Organizations may consider looking to upgrade to a dedicated server based on the growth of their website. Dedicated server is an internet connected computer and is used by one single customer. In other words, a solo organization enjoys all the features of the server and the resources like bandwidth, storage space and memory that come with it. Dedicated server hosting ensures an agile, reliable and high performing website with minimum downtime. The dedicated servers can easily manage high traffic, images, videos and multiple domains. The clients have the power to customize the software and hardware to make it beneficial for their business needs.
When does an organization require dedicated server?
A slow website is disastrous for every business. With the level of competition getting higher and fiercer visitors have plenty of options and websites to compare for any product or service they need. They will not wait on a site that takes time to upload. Every website has to consider moving to dedicated server hosting when they find the page upload taking more time than usual or when they get error messages from database due to high movement or the performance of a website has come down due to lesser visitors because of slow uploading.
Organizations need to regularly monitor the website traffic to learn if they need to upgrade or buy the dedicated server. It would be advisable to keep a track of the speed and volume of the traffic during peak hours or on certain days when they normally had been having high numbers of visitors. Constant monitoring of the server will require the clients to have some experienced and technical staff. Dedicated server hosting companies give the customers two choices of fully managed services or self managed services.
Fully managed dedicated hosting:
The web hosting provider offers choice of Linux or Windows operating system and they look to remove all the headaches and burdens of maintenance of server from the customer giving them more scope for expansion to newer products. The dedicated server hosting company provides round the clock proactive server monitoring, full hardware replacement at issue times, maximum uptime guarantee and heroic support. The host provides for security to the data, is responsible for software updates and upgrades, rebooting and reinstalling. Customer service support is also available 24 x 7 x 365 days. The clients get the advantage of saving on storage space as the servers are housed in data centres owned by the host. They also do not have to employ technically qualified staff as the host manages and monitors the infrastructure.
Self managed dedicated hosting:
The host provides support to the hardware and any pre-installed software and offers an optimum uptime service level agreement. They extend support round the clock over phone, chat and email. It is the cheapest type of dedicated server hosting and the clients can customize the server as per their business requirements. The server and infrastructure will be maintained and monitored by the clients and they will need to have technical experts on their rolls. The client is also required to make their own security arrangements for the safety of data and infrastructure.
Some hosts also provide semi-managed hosting where they extend medium kind of support and the client has to employ professionals to manage the server needs. It is flexible in the sense the client and host come upon some mutually agreed features that the host has to provide for.
Who requires a dedicated server?
Dedicated server hosting is required by organizations that have
- Outgrown the features offered by shared hosting and VPS hosting servers.
- Very large traffic flow on a daily basis and cannot afford slackness or slow uptime.
- Online businesses like an e-commerce website need to have a continual presence and withstand high traffic spikes
- High profile artists, public figures and luminaries to store their live streaming necessities and be available to their fans
- Need for an isolated and secured environment to safeguard their critical, sensitive and confidential data and documents.
What are benefits of dedicated hosting?
Dedicated server hosting carries a lot of benefits for organizations. The client
- Gets the entire resources of a physical server for their data and other applications as required by the business.
- Has complete control of the infrastructure and its features.
- Can install variety of software
- Is assured of highest speed of loading applications
- Gets scalable storage options and bandwidth as required by business.
- Is guaranteed of higher productivity with an active and agile website managing heavy traffic.
Dedicated server hosting is the most expensive type of web hosting service but because of the guaranteed higher level of performance and the additional superior features that it offers make it a very cost effective platform. The host comes up with different plans that makes dedicated hosting far more affordable and suitable even for growing businesses.