What Is Dedicated Hosting

Are you thinking about switching to dedicated hosting? Well, before you do, are you sure that you understand everything that it entails? In order to help you make more informed decision, here are a few bits and bobs that might help you gain a better understanding of exactly what a dedicated host is and how it can benefit your website.

Websites are popping up on a daily basis and there is always a demand for server space. Dedicated hosting allows you a lot of flexibility as you don’t have to share a server with any other website. The server caters only to your needs and nobody else’s so that you can try new things without having to worry about space.

Having a dedicated web host basically means that you would have your own independent server computer all to yourself, you are the only user who has access to all of its available space and resources. Not having to share a server with any other website has plenty of benefits associated with it. You would have free reign over the hosting itself and depending upon the company leasing the server, you may even tweak it according to your needs. Besides having more space to yourself, you would also be given a dedicated IP, dedicated computing power and dedicated bandwidth among others. For a heavy traffic website, having a dedicated server also minimizes downtime.

What exactly is dedicated hosting?

Dedicated hosting is a hosting environment where one or more servers are reserved for a single client. The client effectively leases the server from the provider. The provider provides the server machine, the connectivity and the required software and operating system to run the server. This configuration can also be split into two categories – managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting.

For managed hosting, the provider will provide the services of running and maintaining the server within their own data center. This is a good choice if you don’t have the personnel, money or time to operate a server in-house. This is the choice for web developers who do not want to be bogged down by server management activities. While for unmanaged hosting, there will be a lot of support and maintenance features that are not provided by the provider and will be done by the customers themselves. This is normally the choice for system administrators who want to manage their servers themselves. Here are some Points to consider while opting for a dedicated hosting plan:

Managed or Unmanaged

This is the first thing that you have to decide. Clients having knowledge and expertise of dealing with internet technology and web servers should go for options delivering complete management services. Beginners with absolutely no knowledge about servers, require manage hosting.

Your preferred Operating System

Next thing you would have to think about is choosing your operating system from Windows, Linux or Unix. Normally, Variation of Linux or UNIX are offered at no charge by the most web hosting companies. Dedicated servers typically operate on a collective network of operating systems known that are publicly distributed. It is known as the Red Hat Network. Many operating systems within the Red Hat Network comprises versions of Linux like FedoreCore, CentOS, Debian, etc.

The size of your Server

The last thing that you need to ponder on is the required size of your web server. Making the choice can be time-consuming and perplexing since several configurations and server types are available in the market by numerous prominent web hosting services providers. Hence, the two most important factors affecting your decision is your budget and requirements of your website. Ideally, a small dedicated server having 2GB OR 4 GB (if you run your software) is best for most companies. Secondly, you may pick to prefer quad core Xeon servers for top-notch power and functionality. And finally, pick a choice that suits your budget.

Most corporate sites run on dedicated servers as it provides an abundance of resources as well as reliability. For this reason, it is gaining popularity among the other users. Here are some of the reasons as to why you should consider dedicated hosting:

The level of performance it provides

As a user of this hosting plan, you would be granted the entire server to yourself alone. Consequently, you would be the only one using all resources that the web host offers. You will have the freedom of using these resources however you want without having to worry about sharing it with anyone else. This could be really useful for you if you are running a heavy traffic website that is filled with a lot of interactive media.

The convenience of having the ability to manage your websites from a single location

As it supports multiple domain hosting, you would save a lot of hassle by using a dedicated hosting plan instead of using many different hosting plans. Furthermore, you would be able to allocate the resources to each site according to your liking instead of being stuck with what was offered by the web host. This way, there would be no wastage of resources as you would not be spending extra on resources that you may not need for the smaller sites.

One can resell resources they will probably not be using to other users at a profit

One can do so by selling it as smaller packages to users of smaller websites. There are many forums, sites, or blogs that you may advertise your hosting packages. This could be a smart way of financing your hosting fees as it will enable to you to make some profit by selling resources that you do not use. This way, you will be able to host your site at an even lower cost.

It provides a high level of security

As you would not need to share your IP address with any other sites, you will not need to worry about your site being attacked or blacklisted due to the actions of your neighbours. You will be in total control of the security measures taken to protect the server. This way, your site will less likely face any security breaches and will be able to run smoothly.

In summary, dedicated hosting gives you an unprecedented amount of power, flexibility, and control. Dedicated hosting adds value to budget line items, both in cost savings as well as through leveraging add on services that improve both internal operations and the external user experience. In an age where outsourcing is critical to successful business plans, dedicated hosting can be a difference-maker.

Further reading:

https://www.thewebmaster.com/hosting/2014/aug/4/what-is-dedicated-hosting-a-brief-guide/

http://www.interoute.com/what-is-dedicated-hosting

http://www.webhostinghub.com/web-hosting-guide/is-dedicated-hosting-the-solution-for-you