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My Journey Into Hosting & Networking — Starting From Zero

bhupesh kumar•

My Journey Into Hosting & Networking — Starting From Zero

Hey everyone! 👋

I recently started building my own hosting, networking, and BGP services, and honestly, it's been a crazy learning experience. When I first heard terms like IP addresses, DNS, BGP, I thought it was something only hardcore network engineers needed to know. But it turns out, if you want to host websites or build cool online services — understanding these basics is super important.

Since I'm still learning and figuring things out, I wanted to share everything I've picked up so far — in super simple language. If you're a beginner like me, this guide will help you understand how hosting and networking work from scratch.

💻 What Even is Web Hosting? (The Super Basic Explanation)

If you want to put a website online, it needs to live somewhere — basically, on a computer that's always on and connected to the internet. This computer is called a server.

Hosting = Renting space on a server to store your website files (code, images, etc.)

When someone visits your site, their browser asks that server for the files — and boom, your website appears.

For a more detailed explanation, check out this guide on what web hosting is.

🏠 Types of Hosting I Learned About

Here are the main types of hosting I discovered:

  • Shared Hosting — Many websites share the same server. Great for hobby projects or small blogs.
  • VPS Hosting — One server split into virtual sections, giving you more control. Good for growing sites or small businesses.
  • Dedicated Hosting — One entire server just for you. Big companies and high-traffic apps usually need this.
  • Cloud Hosting — Your site can use many servers at once, so it scales easily. Perfect for startups and apps that expect spikes in traffic.

Right now, I'm experimenting with VPS hosting — enough control to learn but not too pricey.

🌍 Okay, But What's Networking? (This Part Confused Me First)

This part blew my mind at first:
Just having a server isn't enough — people need to find it.

That's where networking comes in — it's the system that helps data travel between devices (like your phone) and servers (where websites live).

🔗 When You Open a Website, This is What Happens (Simplified)

1️⃣ You type mycoolsite.com into your browser.
2️⃣ Your browser asks DNS (the internet's phonebook) where to find it.
3️⃣ DNS replies with the site's IP address (the server's home address).
4️⃣ Your browser sends a request to that IP address.
5️⃣ The server responds with the website files — and you see the site!

For a deeper dive into how DNS works, you might find this illustrated guide helpful.

📖 Terms I Had to Google (So You Don't Have To)

Here's a quick glossary in my words:

  • IP Address — The actual "home address" of a server (like 192.168.x.x)
  • DNS — The translator that turns website names into IP addresses
  • Port — Different entry points for different types of traffic (web uses port 80/443)
  • Protocol — The rules devices follow to talk over a network (like HTTP or HTTPS)

🧩 How Hosting, Networking & Domains Connect (This Took Me A While To Get)

This is the connection I finally understood:

  • Domain — The name people type to visit your site (like google.com)
  • Hosting — The actual space where your website's files live
  • DNS — The middleman that connects the domain to your hosting by translating the name into an IP address
  • Networking — The system that moves data between the visitor's device and your server

Example Flow (in plain English):

👉 Buy mycoolsite.com
👉 Rent a VPS for hosting
👉 Set up DNS to point mycoolsite.com to my VPS's IP address
👉 Now anyone typing mycoolsite.com ends up at my VPS and sees my site

💡 Why This Networking Stuff Actually Matters (Even for Devs)

I used to think: "Networking? Meh, I just write code."
But here's what I realized:

  • If DNS breaks, your site disappears.
  • If your firewall blocks a key port, your site won't load.
  • If your server's network connection is slow, your whole site feels sluggish.

Hosting + Networking = Teamwork.
If either breaks, everything falls apart.

✨ What's Next in My Learning Journey

Now that I understand the basics of hosting and networking, I'm moving to something even cooler (and scarier): BGP — Border Gateway Protocol.

If hosting is where my website lives, and networking is how people find it, then BGP is like the internet's GPS — helping data find the fastest route to my server. That's coming up in Part 2 — stay tuned!

📚 TL;DR (For My Fellow Lazy Readers)

  • Hosting — Renting space for your website on a server
  • Networking — Moving data between users and servers
  • DNS — The internet's ::contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}