Advantages & Disadvantages of a Dedicated Server
If you operate an ecommerce or service business, your website most likely accounts for a large portion of your business. You most likely pay a web hosting company to host your website for you. If you aren’t currently using a dedicated server, you may want to reconsider what the best hosting option is for your business.
Most hosting accounts are set up on a shared server by the web hosting company. You share the bandwidth and hard drive space allowances with many others. If you are running a business this might not be the best type of hosting option for you as it can potentially cause traffic bottlenecks and security problems for you. When you have a dedicated server, you do not share the server with any other websites. It is completely yours. The server is completely dedicated to your website and business.
Dedicated Server Advantages
There are several advantages to having a dedicated server as your hosting solution, including:
* Server Security – A dedicated server provides a tremendous increase in your website’s security. No other webmasters are using your workspace and user errors or simples mistakes that could occur on a shared machine do not exist.
* Storage Space – Because the entire server is solely dedicated to just one customer, a lot more storage space is available for web pages, images and other features.
* Data Transfer – A lot more bandwidth is available for transferring data with a dedicated server. The traffic to your site is no longer competing with the traffic from other sites, which reduces bottlenecks as well as slow server response times.
* Control Panel – When you have your own server you have more control. When you share a server you have limited control over server functions and features. When you have a dedicated server you have greater access and control over the daily functions of your hosting.
* Software Options. A dedicated server allows for more script and software options. A dedicated server has more storage capacity and features and coding doesn’t have to be aligned with other users who are on the same machine.
The only disadvantage to a dedicated server is its cost. It makes sense that you would expect that having the use of an entire server rather than sharing it would of course be more expensive. When considering the price of a dedicated server you need to relate the total cost of having shared server space versus the benefits you would derive from having a dedicated server before choosing which is the best option for your website. One exorbitant bill due to exceeding your bandwidth or having a secured payment problem with a credit card could more than wipe out the cost savings of a shared server.
Websites all grow and expand at different rates. As your business continues to grow, your need for additional hosting capacity will grow along with it. If you are starting to reach the limits on your current hosting service or have any safety concerns, such as storing information from credit cards on a shared server, it may very well be time for you to look into getting a dedicated server.
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