When you want to have a website for your business on the Internet, you need to have it hosted on a server.
This website is accessible to the world for as long as this server is on. When the server is off people will not be able to access the website.
You could try to host this website on your own server but then you will have to keep in mind the electricity costs, buying costs of a server, maintenance and cooling. All this cost combined is much more than what you will have to pay to a web hosting service.
There are many different types of hosting services such as dedicated server hosting, virtual private server hosting, shared hosting, collocated hosting, cloud hosting, etc. All these different types of hosting have their pros and cons, but the more important thing is that each of them is a fit for a particular type of business.
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A very small business is often best hosted in a shared hosting environment and thus shared hosting is the best solution for it. However, when you have a big business with big requirements to meet from your website, dedicated server hosting is the solution you need.
Dedicated Server Hosting
In this type of web hosting your website hosted on a server that you lease in the datacenter of a web hosting service. In simple words, you pay the web hosting service a fixed amount to rent a server that only you can use. You want to use this server alone because that what your needs are. At the same time, you want to keep away from the many security issues with shared hosting. Not to mention, shared hosting can actually be a harmful thing for your business if your needs are not fulfilled with it.
Against Dedicated Server Hosting
The biggest disadvantage of dedicated server hosting is the fact that it is one of the expensive hosting services. However, it has to be mentioned here that expensiveness is something that depends on the value of a product or service. When you say something is expensive you will have to look at the value it offers. If the value of the product is high then it is not fair to call it expensive.
Same is with dedicated hosting where you get things that you don’t get with any other type of hosting plan. While it’s expensive compared to other types of hosting, it offers more value and so it can’t be said expensive.
Another con of dedicated hosting is that it requires you to have some skills. There is a lot of stuff that you are required to manage when you have a full server leased. You can decide which operating system goes on your server, what hardware you want etc. In short, you will need to have an IT team in order to manage the dedicated server. Many hosting services would offer you administration and management of your server as an extra service to their hosting though.
Advantages of Dedicated Server Hosting
The list of benefits of dedicated hosting is a long one. First and foremost, you get to decide what hardware you will get for hosting your website. Sometimes you will have to choose from the many different hardware packages that your website hosting provider has and at times you will be given the autonomy to choose the hardware from A to Z. This allows you to pick a machine with resources that are just enough to meet the requirements of your website and its traffic. If you are seeing more traffic in future you can get the right hardware for that.
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Another huge advantage of dedicated hosting is that this is probably the most suitable form of hosting for large websites. In simple words, you can have your big website on a shared platform as well but you will suffer big time.
First, you will have limited sources available to you and so your bandwidth, RAM and other features will be compromised. You will experience downtimes and you will also be in trouble when the operating system receives any load from other websites being hosted on it. It will be like fitting an elephant in a lion’s cage.
Security is a big issue when you are running a website. Any problems with your website and you could lose customers and end up losing the image of your brand. When your website is being hosted on a shared platform, you are sharing the same hard drive as other websites on that server. Any malicious website on that hard drive means your website will be exposed to the risks of getting virus too. On the other hand, you don’t have to face any such issues when you have your own server, operating system, website and resources.
With dedicated server hosting you get administrative control of things. If you think some program is causing your operating system to slow down, you can replace it with another one. If you think you need to have more RAM on your server, you can get that without any hassle.
There is no such freedom when you are on a shared platform. You have to share the resources with other website and the hosting service provider will have a pre-specified package that you will have to pick. You can’t change the operating system, programs or install any applications of your choice.
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Final Words
Choice of proper website hosting service is extremely important for any website because it defines your success path in the cyber world. While dedicated hosting is a great way to minimize most of the dangers of website hosting service, you still need proper research when it comes to choosing a web host.
See how secure your server is in your provider’s datacenter and what measures the provider takes for securing your server. Are you offered any assistance if there is something you can’t handle? Will your calls be answered instantly when you contact the web host?