What Is Dedicated Server Hosting?
Dedicated server hosting is often considered to be the gold standard in web hosting, and it’s also the most “old school” of website hosting methods. In this method, a physical server that you (or another company) keeps will host your website, and your website alone. In other words, the entire server is dedicated to your site.
In this form of hosting, you would lease out an entire server for your purposes. In many ways, this gives business owners free reign. These servers do, however, require maintaining and updating, so if you are going to get your own server, it’s important to have someone on hand who can keep them in good condition. Most hosting services provide this as part of the fee for dedicated servers.
Why Buy Dedicated Server Hosting?
Dedicated server hosting offers you the fastest CPU speeds possible, the highest security possible, and also makes it easy to pool bandwidth. The are also notoriously reliable, so if you want to make sure that your site is up at all times, choosing dedicated servers is the only way to go. In many cases, dedicated server hosting companies will offer a 100% uptime guarantee because of how reliable they are.
Bandwidth is something that you will never have to worry about with a dedicated server. Many of the biggest companies offer anywhere from 500 gigabytes to 3 terabytes per month. With other forms of hosting, this amount of bandwidth is virtually unheard of.
What To Look For In Dedicated Server Hosting
Not all dedicated servers are alike, and to think so might cost you a lot of money. If you are going to invest in dedicated server hosting, you should consider the following factors before you buy.
- Look for a lower price, if possible. Dedicated server hosting is notorious for being expensive.
- Look for a hosting service that includes maintenance as part of its services. That way, you won’t have to spend any extra time maintaining your server, or updating security software for it.
- Though it might be tempting, don’t get more bandwidth than you need for your site. More often than not, it’s not worth the cash.
- Try to find dedicated server hosting services with uptime guarantees.
Advantages Of Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated server hosting is one of the best choices for any company. Here are the five biggest reasons why you should get dedicated server hosting.
- The problems that other sites often cause with VPS or shared hosting services will never affect you.
- You can do whatever you want with your dedicated server, including upgrading it.
- They are also the fastest when it comes to CPU speed, and all of the CPU’s resources are devoted to your site.
- You can always count that it’s the most secure form of hosting.
The Disadvantage Of Dedicated Server Hosting
When compared to other forms of hosting, the only real disadvantage that dedicated server hosting has is that it is much more expensive than most others. Part of the fee is the maintenance, but a lot of it is simply due to the dedication of the entire server to your site. Companies or site owners who don’t have it in their budget often will complain about the high costs.
It’s also worth noting that most dedicated servers are Linux or UNIX based, so if you don’t know how to handle either operating system, you might be better off going for another form of hosting if you intend on doing the maintenance yourself. Still, most service companies will offer to maintain your server as part of the fee.
Many people don’t really need dedicated server hosting, but decide to use it anyway simply because they feel it’s a safer option than something along the lines of shared hosting. For most, the ability to guarantee that amount of safety, uptime, and bandwidth is worth paying the higher prices that come with dedicated servers. However, for small companies that simply need a site that displays their content, it might not really be worth it.
So, is it all worth it? Well, it depends on your budget, your site, and how much you want to have a dedicated server. One thing is for sure – it’s the gold standard for a reason.