How to Find a Suitable Dedicated Server?

Rapid growth happens often with popular Web sites. They start out using a simple shared account, only to consume so much of the server’s resources that they are forced to a dedicated server. Other times, a company will simply want the flexibility a dedicated server offers, even if they do not operate a high-traffic Web site. 

Put simply, a dedicated server is a computer located in a data center that is used for a single Web hosting account, whereas shared accounts can potentially share a server with hundreds of other sites. A site on a dedicated server has the same Internet connection as all the other servers, but it doesn’t have to share it with anybody. This can be a tremendous boon for anyone who operates a large site. 

One of the things that dedicated servers provide is customizability. Since the client is going to be leasing the entire computer rather than just a portion of it, many Web hosts allow the client to select the components used in the server. These can range from hardware, such as disk size and the amount of memory, to software. Most hosts can set up dedicated servers with Unix or Windows-based Operating Systems – the choice is typically left to the site owner. 

There are typically two categories of dedicated servers: managed and unmanaged. Managed servers are usually operated by the Web host, while the client provides the Web site data. In these cases, a good host will fully monitor the server and have technicians standing by in case of difficulty. An unmanaged server is operated and maintained by the client; the Web host provides the storage space, physical security, and bandwidth. However, often a Web host will have a consultant available to assist clients operating an unmanaged server – this is usually provided at a nominal fee. 

Looking for a suitable dedicated server is something that takes time and research. Not all Web hosts are created equal, and neither are all dedicated servers. There are several issues that must be addressed before a client can choose the best server. 

First of all, what does the Web site actually need, and how much space will it need to grow? This is an incredibly important question, as any computer has limited capabilities. Before one can select a dedicated server, one has to know exactly how much disk space the site will require, along with memory and bandwidth. 

Second, what amount of customization and upgrades will the Web host allow? Many Web hosts offer specific dedicated hosting plans, and have the client choose between them. Some offer full customization of the Web server. What works best depends on the Web site.

Upgrades, however, are another matter. If a Web host doesn’t upgrade its machines on a regular basis, there is something wrong. Technology is infamous for moving extremely quickly, and a Web host that doesn’t keep its machines up to date will quickly find itself, and its clients, falling behind.

Third, where is the server stored? A good host will keep the server in a safe, secured environment, usually at a data center. A Web host that stores a dedicated server elsewhere is usually a bad sign. 

Finally, what support does the host offer? Even for unmanaged servers, there should always be an account representative available to handle client concerns. There should also be a managed hosting plan that one can opt into, just in case managing the server solo is too much. Also, upgrades and customizations should be seamless, with little or no impact on the users of the site.

Selection of the Most Suitable Web Host

After creating and designing one’s own website he/she wants to host his/her own website other wise all the hard work will go in vain. Deciding the host for the website is far more difficult job then creating and designing it. While choosing host one should be very careful and should gain proper knowledge. One should consider all the factors while opting one host, as if this one decision went wrong then all the previous work will ruin.

Following are the few factors to be consider while choosing hosting plan-

1. Uptime of the web server?

2. Does the SSL is provided by the server or not?

3. Does the server avail server side scripting (e.g. PHP, ASP)?

4. What type of host to choose Free or paid?

5. What is the upload limit and file limit?

6. Support provided to the Customer.

Now we are going to take the above factors one by one:-

1– Uptime of the web server.

While hosting one’s website he/she wants that his/her server should always be up, as if website faces downtime it will result in the loss of traffic as well as of goodwill. The customer will never visit a website which remains down most of the hours so it is very important to choose host which provides maximum uptime.

Search engines will never give position to the website that always faces the downtime.

These kinds of websites should not expect the traffic from the search engines.

One can get a web server that is usually up, by the help of the reviews of the different persons who have already used the web host.

2. Does the SSL provided by the server or not?

If one created his/her own website just for the personnel use, not for doing any transactions on his/her website then SSL protection is not required.

If one who is not doing any transactions right now, but planning to do it in the future then he /she should opt for a web host that will provide SSL protection as and when required.

SSL is an encryption method which helps to encrypt any sensitive information like credit card info, names, etc

If a customer is going for a web host who is not offering SSL protection, in that case, installation of SSL will be very expensive as if afterwards he/she is trying to get it installed then the provider can charge what ever he/she wants for the SSL protection for transactions.

3. The third factor to look at it is does the server avail for server side scripting?

There are many web host providers who provides for server side scripting but still it’s important for customers to make sure that they do or don’t.

Server side scripting permits the webmaster to create pages which changes in real time.

For example, if one is running a business, and has all of his/her products stored in a database, and then a server side script will be helpful as it generates the pages that the customer sees according to the category/product he/she chooses.

If any of the web host provider is not providing the service of server side scripting, then it means that it will be a very silly decision to choose that web hosting.

4. What type of host to choose free or paid?

Now here comes the most important factor i.e. money factor which molds the customer’s decision. It’s hard for customers to decide that what to choose –free or paid host.

In case of free host, it has one and only one advantage that it is free, rest it has only and only complications in it.

The one who is not going to do any transitions by his/her site or created his/her website only as a hobby, then any of the free host will be ok for him. On the other hand for a professional customer, it will be good for him/her to not to look at for free hosting rather choosing for a paid host. Choosing free hosting will be of no use as it will never facilitate it’s customer due to lack of facilities in it.

Free web hosting has many disadvantages such as the hosters usually run ads on one’s home page.

The paid web host usually offers better customer support that is absent in free web hosting.

5. What is the upload/bandwidth limit and file limit?

If any customer is going for hosting large image files or if he/she wants to provide downloads to his/her users then upload/ bandwidth and file limit is very important.

But if anyone is making a hobby or business website then space is not a big deal for him/her and he/she can opt the host providing less space.

6. Customer Support

Now let’s talk about the Customer support which is very important. If any customer is suffering from any problem and he/she is not getting any support from his/her host then he/she will get irritate and leave the host. If any of the hosting company don’t want to loose his customers then it is important for the company to provide proper customer support and of course when ever needed.

Some web host providers even provide forums where customers like they can log in and post questions to other customers and web host staff.

Simple Guide by Veteran Webmaster to Find a Suitable Web Hosting Provider

A good web hosting provider can contribute significantly to the success of an online venture, not only for maintaining just a stable hosting environment for your website, but provide valuable professional advices from time to time that can help you build a much more solid website for your visitors. This sort of additional service is very important if you are still new to web hosting and internet, because a much more ‘personalized’ service can help you learn up things quickly and with the help of these professional advices from your web host, you will be guided towards the proper direction and perhaps less time is needed for research and trial an error, all these are important factors that can contribute to your online success or perhaps shorten the road to success.

We know that there are thousands of web hosting providers will all kinds of marketing tricks and traps, how do we know which one is good and which one is bad ? or rather, which web hosting company fits you most ? Well, here is a good approach done by veteran webmasters for beginners to find themselves a suitable web hosting provider.

List down your own requirements and expectations

First and most important step, take out a piece of paper and start writing down all the technical requirements for running your website, these are quite straight forward. For example, your website requires a Linux based server with PHP and MySQL. After that, list out all questions you have in mind about hosting your website and the services that you expect from your web host. For example, you expect to have the same support staff to answer your support questions, so that the support staff has at least a basic understanding of your website requirements which can sometimes save you a lot of time explaining the same problem over and over again if every time you are attended by a new face. All these questions and expected treatments are important to help you understand what exactly you need from your web hosting partner and this understanding is important for you in the process of finding yourself a suitable web host, many webmaster tends to overlook this and caught themselves in hopping around different web host in a trial an error practice until they finally bump into a web host that fits them, valuable time is wasted in this repeating task of searching and moving between web hosting, which should actually be use to focus on building traffic for the website.

Get web host recommendation from experience webmasters

After getting the self brainstorming session done up, ask around friends that has several years of experience in using web hosting services, get a few recommendations of web host that fits your requirements, check through popular webmaster forums for comments on these recommended web hosts and go for those that receive more good than bad comments from webmasters, try shortlist about five from the recommendations. Don’t be surprise when you are referred to some not so commonly mentioned web hosting provider, there are lots of good website hosting provider that does not conduct aggressive marketing campaign online, these web hosts generally have clients that has been hosting with them for a very long time, and their business mostly grow by word of mouth. It is worth checking out these web host for they are those that will likely be able to provide a more personalized value added services.

Personally check shortlisted web host before commit

Third, another important step, you must personally check these shortlisted web hosts before committing yourself, everyone is unique and a popular web host among the webmaster communities may not necessary fit you too, it is always a good practice to personally check them out before committing yourself to the service. You should send your list of questions to all the shortlisted web hosts and carefully go through their responses. You will likely able to filter out those that seems good but does not really meet your expectations, and identify the web host that you are feeling most comfortable hosting with.

With this simple three step approach, you will have less chances to fall into different marketing traps, avoid hopping between different web hosts, and be able to find yourself a long term partner that can contribute to your online success.