(Newswire.net — January 8, 2020) — Dedicated server webhosting really just means that your website will be hosted on its own physical server that is not shared with any other websites. That is what makes it different from shared hosting, and even Virtual Private Servers (VPS).
In general dedicated servers are regarded the most ‘powerful’ option to host a website. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the right option for you.
To be perfectly honest there are both reasons to use a dedicated server, as well as reasons not to. At the end of the day knowing about both will let you determine whether or not a dedicated server is a good fit for your website.
Reasons to Use a Dedicated Server
Saying that dedicated servers are ‘powerful’ is actually a bit of a generalization. In actual fact they have many advantages – each of which is a compelling reason to host your website on its own server:
- More reliable processing
One of the main disadvantages of shared webhosts is that their processing isn’t reliable because the server is being shared. Needless to say dedicated servers don’t suffer from that problem, and you’ll have a monopoly over its processing power.
In short any scripts, apps, or custom programming that runs on your server won’t inexplicably slow down – as long as your server is able to support it.
- Tailor the hardware to your requirements
Unlike other types of webhosts, you can tailor the hardware components of your dedicated server to fit your requirements in terms of its processor, RAM, storage space, and so on. That will allow you to optimize it, and ensure that it provides the best performance.
Advanced users may even want to specifically build servers that are designed for other purposes aside from hosting websites. For example the servers could be used for gaming, email, communication, and so on.
- Scale it up with growing websites
As websites grow the resources that they require will increase. Not only will they require more bandwidth, but other server resources too.
In most cases it is easy to scale dedicated server webhosts to meet those needs. All that you need to do is upgrade your server hardware as necessary.
That will help you to ensure that your website’s performance remains good, even as it grows and attracts more visitors.
- Better security
The security of dedicated servers can be much better than other options – provided you take steps to take advantage of its potential. Because it isn’t shared you won’t need to worry about other users installing potentially malicious scripts, and you’ll be able to completely control every aspect of its security.
On top of that dedicated servers have a unique IP address that is better for SSL and processing credit card payments.
- Can be more cost effective in the long term
On the surface, dedicated server webhosts are more expensive than most other types of hosting. However in the long term the opposite can actually be true.
For websites that require significant resources the fact that you can tailor dedicated servers to fit specific requirements can make them more cost-effective. Suffice to say you’ll only need to pay for resources that you need, as opposed to selecting packages that are inflated with unnecessary extras.
If you feel that any of these reasons are convincing enough, choosing to host your website on a dedicated server may be the best option. However before you make a final decision, you should look into some of the reasons why you may not want to do that.
Reasons Not To Use a Dedicated Server
As mentioned previously, although dedicated servers have many advantages – they have disadvantages too. Some of the main reasons why you may not want to use a dedicated server are:
- Expensive up-front costs
While in some cases dedicated servers can be more cost-effective in the long term, you need to be aware that the up-front costs are much higher. The basic server hardware itself is not cheap, and if anything breaks you’ll need to replace it later on.
Additionally, there may be other costs for the location to house the server, power supply, security, and so on. That is why dedicated servers are normally not that suitable for new websites or startups that have limited budget.
- Requires technical knowledge
If you want to take advantage of the potential of dedicated servers, some technical knowledge will be required. It will be up to you to set up, configure, and manage the server itself – which is not easy if you don’t have the right experience.
It should be noted that you can find managed dedicated servers that will help solve this problem – but they cost more too.
Starting to see why you may not want to use a dedicated server to host your website? If you feel that either of these reasons are going to be a stumbling block, you should definitely think long and hard about it.
Final Words
Make no mistake, dedicated server hosting is powerful and can be a great option – under the right circumstances. Now that you know the reasons why it is a good option as well as the reasons why it may not be, you should find it a whole lot easier to make a decision.
Always remember that you should take into account not just your needs right now – but in the future too. Every website starts small, but if you expect it to grow by leaps and bounds in a short span of time, you will need your webhost to be able to cope with that growth.
However at the same time you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew, and invest heavily in a web host that provides far more than you need.