other web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, Cold Fusion, PHP, ASP.NET, and JavaServer Pages. This tool has Windows and Mac versions.

Apart from the use of one or more of the above technological tools for web hosting, you might also need a secure server to transmit data in an encrypted format to prevent unauthorized access by other parties. Bank account, credit card, and other similar transactions and their related data need such secure server web hosting facilities for protection of precious data from being stolen and misused.

The Sun Microsystems’s java server pages technology allows you to rapidly develop and easily maintain rich, dynamic web pages. As a part of java family
JSP enables development of web based applications that are platform independent. The web applications build using JSP technology works with a wide variety of web servers, application servers, browsers and development tools. The logic that generates the content is encapsulated in tags and JavaBeans components and tied together in scriptlets, all of which are executed on the server side. If the core logic is encapsulated in tags and Beans then other individuals, such as web masters and page designers, can edit and work with JSP pages without affecting the generation of the content.
Thus the JSP technology separates the user interface from the content generation.

JSP page is simply an HTML web page, which contain additional bits of code that generates dynamic content of the page. JSP technology is a part of java family. It uses a java programming language based scripting language and JSP are compiled into java servelets the first time they are invoked. JSP pages may call JavaBeans, EJB components, RMI objects, DBC objects to perform processing on the server. Example JSP page may contain HTML that display static text and graphics, as well as a method call to JDBC object that access database, when the page is displayed in a user’s browser.

Features of JSP

JSP technology follows the write once run anywhere rule which is the basic of the java language>
JSP uses pure java and takes the advantage of its object oriented nature.
JSP uses a combination of tags and scripting to create dynamic web pages.
The JSP page uses the components like EJB, JavaBeans which are reusable. This gives the JSP reusability capabilities.

Applications made using JSP technology are easier to maintain.

A web hosting service is simply a type of internet hosting service that allows companies and individuals the facility to make their personal websites accessible through the web. Web hosts basically offer space on a server they own, to their clients, and they provide with internet connectivity as well.

There are various technologies that support web hosting. In this article we provide you with a list of technologies related to web hosting to help you get a better idea about it.

Windows hosting:

Windows hosting refers to hosting of web services that specifically run on the Windows operating system. If you are planning to use Active Server Pages or a database like Microsoft Access as service scripting then Windows hosting is an apt option for you.

Linux hosting:

This means hosting of web services that run on the Linux operating system.

CGI:

Pages on the web can be executed as CGI scripts. These scripts execute on the server to generate interactive web pages. In most cases, internet service providers offer with some type of CGI abilities. The use of CGI is extremely common on Linux and Unix servers.

Unix hosting:

Unix was the first ever web server operating system. It is well know due to its characteristics of being reliable and stable. Unix hosting refers to hosting web services that run on the Unix operating system, this is less expensive than windows.

ASP:

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. It is a server-side scripting technology that was created by Microsoft. With the help of ASP, you can make dynamic web pages simply by putting script codes inside your HTML pages. These codes are first executed by the web server and then the page is sent back to the browser.

You can use both Visual Basic and JavaScript. It is a component which is found in all Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP. It can be activated in any computer that runs on Windows. Various web hosting providers are offering ASP due to its growing popularity.

JSP:

JSP is a server-side technology which is very similar to ASP developed by Sun. With JSP, you can create dynamic pages by putting Java codes into your HTML pages. Due to the fact that this technology uses Java, it is not restricted to a specific server platform.

PHP:

PHP is another server-side scripting language which allows you to create dynamic web pages, all you need to do is put script codes inside your HTML pages.

FrontPage:

FrontPage is a very popular and common web site design tool which was created by Microsoft. This allows users to create a web site without the need to have any in-depth knowledge about it. If you are planning to use FrontPage, you should consider looking for a Windows hosting solution avoiding both Unix and Linux.

Cold Fusion:

Macromedia developed the technology called Cold Fusion. It is another server-side scripting language which you can successfully use to generate interactive web pages.

Secure Server:

A secure server plays an essential role as it helps to transmit encrypted data. If you plan to send personal information that needs to be protected, it is crucial for your web host to provide you with a secure server.

JSP stands for Java Server Pages. Actually, JSP in itself isn’t a language, instead it is more of a technology used by Java on the server side to display dynamic content on the web pages.

Essentially JSP pages are just normal HTML with Java codes embedded in them. So a general understanding of HTML and Java is required for learning JSP. If you do not have even basic knowledge about HTML, please consider taking the course HTML.

How JSP works? The below is the process:

1. The Web browser sends a request to your web server asking for a page.

2. The Web server loads the page and looks for JSP code to run.

3. If JSP code is found, the web server runs the code and sends the results to the Web browser. So the result page on the client side looks like a pure HTML page.

You may wonder why we need an JSP page to display web contents while we have HTML. Well, HTML can be used to display web contents, but the page is static, not dynamic. Image you have a website that sells products, and you want to display the name, price, description and category of each product on a page. Normally in HTML you would have to write this page out by hand, and every time you change products or prices you would have to go back and re-write the page. But if you use JSP, you can select records from a database and generate the HTML page when an user request it. When you get a new product or change the prices you will only have to change the information in the database and the page will automatically be updated to reflect those changes without writing a single line of code.

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