There are three main server options, shared, VPS and Dedicated servers. Shared hosting is recommended for beginners-persons new to creating websites. Once your website starts growing in terms of traffic you will need a bigger, faster server and this is where VPS hosting comes in. Lastly, the giant – dedicated server offers you the most as it relates to speed, performance, security and storage. We’ll cover some of the best reasons to choose a dedicated server for you high yielding website. But first, let’s take a look at the basics. What exactly is a dedicated server and how do you decide on a dedicated server plan?
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Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated hosting gives you exclusive access to a physical server. This server is available to only you and your website. This means you will have more control over it and be able to configure it specifically to meet your needs. Most of all you will not have to share resources with other sites.
Managed and Unmanaged Dedicated Servers
Dedicated servers not only provide power and speed but also control. But what if you need all the resources but aren’t technically-savvy to manage your own server? Luckily, there are two types of servers, managed and unmanaged. Unmanaged servers are best for experts with technical and technological skills to effectively configure and run a server. The managed option allows you to take advantage of the benefits of a dedicated server while the service provider does all the groundwork, updates and installation.
The best reasons to choose a Dedicated Server
Not only is dedicated server hosting is a strong and secure web hosting solution designed for customers with more complex hosting needs. It also offers several other benefits.
1. Higher uptime
It is essential that your website is always accessible to customers. With dedicated servers, your website will be affected by little or no downtime. This is possible because there are better redundancy programmes for its power and bandwidth. Also, there is a team of experts that come with these plans to ensure a guarantee of 99% uptime.
2. Better Performance
Since you get maximum uptime for your website when you choose dedicated hosting, you automatically perform better. Since the entire server’s resources are yours alone, including its bandwidth, you will experience faster loading and an overall advanced speed.
3. Reliability
Since you will not share any of the top-level resources on your dedicated server this will significantly reduce, if not completely prevent your server from being slowed-down or affected by requests coming from other websites or applications.
There is no limit to the growth of your website when you unleash the power of a dedicated server.
4. Better security
Dedicated hosting provides enhanced security, which is essential for businesses that handle sensitive transactions over FTP or SSL. There are also firewalls and security monitoring which result in greater protection from malware and hacks.
5. More flexibility
A dedicated server gives you the flexibility to customise the server to your unique needs. You can also choose the software and platform you want to help you control and configure your server. It allows for quick and easy scalability, offering backup, enhanced processing and storage.
6. Unlimited administrative access
Dedicated hosting gives you full administrator access. This gives you control into how you customise programme configurations and install programmes.
The disadvantages of a Dedicated Server
Despite the number of advantages that dedicated hosting brings, it also brings with it a number of drawbacks.
1. It is Expensive
Dedicated Hosting is not cheap and costs significantly more than other hosting solutions. This is mainly because you do not share resources so there is no one to share the operation cost with.
2. Customers needs to have basic technical knowledge
You will need to at least have basic technical knowledge to do the initial set-up, install, run, administer and update server in order to efficiently operate a dedicated server. However, if you do not have the necessary skills you can hire experts or simply use a managed dedicated server.
Tips on how to choose a Dedicated Server
In order to choose the right dedicated server for your business, you first have to figure out what exactly you will be using it for. Some of the top reasons persons choose a dedicated server include, hosting a website, backing up data, e-commerce, hosting applications and securing hosting emails.
Knowing for sure what you need and understanding these requirements will help you to make the best choice. Here are some things you may want to consider before making your final decision.
1. Server Power
How much processing power do you really need? You will need a powerful processor if you are planning to do any virtualisations and video-transcoding on your business website.
2. Processors
You can choose from several types of dedicated servers as it relates to processor speed. You have the option of choosing from single processor servers that can have up to six cores up to storage server that can have as many as 48 cores.
3. Bandwidth
How much bandwidth will you need to smoothly run your website? Once again, this is dependent on what you will have on your website. Sites with a great influx of traffic require more bandwidth. Also, websites which stream multimedia files, have High Definition (HD) pictures or run complicated scripts will need an even higher bandwidth.
4. Storage/memory
Deciding how much memory you will need is one of the easier decisions. Simply get as much Random Access Memory (RAM) as you can get. RAM helps your server to run more efficiently. Lots of RAM will allow your applications, website, emails, and stored data to load a lot faster.
5. Operating System
You will also have to decide on the Operating System (OS) that you want to work this. For this , you can choose this depending on your need or personal preference. You will the option of choosing between Windows dedicated server or a Linux dedicated server.
Conclusion
If you are ready to take your website to the next level with optimum processing power, speed and bandwidth a dedicated server is the way to go. In terms of cost, it’s the most expensive hosting option. However, if you are in need of fast processors, great memory and for the running of complex scripts with a budget to match, simply look for the right specs and choose from our dedicated server plans.
