When you start an online venture, it is fairly complex for you to foresee whether it will succeed or not, so you are tempted to set off with a shared web hosting package. A shared web hosting service may have been performing all right for you for some time, as a result you never thought of upgrading to a higher level plan during that time. There might have been times, however, when you were entirely disappointed with the downtime.
There might have been yet other occasions when someone got access to your site password and login, and deleted your website from the server within a matter of minutes. Such issues may not have been that important when you started, however, given the present expansion and success that your project is seeing, you may no longer be able to bear them. Furthermore, as your web hosting needs enlarge with the passage of time on account of either an increase in the number of visitors or a need for better functionality, it becomes necessary for you to consider other hosting alternatives.
A VPS web hosting solution may be regarded as acceptable at such a time. The increased web traffic may be sustained by a VPS hosting solution for some time. However, as the size of your online business grows with the rise in demand for your products, even this may seem to be insufficient. At this stage of the life of your online venture, a dedicated web hosting service may seem to be the only enduring solution to sustain the expansion of the project. So, you begin seriously thinking about switching to a dedicated hosting package, which may give you the kind of stability, security, and functionality that you presently require for your project.
The idea of this article is to describe in detail what you may expect from dedicated web hosting and how it can meet the expanding possibilities of your online business. What follows outlines the vital features of dedicated server hosting.
1) Unshared Server Resources
As opposed to a shared hosting server which merely partitions the storage space into a number of virtual partitions, each of which is dispensed to a different customer, a dedicated hosting server is a stand-alone piece of equipment that can be leased from a hosting company. A dedicated server offers a definite edge over a shared server since the server resources are not shared with the other virtual accounts, instead you have full access to the resources plus full control over their usage.
2) Customized Programs
The installation of programs according to your particular requirements is another advantage of a dedicated server.
3) Option to Modify Access Rights
User level access may be granted by the administrator as well, which means that the users may also be able to use the programs in parallel.
4) No Upper Bound on Traffic
Any website that has a large user base is expected to profit immensely from a dedicated web hosting package. This is because the included monthly bandwidth is typically uncapped for the great majority of available dedicated server plans.
5) No Upper Limit on Achievable Customization
In addition to the ability to set up almost any kind of software on the machine, what adds the greatest value to such a plan is the level of achievable customization. Many companies providing dedicated server hosting give you the choice to totally customize the server according to your requirements.
6) Add Extra Features As Required
With a dedicated web hosting package, you may choose any of the available features in order to achieve the desired configuration.
7) Installation of Operating System Consistent With Requirements
One of the main benefits of dedicated server hosting is that it gives you the ability to select the right OS on which your applications can be run. Two fundamental OSs namely Windows and Linux Red Hat are usually offered by a great majority of dedicated hosting providers.
8) Installation of Control Panel In Accordance With Requirements
On the control panel side, CPanel and Plesk are two of the most popular control panels, as a result these are generally offered by dedicated server hosting providers. Although CPanel is the more widely used one, Plesk is also admired for a number of reasons and functions that are not present in CPanel.
9) Reliable Service
Stability is another key factor behind the recognition of a dedicated hosting server in comparison with a shared hosting server. The short response time of the installed applications is another distinguished trait of a dedicated hosting server, which is again because the server resources are not shared among many users.
10) Lowest Access Time Due to Uncapped Bandwidth
A dedicated server guarantees that the bandwidth to and from your site will be consistent, owing to the fact that the bandwidth is reserved for that particular server. This translates to shorter access times for your website because of the fast data transfer between browsers of your active users and your server.
11) Tightened Security
Another major benefit of a dedicated hosting server is that you can avoid any security risks which may negatively affect your website if it is hosted on a shared server. In the case of a shared hosting server, the accounts of other users may easily get infected if another user deliberately uploads a new virus into its account so as to bring down the web host. This is because the new virus may go undiscovered by the server antivirus software, with the result that the whole server may become compromised.
In order to counteract this, a huge majority of dedicated servers come installed with an external hardware firewall which can strengthen your security defenses along with giving you the option of modifying any access rights you may wish. The result is that you can concentrate more on the productivity side, without having to worry about the security of the server.
12) Maximum Access Speed Because of Unique IP Address
The availability of a unique IP address turns out to be another major benefit of dedicated server hosting, in that when a visitor attempts to access the site, it is recognized almost immediately. Except for a small minority of companies which offer a unique IP address with their shared web hosting plans at an additional cost, the majority of providers do not offer this feature.
A shared IP address, as in the case of a shared hosting server, results in a comparatively slower access to the website, owing to the fact that a separate software on the server recognizes the partition to which the URL is assigned. Under normal circumstances, the URL translation operation with a shared IP address takes only a bit more time in contrast with a dedicated IP address, however it can increase notably under peak loads. The dedicated hosting server eliminates the need of any particular software, consequently, the visitor is connected to the website instantaneously.
13) Additional Level of Protection for Your Data
Dedicated server hosting is also distinguished from shared server hosting in that it also provides you the option to install extra hard drives on the server. The benefit of having more than one hard disk on the server is that the first one can be used as a primary storage medium while the second one can be used as a backup medium. This adds a great deal of safety to your crucial business data and is available only with dedicated server hosting.
An online business can immensely benefit from such redundancy by regularly backing up sensitive customer data, the loss of which cannot be afforded in any case. Moreover, the dedicated hosting provider may also give you the option of having a backup FTP account, the advantage of which is that you can reproduce essential content on it in parallel with the usage of your regular FTP account.
Conclusion
Given all the information presented in this article, it becomes fairly easy for you to pick a dedicated web host which not only satisfies your requirements but is also affordable. This may not be as hard as it seems to be once you have familiarized yourself with all the essential information given in this article. To be very frank, there is no hard and fast formula for identifying the correct dedicated hosting company according to the user needs, and there are multiple ways to reach the correct conclusion. Nevertheless, the important attributes and benefits of dedicated server hosting discussed in this article can go a long way towards the selection of the right company.