Top 25 Web Hosting Interview Questions and Answers in 2024

Editorial Team

Web Hosting Interview Questions

The increasing demand for web hosting services has created lots of web hosting jobs. Most companies have openings for web hosting tech specialists, technical support executive (web hosting), Online marketing/ web hosting executive, messaging lead engineer, DNS, DHCP, and web hosting administration.

However, even with the high demand, you still have to face an interview panel. In this article, we look at some of the most familiar questions in web hosting interviews to help you ace your first attempt. We have included answers which should help you come up with unique responses.

1.    Please Mention the Different Types of Hosting Services That Exist

There are five different types of hosting services. The free web hosting service offers limited services to companies, mainly for adverts, whereas the shared web hosting service has one server hosting several websites.

The third type, reseller web hosting, allows clients to offer web hosting services to others. The Virtual dedicated server, also known as a Virtual Private Server, is a virtual machine sold by an internet hosting service. The last hosting service is the home server, a personal server used to host one or several websites.

2.    What Is Dedicated Hosting Service and When Is It Used?

 A dedicated hosting service offers users their own space and web server. The user enjoys complete control over the operating system of the hosting service and its resources. However, the ownership of the server is not passed to the user as they are self-managed or unmanaged.

A dedicated host service is used when one needs a relatively high level of security. This is where it beats shared servers.

3.    Could You Please Tell Us How One Can Transfer Files to a Server?

Files are generally transferred to the server using the FTP protocol, commonly known as the file transfer protocol. It is a standard network protocol that facilitates moving files from one computer to the next using the TCP protocol network.

Through this, one can easily upload pages and documents stored in private disks to a public web hosting server. A client-server architecture is needed to offer different controls and data connections between the client and the server when using FTP.

4.    How Do You Determine the Reliability and Uptime in Web Hosting?

The availability of a website shows its reliability, which is usually measured by its user’s usability and accessibility. This can be arrived at by calculating the number of minutes available in a year. On the other hand, uptime refers to the time during which a system is in operation.  It is determined by observing the duration in which a system serves its purpose.

5.    What Do You Understand by a cPanel?

It is a Unix-based web hosting control panel that simplifies web hosting by offering graphical interphase and automation tools. It uses a 3-tier structure offering functionality for end-user website owners and administrators by giving them control over different website and server administration elements.

6.    What is Shared Hosting? What Are Some of Its Purposes?

Shared hosting occurs when users share web resources and services. It is a form of virtual hosting as it offers services that host files on the web. It is mainly used by startups owing to the low cost of server maintenance.

7.    How Does One Upload Files Using an FTP Client Software?

The FTP uploads files on the server from the client side after installation. Therefore, the first step is to obtain the FTP client software such as Filezilla and connect it to the server. You can then open the public_html directory and upload your files. However, if you have more than one domain hosted on your account, first enter the domain’s directory followed by the domain you want to edit and then the public_html directory.

8.    How Can One Accomplish Server Hosting?

Server hosting plays a vital role in the storage and access of files from the browser. It uses several tools for file management and grant of permission to facilitate easier usage. Users enjoy several means of task accomplishment through several hosting servers. This can be achieved in two ways; IP-based hosting and name-based hosting.

9.    What Do You Understand by The Word Uptime?

Uptime refers to the percentage of time that a website is in operation. A monthly uptime average of 99% shows that your website was down for an average of one hour daily. The uptime of customer websites is usually monitored by the host, and the data displayed on the details page of the host. A host may also offer uptime guarantees to lure customers even though it is not as lucrative as you may think.

[VIDEO] Top 25 Web Hosting Interview Questions with Sample Answers: ► Subscribe for more useful videos

10. Mention Some of The Features Offered in Web Hosting

Web hosting provides several features. These include database support and support of on-growing languages. It also offers a platform for application development that uses different languages, ranging from PHP to Ruby.

Web-hosting platforms also have a feature that empowers users to write and install scripts for accessing particular features in the platform. For security purposes, most websites have different layers such as SSL, secure socket layer, and TSL, transport layer security.

11. What Are Some of The Offers and Uses of Ip Based Hosting?

IP-based hosting offers clients several resources and services. Users enjoy dedicated Internet Protocols that have virtual hosts with different IP addresses. It also allows the configuration of the webserver with other physical network interfaces through the same physical interface.

After configuration, the web server uses the provided IP address to establish a connection with the client and allow him/ her to view the website. These IP addresses have the resources required for the use of SSL certificates, saving users from shared certificates.

12. Could You Please Tell Us the Scope of Web Hosting?

The scope of web hosting is usually high due to traffic increases whenever one accesses the website’s web page. During this time, files are uploaded using the File Transfer Protocol. The web interface is used for the successful deployment of the website using web hosting services and techniques.

Web hosting services offer customers personal website hosting that can be easily used and deployed. They can also access and view the website performance.  It is also worth noting that Internet service providers, commonly known as ISPs offer services to organizations or individual clients and offer hosting solutions.

13. Could You Please Tell Us More About Name Based Hosting?

Name-based hosting allows virtual hosts to serve several domains running on a single machine with only one IP address. Whenever one uses a web browser to request resources from the server, it responds using the host’s name using the HTTP protocol.

The server usually has all the website and user information to facilitate first response to user requests. Therefore, this type of hosting includes all the resources and services that a client may request for.

14. What Are Some of The Advantages of Web Hosting?

Web hosting has several advantages. It offers internet hosting and related services, which allow organizations to build their websites. It also enables users to access different websites via the World Wide Web.

It offers a data center that gives users a large amount of space and detailed connectivity properties. Clients also enjoy internet connectivity and tools that allow their websites to run on the servers for easier accessibility by interested parties.

15. What Are Some of The Things That You Look Out for Before Uploading a Website on a Hosting Platform?

 I will first check whether the web hosting platform meets user requirements before analyzing and monitoring the website according to the web hosting requirements. I then determine the content that needs to be uploaded.  I also check the website catalog and decide whether or not it is static or graphical to get an idea of the space that it will occupy in the platform. I then check the amount of disk space and whether it will allow website hosting.

16. How Does One Measure Traffic in a Hosting Platform?

There are different ways of measuring traffic in a hosting platform. The most common is through the number of visitors the website records over time. Traffic can also be measured by the size of files transferred from the server to the client.

Other measurements include the size of files requested by the client from the server. It is also worth noting that a higher number of users equals higher traffic, requiring more bandwidth on the web hosting sites. The same also applies to the number of adverts on the site.

17. In Your Own Experience, How Many Email Accounts Should One Settle for In a Web Hosting Plan?

The number of email accounts should be arrived at after considering the hosting purpose and the company’s size if it is an organization. Web hosting plans offer POP3 email accounts for transferring information from one place to the other.

A big company that needs to circulate information regularly should settle for more email accounts. These can be used for promotions and are available in higher-end packages. I always invite clients to consider the services that they intend to offer.

18. Why Do You Think Cloud Computing Is Important, Especially in This New Generation?

No other server can provide the services offered by cloud hosting, thanks to its powerful utilization of resources. It is a decentralized platform that only charges users for the consumed resources rather than the statistical amounts. It is also pretty reliable as the cloud automatically backs up the visited websites.

Cloud hosting offers flexibility and scalability that beat all other hosting-based servers. Lastly, users enjoy load-balanced servers that balance heavy traffic for easier management. However, due to decentralization, it may not be entirely controllable since the location of data is different.

19. In Your Understanding and Experience, What Are Some of The Uses of a Virtual Domain?

A virtual domain allows clients to run their applications without having to install a server or hardware. It efficiently utilizes the server storage space. Virtual domains represent your internet web address domain names.  They offer more security, given that you have your personalized domains, which you can use to access different web resources.

20. What Is Your Understanding of Subdomains?

A subdomain is the extension of your domain. If your site is www.classyinterviewquestions.com, then your subdomain will be test.classyinterviewquestions.com. Subdomains are normally treated separately from the main site.

21. What Do You Understand by DNS?

DNS is the domain name system, a distributed database that consists of human-meaningful domain names. All these are mapped to network-meaningful IP addresses. The DNS information is accessed by a number of web browsers and internet clients via multiple calls to the different nodes in the DNS database.

22. Please Explain What a DDNS is and Some of Its Uses

DDNS is the short form for Dynamic DNS. It allows users to update a name server in the domain name system, which comes in handy for web resources that change IP addresses frequently. Whenever that happens, the DNS records are updated by a local router or server.

However, it is not needed for standard web hosting plans as the hosting providers use static IP addresses. However, since several internet-connected devices are assigned new addresses every time they are restarted, this is an expected feature.

23. What Do You Understand by Public­­­­­­_html?

To correctly define public-HTML, I have to mention that the www folder is usually considered its alias, given that they are similar folders. Therefore, addition or deletion to any one of them affects the other.

24. What Is a WebRoot Directory?

Like the name suggests, this is usually the root directory for the Brinkster website. You are expected to put all files and directories that you would like to access through a browser.

25. Lastly, Please Explain the Concept of Domain Parking

It allows users to keep aside a domain name for future use by showing an ‘under construction’ default page on it. Some registrars allow their client to park their domains for free.

Conclusion

 These are some of the most common web hosting interview questions and answers. They should help you prepare well for an interview and even boost your chances of landing a job. We wish you all the best.