Stephen Dolan asked:


You’ve made yourself a great web site. Through good design and better content, you’ve been able to build up a respectable amount of traffic. And then your web site is linked from Slashdot. Traffic to your site soars to levels you had only dreamed of. However, before you get the chance to benefit from your newfound popularity you exceed your bandwidth allocation and your hosting company takes your site offline. If you’re relying on virtual hosting, it may be time to switch over to a dedicated hosting service.

Most people who are new to web hosting use a virtual, or shared, hosting service. In a virtual hosting service you rent space and bandwidth on a common server. Your site will be just one of many on a single physical server. More experienced users will often use a dedicated hosting service. While with virtual hosting you are pretending that you have your own server, with dedicated hosting you actually get the whole server to yourself.

Although dedicated hosting can be significantly more expensive than virtual hosting, it has many benefits. Nonetheless, dedicated hosting is not necessary for everyone. It is therefore necessary to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each type of hosting when deciding what type of hosting service is best for you.

The main benefit of using a virtual hosting service is it is fairly cheap. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive way to get your content onto the Internet, virtual hosting is for you.

However, along with the cheaper price comes many disadvantages to using virtual hosting. Because you are sharing the server with other web sites, the amount of space and bandwidth you can use will be limited. And because you are sharing our server’s resources, if one web site starts to slow down under excessive traffic or server processes, your web site’s performance will also be affected.

You will also be limited in what types of software you want the server to run because you will not have any access to the server. If you want to install something on the server that is outside of the usual parameters, you will have to ask your server administrator to do it for you. And in many cases, it will not be worth the server administrators time to do it for you. Your web site will also be more vulnerable to security breaches, since a hacker just has to be able to get into one of the web sites to be able to access all the web sites on the server.

A dedicated hosting service will avoid all the disadvantages of using a virtual server. The only disadvantage to using a dedicated hosting service is the price, especially if you are not particularly knowledgeable about server upkeep and have to use a managed service.

It is important to seriously consider what your budget is and what your web site needs to be effective. If your web site is just a blog or does not have a lot of content, than it will probably not use a lot of the servers resources and you will likely be fine with virtual hosting. For complex e-commerce sites, or web sites that receive a large amount of traffic, it may be more economical in the long run to use a dedicated hosting service.

Ray La Foy asked:


If you want to start a serious online business, you might want to consider looking for cheap dedicated hosting. By definition, dedicated hosting means that the webmaster rents an entire server, which is not shared with anybody.

This is much more convenient than shared hosting because you, as the webmaster, have full control over the server, including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Administration, however, is still handled by the hosting company.

The greatest advantage of using dedicated hosting is that your website performance will not be affected by high traffic websites with which you would have been sharing your server’s bandwidth. The dedicated hosting environment provides an exclusive server or servers devoted solely to your web site. You do not share a server with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Before dedicated servers, a webmaster used to have two hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A person who bought space on a shared host would receive a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the site served from a common web server.

The hosts would try to provide a wide range of options for the webmaster, in order to increase to popularity of their products. But, unfortunately, a customer who needed a non-standard program installed or who wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run would be completely not allowed to achieve these goals.

One example might be a site which required a database to store the priceless information. Many hosts would provide the MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application required another type of database, then it wouldn’t be compatible with the shared hosting account.

Users who don’t fit into the standard shared hosting model and find that it doesn’t work anymore for them, or whose sites grew very popular and required a large amount of resources have one alternative though: hosting their sites on a dedicated server.

A dedicated server can be customized to exactly fit the needs of a site developer. That’s where the name is from. If a particular database were needed, it could be installed instantly, as there were no other users to please.

While dedicated servers can be customized and can handle much more traffic than a shared hosting account, their enhanced performance can sometimes come with a high price tag.

A typical dedicated server can cost hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting provider. That’s why you need to be sure that you want to take your business seriously, and you need a dedicated server. And with all the competition going on out there, you might just find some cheap dedicated hosting.

Web Hosting asked:


There are several hosting providers in the market claiming for their dependability and dedication. But a hosting company provided the true example of actual dedication and determination when a hurricane called “Katrina” struck New Orleans. The story mentioned below is of directNIC and courageous attitude of men and women whose fighting spirit kept the data center breathing throughout the most awful circumstances.

It was a Saturday, the date was, August 27th, 2005 and the time was 11:05pm, Michael Barnett made a horrific comment because Captain Oates told the Scott voyage he would be “gone for some time.” Watching the imminent hurricane via 10th floor office on Poydras St. in New Orleans, Barnett marked an entry in a diary narrating the whole account, mentioning, “Hmm. This could really be a vicious storm.”

In upcoming days of the declaration world understood that that not only the storm was a supernormal one but also Barnett. He is acting as the crisis manager for directNIC. Barnett was present there because of the reason that 10th and 11th floors of this building house the directNIC data center, and it was under a threat.

There was only a team of 5 people, which included the Chief Executive Officer, and the Senior VP of directNIC; he led the company through no doubt, an ultimate and true nightmare. It was totally a devastating scenario. The storm blew out windows, hack out the power and water supply of the city. Still Barnett and company stayed there, fully rigid. Rigid like a mountain. Now showing a good example ahead exempt from the mandatory evacuation order, directNIC weathered the storm, the floods, the fires, the looting and anarchy. In order to fulfill the demand of generators they carried barrels of diesel up limitless flights of steps. In spite of all these situations they were able to keep the building secure, and not only that even they maintained their servers well.

One important thing that directNIC kept in spite of the problem was they left open few communication lines. In order to prevent shortage they brought servers from nearby businesses and government buildings into their NOC in order to save valuable and sensitive data. In order to keep the world informed about all they kept cameras, IRC and Blog channels open. Thus they maintained complete transparency. They provided as much help as possible like they even provide shelter to military personnel and provided logistical support for operations in the area. To summarize, Barnett and his crewmembers worked much more than their liability was and shown that they were the real heroes of their country.

Looking on the above situation we can say that it is just fortunate that such things are not happening and so hosting companies are working with ease else they also have to prove themselves. Thus directNIC is the company, which has shown an example in front of all, and its work will not last ever at least in the hosting industry. In web hosting industry directNIC will always get solute from all and whenever one will talk about reliability and dedication, it will be above all. Thus it can be said that a “bullet-proof” hosting may be a fine marketing tool for some companies, but directNIC has just proved it.

DirectNIC is a web hosting and collocation facility based in New Orleans, LA. Since the devastation of Katrina, since that devastation they are still searching for a new location for their setup.

In American history, Hurricane Katrina has been called as the most destructive natural disaster, which has devastated hundreds of thousands of lives. We pray that such incidence should not happen ever.

Amy Nutt asked:


If you have a high traffic website with dynamic features, then switching to a dedicated server is probably the best choice for you. The major advantages are faster load time, increased security, and total control over your website.

This dedicated server is a single web server, devoted solely to the use of one organization, unlike shared servers that host a number of other users and websites. Particularly suitable for larger corporations that process and store high quantities of secure data, dedicated servers often require a higher capital investment yet have a number of key advantages:

1. Higher speed and performance levels

By switching to a dedicated server, the entire host is devoted to running one organization’s software and website. With a shared server, the actions and usage of other websites can impact upon the response times of a website and can even cause a time-out, especially if one website has a promotion and experiences a sudden surge in traffic.

2. Increased capacity

Because a dedicated server is created for just one organization, capacity is only limited by the size of the server rather than the number of users present on that host. Dedicated servers provide a more reliable website which can run full-time with less server jamming. Websites can feature more complex functions and there are fewer limitations on the number of email accounts and attached databases.

3. Increased security

By sharing the server with other sites and users, there is a possibility that other customers may be able to view secure files and in some cases overwrite certain files. This can be extremely risky if a company stores and processes highly sensitive data. If any website on the host is attacked by a hacker or virus, this also makes the rest of the sites on the server vulnerable.

4. Increased site control

With complete server dedication, it is possible to have more control over data access and over what happens on that server, such as which scripts can be run and which online activities can occur.

5. Ability to customise hardware set-up

Dedicated hardware is provided for the server which can only be used by one customer. This allows the customer to have control over the hardware and make any alterations or upgrades.

6. Customised software

Many shared sites have limited features and software availability due to security and stability issues. For example, JSP support on shared servers is still rare. With a dedicated server, there is greater freedom of choice as to which programmes run, allowing a customer’s individual needs to be catered for.

7. Creation of more than one domain

Companies that have multiple divisions or chains benefit greatly from a dedicated server in that they can create several domains on one server. This is more cost effective and efficient than each outlet renting space on a different host and creates a uniform sales platform with a simplified administration and support system.

8. Increased reliability

It only requires one rogue website in a shared server to cause a search engine to ban the entire server, due to the shared IP address. With a dedicated server, reliability is no longer compromised by other customers’ poorly written scripts or security problems.

9. Effective large website maintenance

A dedicated server provides the ability to run a large website, which can be remotely controlled and operated, without the need to employ large numbers of staff. There is no requirement to purchase or maintain server equipment and server upgrades are more cost effective.

10. Technical support

Many dedicated server providers offer additional administrative, trouble-shooting and management support.

If your website does not have any of these qualities, then you know that it is time to move your site to a dedicated server. You’ve put a lot of work into your website, so you deserve to have the best service possible.

David asked:


Are you looking for hosting server? But not sure what they are, searching for dedicated or shared server but don’t know what is the difference, either way this articles helps you out to find best hosting service for your sites.

Mainly hosting servers are of three types free servers, dedicated servers and shared servers. Free servers provide limited space, with limited features. While most popular are dedicated and shared servers. Shared servers are those in which you will share space with other users. Your website and other people will share the same server.

With a shared server, the host typically takes care of administration of the server, which requires little technical skills.

A dedicated server is a single computer on a web-hosting network that is leased or rented, and dedicated to just one customer. A service provider monitors the computer’s hardware, network connectivity, and routing equipment, while the customer generally controls and maintains the server software.

But before deciding weather you want dedicated or shared server you should consider level of website, if you operate a small business or a simple website of 5-10 pages dedicated server is not a best choice for you. It is important to understand your space need, bandwidth and budget before choosing dedicated web hosting servers. Dedicated server is the best option for the people who want huge amount of data space and bandwidth. These servers offer complete control on entire network. Major advantage of dedicated servers is that it provides each and every service at the small cost. These servers offer ability to manage firewalls and password access due to security purposes.

A small business, with minimal traffic, will likely want to stick with shared servers because dedicated server cost you a great deal more than a shared server.

Finally it is important to understand your space need, bandwidth, and budget prior choosing hosting server. Generally a large website with lots of traffic and need bulk bandwidth choose a dedicated server while a small business with less traffic will stick to shared servers.

Offshoremode.com offers offshore dedicated server and bulk email server in Malaysia.

Avinash Smith asked:


Hosting is the process of getting a website on the Internet. In order to get a website on the internet on all the time, individuals put up their own websites with the help of an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

As far as hosting is concerned, you will find a lot companies who are offering web hosting services at different packages. If you want to get your website hosted with a company that can provide dedicated server hosting service then you need to pay some extra money for this. Dedicated hosting is preferable for large organizations or clients who not only need professional assistance for their needs, but also are willing pay more money. Obviously, the dedicated hosting is much more expensive than the ordinary hosting, but the advantages may outweigh the expenses.

Dedicated hosting companies often provide customized hosting services and remove all hassles of worrying about hardware issues and troubleshooting. If you expect to have lot of traffic to your website, then it is recommended that dedicated server hosting is essential for your website. Dedicated server hosting involves leasing an entire server offering choices of software, scripting languages and the appropriate hardware needed for the website.

If you think your website needs dedicated server hosting then you have to take care of some points before selecting a web hosting company. You need to know about the services what is offered by the company in terms of required software as well as hardware. The most essential things to consider are uptime servers, power backup, type of operating systems (OS) and the control panel. The control panel is used to access control of the website. The uptime server is the time or duration of the time for which the site is running through the server.

If you are looking for a web hosting company that can offers dedicated server hosting service then I can assure you that Olive Web Hosting is the best option for you.

MIKE SELVON asked:


With the way that the internet is growing and how important it is for a business to have a web presence these days, most people are aware of website hosting and why it is needed. For entrepreneurs and many small businesses, a shared web hosting service is usually sufficient and can keep hosting costs low. However, when an internet business reaches a certain level of traffic and size, a dedicated server is the best way to go for a website that is really taking off.

A dedicated server is simply a web hosting computer that is “dedicated” to one particular website or web business. When a server is “dedicated,” it means that all of the computing resources of that server are solely allocated to one single client.

In most instances, the dedicated hosting server is leased or purchased by the client who owns the website being hosted. Usually, these specialized servers are housed in a secure data center, which also provides extra services, such as environmental control, power backup systems, security and the needed connection to the internet.

Most of the time, if a web business has some special requirements, then it is time to move to a dedicated server. Some of the special considerations might be for added security systems, extra resource drains that can slow performance, or when there is customization of scripts needed. When these needs arise, a shared web server hosting plan is usually going to be insufficient.

A dedicated server is also a viable alternative to purchasing a powerful and scalable server in-house, and any additional software that might be necessary. The outright purchase of such powerful dedicated servers can be very capital intensive and the expense can be extreme for fledgling companies, even if they are planning for significant growth and expansion. Instead, dedicated servers provided by dedicated hosting services offer an alternative that provides the computing power needed for a thriving website that is in demand, at a cost that is easier to handle.

Another advantage to using a dedicated hosting service is that the server can be built to the specifications of the company that owns and operates the website. At that point, it is dedicated only for the use of that company, and the company is able to completely manage and control the server remotely, in terms of system administration and application use.

At the same time, it is the dedicated hosting service provider, or web hosting service, that is responsible for maintaining the all of the hardware and the network connectivity. In most cases, this means that there are technicians available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to make sure that the web servers are always running.

The companies that provide dedicated hosting services have many clients; therefore, the cost of having the data center staffed around the clock is shared. It is much less expensive to have a dedicated server maintained by the hosting service than it is for a company, especially one that is relatively new, to have that same level of technical support for their web servers.

Chris Narfundle asked:


 

The type of web hosting you choose is dependent upon exactly what you are wanting for your site. Both hosting options have their benefits and their downfalls and you must decide what is most important for you.

 

If you are planning on having a small website, whether business or personal, shared hosting might be a good choice, particularly if you are looking to save money. Shared hosting costs less because you are sharing a server with other websites and the cost for running the site is divided between the website owners. The prices for shared hosting can vary from just a few dollars a month or more. This is usually dependent upon how many others are sharing the site. There are some downsides however to using shared hosting. Most shared hosting sites offer you a limited amount of disk space and bandwidth for your website. Some will even charge more if you use more bandwidth than you are alloted. Additionally, you may have to deal with other websites on the server using too much bandwidth, which can cause your website to run slowly and even freeze up.

 

Dedicated servers on the other hand, mean that your website has it’s own dedicated server that is not shared with any other websites. This is the best choice of hosting service, particularly if you are planning on having a large website or will have a website that will have a high level of traffic. A dedicated host offers a higher level of service to it’s website owners. They generally have more features available to users and make the sites easier to build. Many people feel the downside to a dedicated server is that they are generally very expensive. They can range anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars a year. But, if you have a large website, whether business or personal, it is definitely worth the money. Dedicated hosting offers a much more reliable service to you and ensures that you will have a higher amount of uptime on your website.

 

Choosing the right web hosting services is one of the most important thing you can do when building your website. If you feel that you can’t afford a dedicated host right now, you can either attempt to use shared hosting or save up the money until you can afford dedicated hosting. If your website is small and you think you will not have any problems using a shared host, than you should start looking into companies that offer quality shared hosting. However, if you know you are going to have a large website, and fear shared hosting may not work for you, then you would be better off choosing a dedicated host. It’s best to with a host that can provide for your needs from the start, rather than having to switch hosts at a later date.

maruti asked:


When your website grows out of the facilities provided by shared hosting services, the next natural progression is towards using Virtual Private Servers (VPS), aka virtual dedicated servers. Virtual dedicated servers use a special kind of partitioning technology that successfully creates several ‘virtual’ servers out of a single physical server. Every web site that is hooked on to a virtual dedicated server has a completely separate server space. The server behaves as if it was dedicated only to that website. Through this technology, hosting companies are able to create multiple servers using a single physical server. This reduces costs while providing maximum benefit to clients.

Virtual dedicated servers offer a number of advantages to the websites they service. Through this service, a website has full root access to the server. That means, you can do any one of the number of activities to customize your server. You may install software, add and update packages, host multiple sites and change server configuration. At the same time, security is never compromised because other clients do not have access to your section of the server.

Virtual dedicated servers are very attractive to website owners because they are a happy via media between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Many websites, particularly fledgling e-commerce sites, may have outgrown shared hosting but may find dedicated hosting too expensive for their needs. In this case, virtual dedicated servers provide all the facilities at a fraction of the cost.

Virtual dedicated hosting is targeted at businesses and enterprises that are on their way up. They are meant to be used as an intermediary step towards a highly successful online business. Therefore, virtual dedicated servers always offer an easy option to upgrade services. Generally, you would require less than a minute to upgrade your hosting account so that your website would have more disk space, memory or other facilities. Virtual dedicated servers come with an easy-to-use control panel that offers a highly powerful tool box that allows you easy access to powerful features.

Virtual dedicated servers are not without a few disadvantages. Of course, these disadvantages are comparative. When compared with a dedicated server, virtual dedicated servers offer less security. However, the amount of protection that virtual dedicated servers provide is much more than that provided by shared hosting services. Only if your website requires 100% protection, should you consider replacing virtual dedicated servers with a physical dedicated server. Another disadvantage is the fact that it is possible for you to alter your website accidentally or even crashed the server unwittingly. Even so, most dedicated servers provide excellent backup facilities.

Bluehost Hosting asked:


For the purpose of multiple webs hosting customers the role of providing features of a dedicated server is done by Virtual Private Server (VPS), or also known as Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS). At first look it may possess a contradictory appeal; how one can have a dedicated server which is being served by multiple users? Isn’t it looking like a regular shared or virtual hosting environment? There is nothing to contradict in the statement that, with a Virtual Private Server the user has to share system resources for e.g. CPU and RAM with other users but the resources are owed and modified in such a manner that it is impossible to predict that the system possess someone besides the user on it, to a large extent ideally like a dedicated server. Thus resources are modified and arranged in such a way that each hosting client is allowed to exploit an allocated percent, means the resources assigned to a particular user will always be there all time ready to serve him/her.

Merits of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting

Majority of users prefer complete command of their server environments and do not wish to share the server with several other users, who could easily exploit all the available resources and can cause problem to other users by creating unbalance. But at the same time several websites do not require a dedicated server. The Virtual Private Server (VPS) alternative is a very fabulous slot hosting solution for a fairly large lump of web hosting clients who prefer the stability of a dedicated server however on a smaller scale. With the resources setup in such a way that each person can only use what is in his/her own share, one’s site will be more steady because it will always have the same amount of access to the CPU, memory, as well as to the bandwidth. Virtual Private Servers are preferably more safe since even as the user share the memory and CPU time, he/she are allocated his/her own file system. For an instance, if a website on the server is hacked, the hackers will be able to admit to that particular file system only and can not harm the other existing websites. Besides all these advantages, A VPS is also affordable as compared to a dedicated server.

Demerits of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting

As till now discussion was on the pros of a VPS and one might think that this is the finest thing .But there is another side of the coin as well as, not all providers setup or define Virtual Private Servers, also known as Virtual Dedicated Servers, the exact same way. One should ensure that provider guarantees the user that their setup is robust enough to knob the operations at a peak level. A commonly prevailing trick generally put into use by the providers in the field of reselling and shared space is ‘overselling’. It denotes selling more in terms of services than what is physically available, with the gamble that the end users wouldn’t exhaust up all the service that were advertised in front of them. In the dominion of VPS this can be a bit more severe, as at least the expectation is that one is working in a more vigorous environment and there are many clients running more intensive applications like message boards or custom web applications. A shortage of resources could result in causing problems for each one hosted on such a server, therefore evading the benefits of a VPS. In a mutual or dedicated environment the user might be able to access more quantity of resources during peak or spike periods but since the VPS environment restricts the user to use his/her own piece of server resources, it can come in front as a drawback.

With dynamic and changing technology web hosting is not sufficient, in the same manner there are some problems with VPS services also. The user has to tackle with the problems of CPU cycles and RAM distant for storing of space and bandwidth. So the user will see advertisements for hosting that might include MHz and MB RAM to go with the usual hosting related features. It is something difficult to calculate out how much CPU time or RAM the user might require, so one must look for a hosting provider that will provide him/her with some benchmarks and the ability to upgrade or downgrade the VPS service as and when required.

JUDGMENT:

- Permits complete control of user’s virtual server and its resources

- Permits the user to run web applications without unfavorably affecting other clients

- Flexible – cheaper than dedicated hosting, more expensive than shared

So Go ahead and best of luck!!!