Dedicated Web Hosting
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Do I need a dedicated server?
Dedicated web hosting on a dedicated server allows for faster access to a given web site. Other advantages include greater flexibility when building your web site and allowing users to add applications and databases.
These luxuries, however, come at a price. Dedicated web hosting is expensive compared to virtual web hosting. While being cost effective, the disadvantages of virtual web hosting include sharing resources of bandwidth, disk space, processor time, RAM, etc. with other web sites.
Many high-profile businesses with complex web sites use dedicated servers. These companies hire experienced webmasters who have the working knowledge of the server, operating system, and networking techniques. Dedicated hosting also requires much more upkeep and maintenance which an experienced webmaster is hired to perform.
Dedicated Server Checklist
How do you know if you need a dedicated server? Follow the guidelines below...
How About Operating Systems
The choice of operating systems for dedicated hosting is the most important decision a customer will make. The two leading systems on the market are UNIX and Windows NT.
For the most part, both UNIX and NT systems are comparable and even provide the same features. Since UNIX has been around longer, it has had a longer time dealing with security issues. This translates to a more tried and true method of dealing with computer hackers. However, there will continue to be security holes found in UNIX and Windows NT which will have to be fixed or patched by the appropriate vendor.
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Full server computing, with enhanced security support, will require intricate administration. Ease of use in administration is one area that Windows NT has a leg-up over UNIX.
Another area where different operating systems may be of concern is applications. While there are a large number of dedicated web hosts supporting applications on both platforms, there are also a number of applications that are only supported on one or the other.
Conclusions
The bottom line from the website-hosting-advisor - dedicated web hosting on a dedicated server is more versatile than a virtual server, and very specialized. If you need large amounts of disk space or bandwidth to run your web site than you should consider a dedicated server.
Dedicated servers are not cheap, though. When shopping around, do not forget to check prices for upgrading the server, initial set up costs, and the periodic maintenance costs that are involved.
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