Do I Need A Dedicated Server?

The decision on when to upgrade to having your own dedicated web server all depends on your budget along with the type of site you have. Dedicated Servers can be expensive for some pockets, but if you are running a business oriented site which receives quite a bit of queries it maybe time for you to make the switch from shared hosting to dedicated hosting. Some factors to consider are below:

1. Bandwidth Transfer

How much bandwidth is your site transferring on a daily basis? That should be one of the main factors contributing to your decision on upgrading to having your own web server. For instance if your site is transferring over 1 GIG of traffic a day or more, then you should upgrade to a web server for the sole purpose of having all the server's resources and bandwidth for your one site. This will definitely be a major plus when you begin to receive an increase in traffic. Rather than sharing traffic and having limitations on a web hosting plan, you'll be able to ensure that all the bandwidth allocated to the server is going towards your sites only.

2. Web Space

With shared hosting you may have a plan that offers 500 MB of web space, but with a server you can have all 20 GIGS or more available to host your site or any other sites you are planning on developing in the near future. This is more than enough space to host your sites. Very effective if you are planning on developing an entire network of sites.

3. Software

Most companies are not going to allow custom installation of dll's and com objects on a shared hosting environment. If you have reached the point where it would be beneficial to have a dll installation or com object then you should get make the desision to lease a server that would allow you to install the dll's and com objects and any other software you need. Another postive is that you'll be able to handle the security updates, ensure patches are installed, firewalls, etc yourself. This way you won't have to rely or "hope" that your host actually has the servers up to date. By having your own dedicated server, you can make any updates or upgrades on your own, since you will have total access to manage the server.

4. Future Sites

If you are going to be building a network of sites, it maybe more feasible to have a reseller hosting plan, a virtual dedicated server (VDS), aka virtual private server (VPS), where you can continue to add your network of sites without having to contact the host or order a new hosting plan for every site. This would also allow you the feature to even host a few paid sites if you wish to earn back some of the investment you pay monthly for leasing the server. Another option is to open your own web hosting business reselling the space on your server as hosting accounts. There are quite a few hosts offering web hosting on their web servers.

5. Pricing

Can I afford this? It all depends on your budget, and how big of an upgrade it would be from your current hosting plan. There are a few companies who offer budget rentals. For instance some companies start their servers prices at $99/month and you have full access to the server to add as many websites as you wish and add whatever software you require, along with full root access. Companies offering dedicated servers are listed on the homepage.

Those are just some of the factors to consider when deciding if upgrading to your own server is for you. In most cases if you need flexibility, have technical knowledge and do no want to be waiting on your web host to do support requests then by all means upgrade. It's a perfect choice for anyone who will be running multiple websites.

It would be in your best interest when choosing a web server to look into the sites listed on our home page. The companies listed are offering web servers at affordable prices. You can do speed tests to check for the speed or communication between the server our site is hosted to their own servers. This is not a true indication of download speed, but only the speed of communication between the the two servers, ours and theirs.

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