While there are advantages and disadvantages to both, what you want to do with your website will play a large part in helping you decide which direction to go with your hosting options.
- Costs - If you're thinking about a dedicated server, the cost may be the first thing that you consider. Dedicated Hosting costs runs substantially higher then shared Web hosting costs (can run between $100 and $1,000 per month), and you have to decide whether a dedicated easily hosting server is worth the extra cost.
- Greater Reliability - One of the advantages to hosting with a dedicated server is reliability. Compared to shared hosting where there are many sites on the same server, you will experience much greater stability from a Dedicated Hosting plan. With a dedicated Web server, there will not be nearly as many variables that can create an unstable hosting environment.
- Greater Security - A Dedicated Hosting plan will also grant you immunity from problems arising from installed applications that come from your server neighbors. When security and consistency become more important issues for you and your website, you will realize the importance and value of having your own dedicated server. Realize though that most online stores use shared hosting. Generally speaking, if you are needing extra security beyond the norm, your IT person will recommend it. Otherwise, shared hosting is no more susceptible to security problems than Dedicated Hosting.
- Traffic & Speed – This is the most common reason for needing Dedicated Hosting. Factors such as navigating from page to page and accessing the database could reveal major differences between a shared hosting plan and a Dedicated Hosting plan. However, with that being said, for the most part, shared hosting plans at good hosting companies can match or exceed most average Dedicated Hosting speeds. The key is average. If your site gets spikes in traffic, or if you are running speed tests and finding frequent slow load times, then Dedicated Hosting may be worth the upgrade.
- Potential Cost of Lost Business - You should weigh the risks of losing customers as it compares to the sacrifice of hosting a dedicated server. This includes everything from simply navigating to download files from your website. This cannot be overstated, especially if your website is one that is trying to make money. We have seen companies that use shared hosting, which are generating millions of dollars per year, so shared hosting is not all bad.
Do I Need to Have More Technical Experience When Using Dedicated Hosting?
Absolutely, yes. With Dedicated Hosting you will have the ability to completely manage and control your server. This may at first seem like an advantage, but unless you have the technical know-how, your best bet is to take advantage of what is called managed dedicated server hosting. While this is more expensive, you will be saving yourself future headaches by having somewhat more experienced, technical help whenever you need it.
If this is your first time using Dedicated Hosting, and do not have an IT person who is very experienced with administering servers, this will undoubtedly be your best option. Without managed hosting you will be at the mercy of your own knowledge and experience when it comes to servers. The amount of support that comes with managed hosting varies. Quite often they won’t tell you much other than the absolute basics of maintaining the server.
How Is a Dedicated Server Better/Worse Than Other Types of Hosting Like VPS and Shared Hosting?
Among the many advantages of running your own dedicated server is the ability to handle security, maintenance and stability of your own system. This is better if you want complete control over this, but it will definitely require more effort on your part (or someone you’ve hired) to keep up to date with security releases and patches.
On the same note, at least when you apply these updates, you are in control. It’s normal in shared and VPS hosting for the hosting company to roll out updates, and as a result, many sites on a server can break due to incompatibilities with the upgrade. With Dedicated Hosting, at least when you break it, you know it’s your fault. This may be a good or bad thing, depending on who you are.
For the most part, it is divided into two types:
Some companies break it down even further:
- Fully Managed – (Clients don't manage anything) - This includes monitoring, OS upgrades, software upgrades, rebooting, and security patches.
- Managed – (Clients can do some tasks) - This level includes a degree of management, critical updates, and limited support.
- Self-Managed – (Clients perform most tasks) - This level includes basic monitoring and some maintenance.
- Unmanaged – (Client performs all aspects of management) - Hosting company provides little to no support.
But the truth is, these terms are vague, and not standardized, so when shopping for Dedicated Hosting, you will simply want to compare features, service, and prices.
Self serve, or just regular Dedicated Hosting, comes with basic support. Managed hosting means they are installing server updates (usually not very often), and in theory, are generally more pro-active in monitoring your server’s uptime. Managed is quite a bit more expensive, and a good analogy is babysitting. Although there is someone there who should be taking care of the servers, they aren’t always paying attention or doing a good job.
What Do I Look For In a Dedicated Host?
Shopping for Dedicated Hosting requires the most technical understanding when compared to VPS or Shared Hosting. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Uptime – This depends much on the network where you are hosting. Most hosts do not want to, or cannot tell you what their actual uptime is, so listening to what our users have to say can be very useful.
- Support – This is probably one of the biggest differences. If you can always call the hosting company, and they answer (without putting you on hold), chances are their support is decent. The other half of support is, how good are they when it comes to fixing or resolving problems. In our experience, this is what differentiates dedicated hosts. Some have hired really experienced employees who can help solve problems quickly, even if they need to escalate your support request. Switching dedicated servers for this reason is not uncommon.
- Features – Features are sparse on Dedicated Hosting. However, having “root access” may be important if you are installing software or other systems on the server than need root access. Check with your IT person, or whoever manages the software you plan to use. Some dedicated hosts have some monitoring, backup, and security tools, which make managing a dedicated server a lot more fun to say the least.
- Power – Just like VPS hosting, most of what you are paying for is the power of the server (or server hardware), as well as the bandwidth. It is easiest to simply take note of general numbers and then compare them across hosting companies. The server’s power comes from a few key components. Servers are not unlike home computers in how they are built, although the hardware is more specialized for hosting:
- Processor / CPU – This is the central brain of the computer, and is usually an Intel or AMD processor. Much like a home computer. Names like “Xeon” “Pentium” “Opteron” are various models within these brands, and for the average person, mean very little. Again, if you are unsure, simply compare a couple companies you are interested in, and then tell the sales person what the other company is offering specifically. They should know if the other setup is faster than the one they’re offering. Often they come in dual processors, quad processors (or sometimes more). Having 2 or more processors can be important on a super high traffic site. As an idea, we had one experience where we had 2 servers, each with 2 processors, and that could support 1,500,000 hits per day (mostly to a database), with some strong peak periods. One dual processor server simply wasn’t enough to handle it. By the way, to reduce confusion, “dual processors” or in other words having 2 processors, is different than a “dual core” processor. A dual-core, quad core, etc… processor is just a different type of processor that has gotten popular in recent years. Dual and quad-core may offer some benefit over single core processors, but in short, having two dual-core processors is much more powerful than a single quad-core on your server.
- Memory / RAM – This component is generally matched to be in the same class as the processor. Sometimes, if you run heavy software applications on the server, you may find that you need to upgrade the total amount of RAM on your server. This is usually the biggest bottleneck in Dedicated Hosting, with database powered sites. Your hosting company can usually let you know if this is the case.
- Storage / Hard drives – This is where the server stores all your website files, and the software needed to be able to host the website. This is generally important if you are storing lots of files for your website users. The other key factor in hard drives has to do with backups. Keeping a mirrored drive on your server usually means minimal downtime if the main hard drive is to fail. Hard drive speeds can also make a difference. High speed drives means a faster site; generally speaking, the higher the RPM’s the faster. SCSI drives tend to be way more expensive, but still can out-perform most regular ISE (SATA/PATA) drives. Companies often opt for the cheaper option, because differences are not so obvious for the average site.
- Bandwidth – Generally, bandwidth is rarely a problem on Shared Hosting because users use up their other resources (e.g. CPU time) long before they run out of bandwidth. But with Dedicated Hosting, you may need to keep an eye on it. Bandwidth is generally cheap. If your site is making money, then this is usually not much of an issue.
- Server Software – Since you or your IT people will likely be involved, then knowing what sort of server operating system the host offers is important (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, etc…).
- SLA – This is the host’s promise to refund you actual hosting costs if your site happens to go down, and you are actually monitoring it (which few people do). In our experience, this amounts to very few dollars and cents. Not only because downtime may amount to a few dollars, but usually, you have to monitor your own site to ensure it’s online, as well as not be your own fault, or due to high traffic. SLA’s are not really important in our opinion, and are standard with most hosts these days.
Also keep in mind that sites with questionable usage and content may need to find specialized hosts, or approval processes. For example: adult sites, potentially illegal content (music/video file sharing), IRC (due to potential malicious/DDOS/hacking use), etc...
When in doubt, just read our hosting reviews, as well as those from our users. Chances are, we can save you a lot of time and headache when it comes to finding a great dedicate hosting company. Once you found a good company, then have them help you customize your hosting plan with them.
