If you’ve ever wanted a website of your own, at some point, you must’ve asked yourself, “What is a dedicated server?” To answer your question, dedicated servers meaning is no more than what it sounds like. Unlike a shared server that hosts multiple websites on a single server, a dedicated server serves its purpose by dedicating the server entirely to your website.
In addition to an outstanding security and a massive increase in speed and reliability, you can fully control the dedicated server features like configuring hardware and software options as per your preference.
This article will delve deep into what are dedicated servers, what is dedicated hosting, where you can find a dedicated server hosting services, and why you need one.
What is dedicated hosting?
Dedicated hosting is a hosting option exclusive to a single client or a single business client. It is an advanced premium option that lets the client have complete control over the server and have access to optimize features. Unlike shared hosting services, they offer complete flexibility and power to the client.
You don’t have to worry about sharing disk space, processing power, and memory with other clients. The flexibility of dedicated hosting gives you the authority to modify software codes and allows customization for better performance.
Dedicated hosting comes with a very high price, so it is not suggested for startup companies or small businesses alike since this hosting is generally for websites that attract a lot of traffic, and shared hosting services can prove to be helpful if you’re okay with the limitations or you’re on a tight budget.
With dedicated hosting comes responsibility. You have to manually do your server maintenance, like installing and updating patches to your server, which can be quite the hassle. But with all its features, it may seem unquestionably worth it.
Which dedicated server hosting services should I opt for?
There are a variety of options to choose from while searching for the best dedicated server hosting on the internet today. The best way to select a dedicated server host is to check the cost and fees, resources it offers like RAM, storage, Bandwidth, and some other criteria before you pick a host.
For your convenience, we picked out some of the best-dedicated server hosting services you can opt for.
- A2 Hosting – The unmanaged server price starts at $149.99/month
- Bluehost – The unmanaged server for Bluehost starts at $79.99/month
- AccuWeb Hosting – This dedicated server’s lowest price drops to $80/ month
Do I need a dedicated server?
While the cost of getting a dedicated server might be a lot to start with, the advantages it offers you are deemed to be reasonable for the price you pay. Most dedicated servers are ultimately best for businesses that need bandwidth requirements higher than your average joe and want top-level security.
So why do you need a dedicated server?
You need sound security for your website
Say you have a website that collects information from your customers, then you should consider having a dedicated server. A dedicated server gives you complete authority over the security of your site by helping you keep track of your resources. This means you can spot problems before they even appear, allowing you to save time and fix it before it happens.
This isn’t usually the case with shared servers. With a shared server, even though the hosting companies alert you on problems or potential threats that you may face, there are only minor changes you can make and hope for the best. A dedicated server will give you a much higher level of safety and security,
considering your website attracts a very high percentage of traffic daily.
Expanding your business with a business dedicated server
If your current business website is increasing in daily growth, you should consider switching to a dedicated server instead of limiting yourself to a shared hosting service. A dedicated server offers limitless bandwidth to accommodate the increased growth in traffic.
A website should be able to handle spikes of up to 30 times based on your regular traffic. Having a limited bandwidth with increased traffic could slow down your website’s performance and create a negative user experience that may lead to losing customers and users alike.
Overloading the resources
With a shared server, you are made for sharing resources with other sites using the same server. This means that the RAM, CPU processing power, and other resources are distributed unevenly.
This causes downtime, which may negatively affect your website by making it extremely slow to load. The only way to get it back to normal is if people using the same server get off their websites.
This is where fast dedicated servers come in. With dedicated servers, you do not have to share resources with anyone or worry about overloading the resources since the whole server is at your disposal and only yours. With greater bandwidth, you can fix any issues concerning slow reload time.
Customizability and control
One of the main reasons you should switch to a dedicated server is the customization feature and control that a dedicated server offers. You can have full access and freedom to customize your operating systems; you can maximize the bandwidth and memory according to your needs and choose your preferred softwares according to what you deem fit.
Conclusion
Shared servers are more than capable of building an excellent website for your entry-level business or if you’re not tech-savvy enough and relatively new to websites. But suppose your business is successfully thriving on your website. In that case, you should always consider switching to a dedicated server that can easily accommodate the traffic and give you peak-level website performance.
Even though dedicated servers do not come cheap, the investment will be fairly rewarded in the long term. And they offer a wide range of benefits that you won’t get in a shared server. So “What is dedicated server?” and “Do I need one for my business?” That entirely depends on you