I have been conducting a report of how to make a website, the questions above kind of confusing me, could any1 help out?

I think it should be the web server or something similar.

Thanks

This type of question is best answered by doing your own reading and researching, there is no short simple answer to "what do I need to run a website"

Try starting at wikipedia and going from there.

Honestly the simplest I can state it is you need a computer that has the site on with dedicated access to the internet, an IP address that doesn't change, and whatever software you choose to filter the incoming access. It is called a web server.

Still, read the attached links to get better information.

The only hardware you need is a computer connected to the internet. The software that you need is a HTTPD (HTTP Daemon). The most popular of them all is Apache.

At the basic level you need a machine to act as the server and some software like apache to provide the web service.

Windows XP pro users can add the Microsoft IIS tools to their machines to provide the same function.

If you want an internet based service then look at http://geocities.yahoo.com/ where you have some very cost effective options. This kind of service hosts many websites on the same physical machine. Each site is accessed via a unique URL / web address.