Businesses small and large are faced with a number of tough decisions when it comes to choosing their hosting solution. Arguably, self-hosted platforms are the most popular, but today we’ll be focusing on dedicated servers such as ServerMania and 1&1 IONOS.
Simply put, dedicated hosting is where an entire server is devoted to a single organization for a single purpose – such as a website. Though the pricing of such hosting service would vary company to company. You will find costly as well as affordable dedicated servers services. The benefits of dedicated servers are largely based around power and control. However, I’ve curated this article to give you an in-depth look at the most important plus points.
So, without further ado, here they are.
1. Flexibility and Future Growth
One of the most beneficial plus points of choosing a dedicated server is the flexibility and control that comes with it. Unlike shared hosting, dedicated hosting platforms such as ServerMania don’t limit the users use in terms of CPU, RAM, disk space or software.
After all, it’s a customisable solution.
Unlike a self-hosted provider, you’ll have access to the entire server. Having root access to the server is important for adding your own software and accessing the server logs.
But there’s more, you can also:
- Implement special security measures
- Drive your website in a flexible and scalable way
- Expect peak performance during peak business times
- Upgrade your server as and when it suits you
Furthermore, as your business grows, there’s a chance that your website may require more applications or storage to deal with a large number of web traffic. This is where dedicated servers are at their most useful, as the user can easily add applications or boost their websites storage capacity.
Dedicated servers and hosting providers are built to accommodate growing businesses, so if your business is striving for global success, they’re definitely worth a look-in. What’s more, having a flexible server will also provide a seamless user experience for your current visitors. And we all know what happens when a customer has a pleasant website experience, that’s right – they return.
2. Increased reliability and performance
Who wants to visit a website that’s slow, buggy and unreliable? Heck, I know I don’t!
Speed, performance, and reliability are the most important factors when it comes to running a successful website. Generally speaking, dedicated hosting is more reliable than shared hosting. The main reason for this is because you’re not sharing a server with another 100 people, or more importantly – a potential spammer.
Dedicated servers tend to have enhanced security too, which is important for businesses handling sensitive transactions over SSL or FTP. What’s more, dedicated servers are more unlikely to crash, which will suit websites that attract large numbers of web traffic.
The only major downside is that dedicated servers cost more than shared hosting. However, if you’re business requires more power, storage, and bandwidth – it’s definitely worth it.
3. Unique IP address
Every dedicated server has its own unique IP address. This means there’s no need to worry about the actions of other users who are using the same IP address.
For large-scale eCommerce websites that require SSL for credit card processing, this is extremely important. But why, I hear you ask? Well, if you’re using shared hosting you could be sharing your IP address with spam or an adult site, which will effectively destroy how your website ranks among others. The overriding result of this could have a negative effect on the number of visitors that click on your website from search engines such as Google or Yahoo.
4. Cost-effective
Although the initial cost of a dedicated server is often more than shared hosting, over time, having your own server can save you money. Dedicated hosting manages the cost of building and maintaining server equipment. Therefore, it’s their responsibility to fix any equipment if something goes wrong.
Dedicated servers are an excellent option if you don’t have the time or resources to manage the server yourself. In theory, this type of hosting has all the benefits of an in-house server without the hassle of having to manage and maintain it yourself. Dedicated servers will benefit users who don’t have the time or resources to upkeep their server.
5. The ability to purchase specific server software
Having the freedom to choose your own specifications is another plus point with dedicated web servers. You can tailor what sort of hardware you want according to your content and the amount of web traffic.
Essentially, this relates back to what I said at the beginning of this article about dedicated servers being excellent at handling future growth.
6. Compliance and security benefits
If your business sees compliance and security as two of the most important features in a web hosting solution, then a dedicated server is what I’d recommend. Because of the data on your website being confined to a single server, there’s much less risk of interception, data loss, and infiltration. Primarily, this means that you can rest easy when it comes to thinking about things like being hacked.
Conclusion
Dedicated servers aren’t for everyone, that’s why we have self-hosted options too. But if your business requires first-class performance, flexibility, and support, I’d advise checking out a dedicated server.
But remember, finding the perfect server to host your website starts with a tonne of necessary research. So don’t shy away from putting in the hours to find out all there is to know about your potential server, as trust me – it will pay off.
