All websites need hosting to be accessible online, and when it comes to hosting, there are all kinds of plans suitable for different needs, and budgets. We have covered shared hosting before, and now we will talk about the complete opposite- dedicated hosting. As impressive as it is expensive, dedicated hosting is a popular choice among large enterprises and high-tech businesses. Let’s find out why.
Here’s all you need to know about dedicated hosting!
What is Dedicated Hosting?
Dedicated hosting is a type of hosting solution in which an entire physical server and all its resources are dedicated to a single client. With dedicated hosting, webmasters will have complete control over the server, which means they will be able to configure the server as they wish to meet their needs.
Dedicated hosting is an ideal solution if you are running a large website with high traffic -or a large number of smaller websites- and basically need more power & flexibility for best performance. As it gives you all the resources and power of an entire server, dedicated hosting is obviously a premium option, and it is very costly, with some if not most plans reaching up to three-figure numbers monthly.
How Does Dedicated Hosting Work?
Dedicated hosting is a type of web hosting where a website is hosted on a server that is exclusively dedicated to that website. Here is how dedicated hosting works:
- Server Setup: A dedicated hosting provider will set up a physical server for the website. This server will be configured specifically for the website’s needs, with customized hardware, software, and security features.
- Server Maintenance: The hosting provider will be responsible for maintaining the server hardware and software, ensuring that it is up to date, secure, and operating efficiently.
- Website Deployment: Once the server is set up, the website can be deployed to it. This involves transferring the website files, database, and other necessary components to the server.
- Website Management: The website owner is responsible for managing the website and its content. This includes configuring settings, adding and updating content, and managing user accounts and permissions.
- Server Management: While the hosting provider is responsible for server maintenance, the website owner may have some control over server management, such as managing backups, monitoring server performance, and configuring security settings.
- Scalability: With dedicated hosting, the website owner has the option to scale up or down as needed. This can involve upgrading server resources, adding additional servers, or implementing load balancing to improve website performance.
While it can be more expensive than other hosting options, it offers greater control, flexibility, and scalability.
Pros and Cons of Dedicated Hosting
To help you decide if it is the right choice for you, here are the main pros and cons of dedicated hosting:
Pros
😊High performance- As you won’t be sharing your resources such as CPU and memory with other websites, your site will perform at the highest level, uptime percentage will be much higher, and traffic fluctuations much likely won’t affect you at all.
😊Fully customizable- You can completely fine-tune your private server to your desired configuration, and as you will have complete control over your server, you are free to install whatever applications you want for your business needs.
😊Unique IP – Each server has a unique IP address with dedicated hosting plans. On the other hand, if you are using a shared hosting plan and your site is sharing the IP with a shady website, this might have a negative impact on your search rankings.
😊Better security- It is impossible to overstate the importance of security, especially for large websites, or online stores. Dedicated servers will provide your site with maximum security, and you will rest assured as you will be sharing your space with no one else.
Cons
☹Very expensive- If you’d like to enjoy the perks of a private server, you should be willing to pay its price, which is definitely not budget-friendly. But in most cases, it is not your only option- make sure to check out VPS hosting as well, which, although not as powerful, may still satisfy your needs for relatively lower prices.
☹Requires technical knowledge- If you have no prior experience in handling a server, dedicated hosting might be a bit hectic for you. Almost in all cases, it requires regular maintenance & daily monitoring of the server, to get the most reliable results. So, especially if you prefer to have an unmanaged plan, you better have a qualified IT crew ready!
How to Choose the Best Dedicated Hosting?
We have explained that dedicated servers are chosen for their high performance, customizability, and security, and they are quite pricy. So, how will you choose the right one for your organization, so that you can get the best results for your money? A couple of things to consider here:
- Know your performance requirements – How many users do you expect to visit your site? What types of services will you be offering them? What applications will you be running? Answering these will give help you better understand your exact hardware requirements.
- How scalable is it?- Yes, dedicated servers are scalable, but that doesn’t mean all are equally easy to manage. Make sure your application is scalable enough so that you can easily add more servers in case you need to service more and more end-users. Because some applications can be really hard to scale to multiple devices.
- Physical location & network quality- Remember that the physical location of your servers will directly affect your users. This means, if your users are largely based in Southeast Asia, you probably should not host your servers in Europe. Also, make sure to test the network quality of the providers you are considering (most of them let you do this)
- Upgrade prices- Dedicated servers are pricy enough, so you should always consider the upgrade prices, in case you will need to upgrade your resources to meet the increasing demands of your website.
- Management & support services – How good is the provider’s management & support services? Considering the money you are paying and your site’s performance expectations, make sure to get the best technical service possible.
Dedicated Hosting FAQ
Before we arrive at our conclusion, let’s make sure we’ve left nothing uncovered. Here are the frequently asked questions about dedicated hosting:
Q: What’s the difference between dedicated hosting and VPS hosting?
A: The main difference is that you get an entire physical server for your website with dedicated hosting. With VPS hosting, however, you will still be sharing the same physical server with other websites, but you will have your own “private” virtual server allocated to you, and you won’t be needing to share your resources with the other websites on the physical server. It can be said that VPS hosting kind of imitates the dedicated hosting experience, for more affordable prices.
Q: I am on a shared hosting plan and would like to upgrade. Should I opt for dedicated or VPS hosting?
A: This depends on your performance needs. Most of the time, VPS hosting should be more than enough for a midsized website. You will have your own resources, and won’t get affected by the heavy loads of other websites on your server. In other words, if you are not getting thousands of visits on your site simultaneously every day, or running dozens of small websites, VPS hosting might be more desirable for you.
Q: When should I consider upgrading to dedicated hosting?
A: If you feel like your website’s needs have started to surpass your server’s (shared or VPS) capacity, it’s certainly time to move on and upgrade to a better performing, more secure alternative. Once your site starts generating heavy traffic and you feel the need to have additional features and more sophisticated solutions in terms of administration and security, you should definitely consider upgrading to dedicated servers.
In short
In conclusion, as with almost everything else in life, if you need premium services, you will have to pay premium prices. Dedicated hosting offers you unparalleled performance and fine-tuning ability, so if you need to be able to easily handle large amounts of traffic without any decrease in performance and security concerns, it might be the best option for you. But, as we have said before, VPS servers provide decent performance for lower prices, and they are usually the first step for many after shared hosting, so you should check them out also, and then make your decision.