Tag Archive Managed Hosting

What is a Dedicated Server?

What is a Dedicated Server?

What is a Dedicated Server?

What is a dedicated server? Glad you asked! This page outlines what a dedicated server is, and explains the benefits of dedicated server hosting over shared hosting.

Dedicated server hosting refers to a type of web hosting plan where you are allocated a whole server to yourself. Therefore, a “dedicated server” refers to the “dedicated” server that you rent (or purchase) in order to host your website (or websites).

Dedicated server hosting can give you more control over your website. It can also help to ensure that other customers’ websites don’t impact on your website. Using dedicated servers is much more expensive than shared hosting, but if your site receives lots of traffic or you have other requirements (such as extra security requirements), dedicated server hosting could be for you.

With dedicated server hosting, you are able to log in to your dedicated server just as you would log in to your own computer. Once logged in, you can install and configure software as you wish.

Dedicated Server with Managed Hosting

Some dedicated server hosting plans are fully managed, meaning that your web hosting company performs regular administration duties, such as initial server setup, patching, anti-virus, security scanning, monitoring, and more.

Other dedicated server plans are self managed – you are responsible for the server setup, patching, anti-virus, etc

As you might expect, fully managed plans can be much more expensive than a self-hosted option. However, unless you have the time and inclination to look after your server 24/7, you might be better off looking for some sort of managed hosting plan.

Some dedicated server hosting plans are managed by default, others are self managed with an optional “service plan”, meaning, you pay extra for your web host to manage your server. Some of these self managed plans have various “add ons” that you can pick and choose. For example, you could add on a backup plan, a server maintenance plan, a security scanning service, etc. With these options, your web hosting company will perform these duties as outlined on a regular basis (for example, weekly or monthly) or perhaps on a one-off basis as required by yourself.

Example of Dedicated Server Hosting

To get a better idea of what’s included with dedicated server hosting, check out these dedicated servers at our partner site, ZappyHost.

What is a Dedicated Server – Another Definition

The term “dedicated server” can also mean a single computer within a network that is reserved for a specific purpose. For example, within a network, you could have a computer dedicated to printer resources, another computer dedicated to Internet connections, another computer serving as a firewall, etc. These computers would all be dedicated servers, as the whole computer is allocated for a specific task within the network.

What is a Virtual Dedicated Server?

A virtual dedicated server is a variation on the dedicated server concept. Instead of hiring the whole physical server, you hire a virtual server.

A virtual dedicated server is also referred to as a virtual private server (VPS). To learn more about VPS hosting, see What is VPS Hosting?.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

What is Dedicated Hosting?

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting is a hosting configuration in which a server is devoted to a single organisation or for a single purpose, such as a website. This is in contrast to shared hosting, in which a server acts as a host to multiple clients. A dedicated hosting service is sometimes referred to as a dedicated server and can be set up in-house or externally as a service from within a data center. Let’s have a look at some of the benefits.
Customisation – Dedicated hosting grants a certain freedom and control that other hosting solutions are unable to provide. The fact that the server is dedicated to one client and there are no cohabitants means that the server (and overall hosting solution) can be tailored to the specific needs of that client. This ensures that they can select and pay for the features that they require.
Uptime – In a world where convenience is everything and consumers aren’t used to waiting, it is vital to ensure that a website, for example, is functional at all times; site downtime could lead to customers moving on to competitors. Dedicated hosting allows for high performance and stability to ensure that websites and other business functions are operational virtually 100% of the time (usually upwards of 99.4%). To this end, providers should offer server monitoring and back-up facilities alongside support services (described below) to keep functions running as seamlessly as possible.
Congestion – Server congestion is much less of an issue with a dedicated server, especially when compared to shared hosting options. With the latter, you often run the risk of congestion due to the traffic and usage levels of other websites or applications hosted on the same server, competing for bandwidth, disk space and CPU usage. The very nature of dedicated hosting ensures that this isn’t an issue. It also works the other way; if the website in question is resource heavy then dedicated hosting may be the answer to ensure that other websites aren’t disrupted.
Security – Clients using a dedicated platform will be able to deploy security measures, such as anti-virus and firewall configurations, that are more tailored to their own functions; whilst also avoiding the security vulnerabilities that can otherwise be introduced by the activities of neighbouring clients on shared hosting platforms. In addition, dedicated servers located within data centers can benefit from the physical security measures that such facilities often put in place, including, for example, biometric authentication, security guards and mantraps.
Support – Some dedicated hosting services come with a certain level of support. This is important as a high percentage of dedicated hosting customers use the service to host mission critical or important computing functions or websites. Effective support ensures that site disruption is kept to a minimum. A fully managed hosting provider, for example, may offer support 24 hours per day, 365 days a year.
Details of support levels, as well as information regarding reliability statistics can usually be found in the service level agreement (SLA). These documents can often provide an insight into the quality of a particular service and should be consulted carefully when going through the process of choosing a provider.
If opting for a dedicated service that does not come with any support, it is important to ensure the presence of the necessary knowledge to manage and maintain a server effectively.