Dedicated Hosting

A dedicated server is a computer on a network of hosting offering Internet services, which is leased or rented to a single customer. A service provider monitors the computer’s hardware, network connectivity, routing, while the customer generally controls and maintains server software. Dedicated servers are often used by companies that offer Web page hosting and have grown to need more space and bandwidth, companies with critical websites, or those with special needs.

The dedicated servers are located in so-called “data centers” in data centers, where service providers can manage and physical access to them if necessary.

The main advantage of using a dedicated server, is the amount of resources and control available. In many cases, the customer has the freedom to install the software you want, giving you greater choice and flexibility management. Customers do not share resources and those are available in full in case of need.

An unmanaged server, leaving nearly all maintenance work in the hands of the purchaser of the service. In this case the client all the software updates, apply the necessary patches, monitors and manages the team, and many more things. With this type of dedicated server, the client is responsible for day to day operations and maintenance. The service provider in turn, monitors the network, repairs hardware problems and solve connectivity problems.

Additionally, some providers offer partial management of services such as software upgrade and others, but leaves the main tasks to the client.

A managed server is monitored and maintained in a more active service provider for you. The supplier has full responsibility to make upgrades and software patches, security measures, replace hardware and also monitor the network and its potential problems. This is the best option for customers without much experience in this type of servers or with limited time available.

Technical aspects choosing a server

When you choose a dedicated server, there are several things to consider: operating system, hardware options, space and bandwidth.

The server operating system is similar to having a traditional computer. Once installed, it lets you perform tasks more easily. There are several options to choose your OS. You can have a dedicated server or a dedicated server linux Windows, among others. The OS you choose must be must be directly related to the operations your server will perform, what kind of software will be installed and of course, how comfortable it becomes.

The hardware is also important when choosing a dedicated server. We will have to choose a processor that is capable of doing the work, the memory that will be available, Firewall options, and hard disk size.

A certain amount of bandwidth is generally included when renting a dedicated server. Once you have determined the amount of bandwidth required, you can adjust the limit with the service provider. The space will provide is directly related to the size of the hard disk.

Types of Dedicated Servers

Dedicated servers differ in the hardware included. When choosing a server, the three main criteria to which we must address are:

1. Computer brand or clone
2. HDD IDE or SCSI. Possibility of hard drives in RAID mirror
3. Amount of RAM, amount of hard disk space and one or two processors

Let’s see in detail each of these three criteria.

Computers brand from clones

A clone computer can be a good choice of work or desktop computer for its value for money, but an Internet server is very different. An Internet server used for hosting (web hosting, databases, email, etc..) Is a team that is subjected to strong business and will have to endure:

• Stay connected 24 hours a day throughout the year.
• Peaks of activity in terms of hours.
• Heavy disk access if you have applications with databases.
• Use CPU-intensive if you mail server and dynamic web applications.

But above all, an Internet server to be a reliable, a team that:

1. Has undergone an extensive quality control to prevent the escape of defective units being whose problems can manifest in production
2. No crash for no apparent reason because their drivers are not refined enough or because their hardware is not fully compatible
3. Is 100% compatible with popular operating systems for servers: Windows 2003 Server and Linux.

Therefore, and in order to avoid further problems, we strongly recommend choosing brand dedicated servers rather than clones. Your monthly cost will be somewhat higher but less than might appear at first sight.

Keep in mind that the monthly cost of a dedicated server is influenced by many factors being equal regardless of the server model: The power consumption, data transfer, occupation of space in the data center that hosts , etc.

RAID is a hardware-based system that lets you synchronize two hard drives are making permanent the same data. The operating system sees only one disk, however internally the array keeps both in sync. If one of them spoil, the server would continue running with the other, throwing a warning while the server administrator.

Servers usually come with a standard size of RAM and hard drive, making it possible to choose extra two and a second processor. The desirability of increasing these resources depends on what you are going to give the server, ie, applications that run on it.

Do You Need a Dedicated Server

Have web sites hosted on a machine exclusive client is fine as it has to do with security. However, it is vital to know whether the client has the knowledge necessary to keep the software that runs on the server. To do this, you must be sure of knowing how to manage the server (even through a kind panel Plesk or cPanel), having the updated systems, software packages per day or with their respective patches, and learn to make an adjustment in the settings always keep server optimized for better performance.

Privacy: You are not physically sharing the server with any other customer.

Abusive third: In a virtual or shared hosting, the practices of other customers may affect the stability of a machine. Having a dedicated server, such practices do not affect you at all. We refer to practices such as abuse of resources of a machine that causes slow and falls in the systems, and pulling all the sites hosted on one server.

Best SEO: In accordance with the previous point, no one with a dedicated server is “attached” to the positioning methods used by other clients, some of which may come to be seen as unfair by search engines like Google , Yahoo, MSN, Altavista and so on.

Faster and better days of uptime, optimized Well all that is hosted on a dedicated server is always at the best speed in a virtual or shared hosting.

Disadvantages of having a Dedicated Server

Little flexibility: As a dedicated server machine exclusively for a client if it needs to grow or decrease the contracted server type, this will involve moving all content and do all the settings from zero to another machine with other hardware features. For example, if you have 10,000 visitors daily, with a small server, P4 with 1 GB of RAM probably reach, but increased to 20,000 hits per day, the same hardware surely be very small. So, there you should migrate all the information, sites, databases, configurations and system security, setting up backups, and a long list of “etcetera”, a new machine with more features to ensure uptime due. Make this migration is not a simple task and requires time and patience.

Price: A dedicated server, compared with a virtual hosting plan is much more expensive. Of course, the benefits have no point of comparison, it is always far superior to have a machine itself, but when it refers strictly to the price is notably expensive.