Dedicated Servers Blogs

Tom Sample asked:


If you are serious about your online business, you might just consider following the next dedicated hosting tips. By definition, dedicated hosting means having an entire server which is at your disposal, as the webmaster, and which is not shared with anybody else.

This clearly has more advantages than shared hosting because you, as the webmaster, have full control over your own server, including options of operating system, hardware, database, etc. You can personalize everything according to your needs, while the administration is handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using online dedicated hosting is that your website performance will not be affected by other high traffic websites which you would have been sharing your server’s bandwidth with on a shared server. The online dedicated hosting media provides an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving you, and no one else. You do not share a media with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Prior to the existence of dedicated servers, a webmaster had two basic hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A webmaster who purchased space on a shared host would receive a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company would try to provide a wide array of options and customizations for the web site developer, in order to increase to popularity of their products. But, unfortunately, a customer who needed a non-standard program installed or who wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run would be completely not allowed to achieve these goals, even with all the efforts from the hosting company. This is because you depended on other persons, and in these cases majority decides.

As an example that pops up into my mind instantly, you might have a site which requires a database to store your important pieces of information. Most hosting companies would provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account.

Hosting your sites on a dedicated server is not an option from the beginning though. If you plan on designing a site which is merely a hobby, then dedicated isn’t for you. This option is for persons who want to make a living online and, moreover, their site begins to have too much traffic for a shared server to handle. A dedicated server can be customized to exactly fit the needs of a site developer. That’s where it gets its’ name from.

While dedicated servers can be customized and can handle a tremendous amount of traffic, their superior performance doesn’t come cheap. A typical dedicated server can cost you hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

That’s why, first and foremost, you need to be sure that you want to take your business the next level, and you really need a dedicated server before plunging in. If that’s the case, listen to the dedicated hosting tips you’ve been told and go on with it.

Noah Mander asked:


Many site owners believe that the next logical step after outgrowing a shared hosting solution is to invest in their own dedicated server. This is a possible solution, and is necessary for many particularly large or complex sites. However, for small to medium size websites, a virtual web hosting solution may prove to be the ideal solution.

Virtual Hosting

Less expensive than a dedicated server, virtual hosting is an excellent and relatively inexpensive solution for those who own websites that are too large for a shared hosting solution, but don’t really need their own dedicated server. It is fine to have a smaller site on its own dedicated server, but it is expensive to do so. Virtual web hosting provides more flexibility than shared web hosting, and provides many of the advantages associated with a dedicated server without the expense.

The expense associated with owning and operating a dedicated server can be several hundred dollars each month. Virtual hosting solutions, on the other hand, tend to cost between $35 to $100 per month, depending on the resources needed by your particular site. Pricing for virtual hosting is a function of the amount of disk space required to adequately host your site, the quantity of bandwidth allocated to you, and the number of domain names provided to you as part of your agreement.

With virtual hosting, you will subscribe to the services of a web hosting company. The hosting company likely owns several dedicated servers, and they lease space on their servers to owners small and medium sized websites that do not need the full capacity of their own server. When you use a virtual hosting solution, your site will be placed on a server alongside other small to medium sized website with similar server resource requirements.

Security is an overriding concern when it comes to selecting a web hosting provider. Of course, there is no completely foolproof security system, and even the most secure site can experience security breeches that can put your site at risk. Being exposed to potential virus and hacker attacks is, unfortunately, an inherent aspect of doing business on the Internet.

With that said, it is vital to verify that the web hosting company you select does have a solid security system in place and that the company is committed to ongoing mitigation of risk when it comes to security. Another important consideration when selecting a virtual web hosting solution is to verify that there is sufficient bandwidth for both your site and the others located on the shared server.

The last thing you need is for your customers and prospective customers to experience delays with pages loaded on your site because the other tenants on your virtual server are using all of the bandwidth. It is also important to find out whether or not the virtual host allows non-public directories to be accessed. If your site holds sensitive data that should not be accessible to Internet surfers, make sure that you select a hosting company that does not allow non-public directories to be accessed.

Dedicated Hosting

When you use dedicated web hosting, you are the only site on your dedicated server. Dedicated hosting is necessary for large or particularly complex websites. Websites that need a lot of bandwidth to function effectively are good candidates for dedicated web hosting.

Other sites that need the benefits of dedicated hosting include many e-commerce websites, those with very high site visitors, and those for which security issues are an overriding concern. There are many benefits associated with dedicated hosting, with the only real drawback being the cost.

The size and complexity of your website may dictate that dedicated web hosting is the only viable option for your site. If you own a smaller site, it is a good idea to look at the benefits associated with dedicated hosting and compare them to the cost savings you will realize from going with a virtual web hosting option. Such a comparison will enable you to make a sound decision. If you decide that dedicated hosting is the best solution for you, the next step will be to decide if you need managed web hosting or unmanaged web hosting.

If you have a full staff of expert technical support professionals, unmanaged hosting may be your best option. Unmanaged hosting less expensive than managed hosting, but the savings are real only if you have someone on staff to handle the technical support requirements of the site. Managed web hosting solutions offer varying degrees of technical support services. With managed hosting, the web hosting company’s technical support staff takes care of the routing maintenance and technical updates associated with keeping your site up and running.

When you select a dedicated hosting solution, you are not sharing space with other tenants. Your site enjoys all of the bandwidth and processing speed capabilities of your web server. Websites housed on dedicated servers typically run faster than those that operated on shared or virtual servers, although with smaller sites the speed improvement is not likely to be very noticeable.

With a dedicated server, you have more freedom in managing your website. With a dedicated server, there is no limit to the number of domain names you may operate. This is a great benefit for those who own or operate multiple websites, as they will be able to host all of their sites on the same dedicated server. You are also free to customize the server for your specific needs.

The server settings can be customized to meet the specific needs of your site, which will optimize your site’s performance. There are also security benefits associated with using a dedicated server. Because dedicated servers can only be accessed by the owner of the site and the web hosting company, there is less risk of security breaches.

Eduardo C asked:


If not? what are the differences ?

A K asked:


Why you would you choose reseller over dedicated and vice versa ?

evelyn m asked:


I am seeking a LAMP dedicated host with reliable uptime and customer support any ideas. Prices should be budget

Host Gator asked:


Before starting to search for a web host its important to decide whether to opt for dedicated web hosting or shared web hosting.

A shared web hosting account is an account on a web server that hosts other shared accounts. The number of accounts on one shared server can vary widely from few hundred to several thousands. For many small businesses hosting website on a shared server is a workable solution due to the fact that they are quite cheap in comparison to dedicated servers. These accounts have limited access to the core administrative functions of the server. In shared hosting plans, there are several companies offering comprehensive technical support for users along with the complete technical support, which is usually included in the price of account plan they offer.

As against shared hosting, a dedicated server is usually dedicated to one, or just a few websites, usually for the solitary use by individual company only. Dedicated servers are quite expensive as compared to shared hosting. Among various good features offered by dedicated server, one feature is to have access to the core administrative functions of the server not only this most dedicated server plans offers good technical support. There are some companies which don’t have an IT staff or a server administrator to provide support, for them many dedicated hosting companies offer “per issue” support, which means that user is required to pay a certain amount, which is usually an hourly fee, for technical support issues. Not only that some dedicated server plans have optional “support tickets” that one can purchase in advance.

Apart from above discussed two there is another option called a “managed dedicated” hosting plan. With this one can get a dedicated server and the required comprehensive support, which usually comes with shared hosting. Thus it evades the drawback of insufficiency of IT staff or a server administrator and provides all the technical aspects required for running a server. For this extra facility they charge extra price thus managed dedicated hosting plan is expensive in comparison to unmanaged one.

Thus all above can be summarized as whatever type of web hosting plan one choose, one must make sure that the plan is having all the required features.

Justin asked:


My usage for the server will mainly be for my clients, who mostly have simple websites that do not require alot of processing as far as I can imagine. Should I hesitate when choosing a Celeron processor versus a Pentium 4 processor when the benefit to choosing the slower cpu is a gain in memory from 512mb to 1gb?

WebHostingGeek asked:


A shared web hosting service can be considered as a web hosting service that serves the web server with other websites. On the other hand, a dedicated hosting service uses a server that is entirely for you. It is yours as long as you rent it. It is completely dedicated towards your business and you only. In the case of a shared hosting service, the server maintenance is shared by a lot of other people. Thus, a shared web hosting type of service is usually considered as an economical method of maintaining a website.

A dedicated hosting service is not shared by anyone else and therefore this method of hosting service gives the company full control over the server and it allows the company to take all decisions regarding what operating system to use, what hardware to use etc. Now, considering the benefits of a dedicated server, you need to know when exactly you should shift from a shared to a dedicated web hosting service. In case, you are using a shared web hosting service and you want to know the right time to shift towards a dedicated hosting server then in that case, you must check for indicators which are as follows:

1) Moving towards getting more traffic :

You suddenly realize that your company is in need of more traffic. To achieve this goal, you need to increase the bandwidth by using a dedicated hosting service.

2) Need for a new operating system:

Your company may require changing to an operating system or hardware which is not supported by the present shared hosting service. In that case you can choose a dedicated hosting service, operating systems and hardware as per your choice.

3) Need for more services:

If the company needs more services than the present host, then it means that it is time for you to move on to a dedicated server. A shared hosting service always provides less service, compared to a dedicated server. For example: you may need a backup facility and your shared type server does not provide you with the same. In this case, you have to then shift to a dedicated type of server to get the benefit of using the backup facility which is provided by the dedicated server.

4) Its time for avoiding bad reputation:

Your online business can be handed by getting parked next to a website that also shares the same type server that you are using too. In other words, a shared type of server will give browsers a bad impression of the company’s website, although the company has nothing to bother with the neighbor’s website’s happenings.

5) Time for acquiring more disk space:

The company may require more disk space than what the present shared hosting service is offering. In the case of a dedicated web hosting service, the company has the liberty to choose requirements such as disk space and bandwidth and also services that can be included. So, if you require more disk space, you must then move on from your present shared hosting service to a dedicated web host.

Web Hosting asked:


In today’s market scenario almost 99% of webmasters are familiar with the word “shared” web hosting accounts. Talking in real what is a shared hosting account? It is a place where one can rent a small quantity of space on a particular server which he/she has to share with other users.

One can say it is a cheap way to begin an online business but user will surely have to face several disadvantages afterwards. The problem that may happen afterwards includes inefficiency in email delivery due to spam problem. One will find his/her site coming to a pause when someone else will try heavy database work on his/her server. There are several other reasons as well which can cause a site to go down example due to a denial of service attack against someone else hosting hacking or piracy related material on one’s server.

Prevention:

Now we are going to discuss how we are going to prevent all this. By upgrading to a virtual dedicated server is a possible prevention against this problem. A virtual dedicated server helps in successful running of one’s site in the same manner as if one is having his/her own “dedicated” server. The plus point with virtual dedicated server is that it is really cheaper as compared to own server.

One can find virtual dedicated server accounts for as less as mere $30 per month. Not only that in addition one will get more amount of bandwidth as compared to shared hosting, and that too without any problem of shared hosting. One will also receive multiple IP addresses that are exclusive to his/her sites.

Thus one can get tremendous amount of benefits by just spending little more. However as like a coin here too is a second side. The main disadvantage of upgrading to virtual dedicated hosting is that one will has to be more technically sound as he/she has to administer his/her server by own.

Thus for administration one will have to learn necessary Linux skills to make sure that his/her server runs in a proper way.

There are several host providers offering “premium” support that includes a bit more hand holding. It is mainly recommended if the user is not having good experience with Linux, or if he/she is a beginner for virtual dedicated hosting.

Thus at the end we can conclude that with the increased speed and bandwidth that a virtual dedicated host is offering and that too without any disadvantages of the shared hosting headaches, it is now on the user to decide what is best for him/her. We wish best of luck!

imposterprofessoroak asked:


OK. I’m looking at purchasing a dedicated hosting plan with a local provider.

This provider offers 2000GB traffic into and out of the server.

What I want to do is shape traffic into the server based on how much traffic I have left.

Example: I start off with a budget of 2000GB a month (66GB/day). This comes down to about 6Mb/s continual use.

Of course, servers aren’t continually used like this, so just “capping” bandwidth to 6Mb/s would waste bandwidth on spikes.

After half a month has gone by, I’ve only used 500GB of my bandwidth, leaving 1500GB/Month, or 100GB a day. Traffic can now flow at 9Mb/s and I won’t go over.

I want a system that allows me to use as much traffic as my “budget” will currently allow. Extra points if I can “borrow” bandwidth from the future to help “pay” for spikes.

I want “always on” while keeping under my bandwidth budget.

Any ideas?