Category Archives: Web Hosting

The Advantages of Hosting Your Site on a Dedicated Server

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There is a lot of creativity in the world today. Everyone wants to do things their way, in ways that make sense to them. They want to find the solutions to their own problems, and they want to do it creatively. In the age of the internet, the same problems still exist. Everyone wants to have their own webpage on the internet, and they want to find the best way to do that. Well, there are many options to get your own webpage! But the one factor that never changes is that all of them will need a server.

So which type of web host is the ideal solution? Well, there are a wide variety of different types of servers: there is shared hosting, there is VPS, there is the dedicated server, and there is the cloud server, among other various types, each with its strengths and weaknesses. However, dedicated hosting could be exactly what you’re looking for if you enjoy control and want to do things your way.

The main problem with using dedicated hosting is that it can be very difficult to find cheap dedicated hosting. A dedicated server is not cheap, and there is a reason for this. The reason is that dedicated hosting is known for the complete dedication to one website, and one only, meaning that you have absolute free reign to change and manage this server in any way that you see fit that may help your website to work better.

A web host is kind of like a house. I hate when there are too many people in my house. You can hardly move because of all the traffic, you are generally stuck renting one room to yourself. You can’t change or personalize anything inside. You must share all of the resources of the house. This is like shared hosting. See how it can be a bad thing?

What about VPS? Well, this is like an apartment. You have a certain amount of resources to yourself, and you can personalize the apartment any way that you like. This can be great for some. However, if everyone wants to leave the building at the same time, there is still a lot of congestion, and you still don’t have enough space for your big Rottweiler and your 3 children.

Dedicated hosting, though, is like having a large, 5 bedroom houses with a big lawn, perfect for your dog, each kid has his or her own room, and everyone is happy. You can change whatever you want, in whatever way that you want. This is like dedicated hosting, and this is why finding cheap dedicated hosting is almost impossible. You’ll rarely find a big house for the price of an apartment, and if you do, there’s probably something wrong with it.

Essentially, dedicated hosting can be perfect for some people with very specific needs for personalization and space. Dedicated hosting is one of the most expensive types, but with all of the freedom involved with it, it is worth it.

Shared Hosting, VPS, Dedicated Hosting – What Are They?

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In this world of computers and internet, it is no surprise that so many companies are now trying to get their websites on the internet as quickly and cheaply as possible. Every website on the internet requires that it be on a server. Some companies need absolute freedom in how they operate the server, desiring to control every aspect. However, some companies merely want their website online, and they don’t care much about the specifics. Luckily for them both, there are a few different types of web hosting available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

The three types of web hosting that are most common are called shared hosting, VPS, and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting is when the server basically has many different websites operating off of it at the same time. There are a lot of negative effects to shared hosting. These can include running a lot slower than other types, having much more traffic that collides, and a huge lack of control and personalization of the server. However, shared hosting is really cheap, the cheapest of all of the hosting types, and if you don’t need a large amount of control of personalization, then shared hosting could be just about the perfect solution for you.

VPS, or virtual private servers, are another way of hosting your site. They are almost as cheap as shared hosting, but come with much more control and personalization capabilities, such as a dedicated server. This is done by logically segmenting the server, meaning that you create many servers out of the one; you devote some of the resources of one server to create many ‘virtual’ servers. This is a great way to have the personalization that you may need, while still keeping the costs low. The only real downside is that it can still be fairly small, and at times the backbone circuit could become overloaded with traffic.

Finally, dedicated hosting is the most expensive of the three. However, as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. With dedicated servers, you rent the entire server for your website. You don’t have to share even a little bit of it, meaning that you have free reign to do what you need to do with your website, and what you want to do, not limited by pre-set formats or operating systems. This can be a great solution for the large business that needs a lot of space and a lot of control, and dedicated servers give you everything that you need for your site to be exactly as you want it to be.

In conclusion, the three main types of servers are great for different situations and need. Each has the potential to be the ideal solution for a specific problem. Shared hosting is great for small needs, without a need for personalization. Virtual servers can be perfect for those who don’t need much space, but still need to personalize it, while dedicated servers give all the space and personalization that you need, but you pay for it.

Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?

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In this day and age, computer systems have become absolutely essential to the efficient operation of companies worldwide. In fact, they have become basically essential for businesses to run, period. We have become so reliant on computer technology today that we pretty much can’t run without them. So what happens when your computer and network systems fail? What happens when all of a sudden everything that you put so much reliance and belief in suddenly fails you? Do you sink to your knees and say “why me?” Or do you simply pull out your USB stick and get everything going again with your back plan? Ok. It’s not quite that simple, but it COULD be!

Having a disaster recovery plan, or DRP, really is essential to any company that runs computer hardware systems. There are a few different ways that a company should be backing up their systems. First, they should have something physically separate from the system with the configurations of the system. It can take a long time to configure all of your hardware, and if something happens to those configurations, you could be spending a lot more time than you need to get up and running again. This can be done in a few ways: through an online backup, or by means of a VMware machine. There are benefits and drawbacks to all of these ways, but in reality, you should be using all three!

The benefits of an online backup or server backup are that your data can be stored in another separate server, somewhere across the distant net. This means that it is separate from your network, and won’t be affected in case of a crash. By storing your information, or even entire configuration, you can immediately turn it on if the other one fails. This is simple redundancy, and essential to any DRP. The drawback is that it may be more difficult to access if your network goes down.

Finally, the VMware machine is a great way to back up your server configurations. It is like creating a virtual copy of the hardware, meaning that you could simply plug in that USB thumb drive and copy the configuration to your servers in case the data somehow gets erased.

Creating a DRP is a little complicated. You first need to analyze your networks. See what the risks are, and what could affect it. Then you give grades of severity to them, from low to high, on probability of it happening, and the impact it would have. After you categorize everything, simply see what you can do to prevent it and the costs involved. Remember that it’s infinitely preferable to spend money on prevention than spending money on recovery.

Creating a DRP is absolutely essential to the function of not only your network, but also your business. Although it can be a little bit confusing, creating a DRP can help you infinitely, even to the point of stopping your business from going under.

Content Delivery Networks – How Essential Are They?

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Have you ever been in the middle of rush hour in your home city? Or maybe you were visiting a city right when everyone was coming home from work. Yes, you definitely know the feeling. It’s certainly not in the least pleasant, sitting in your car with a stoic expression of distaste, which slowly turns into frustration as you realize how much gas you are wasting just sitting there, waiting to move. All of that is beyond the fact that you just want to get home and rest! This is exactly what happens sometimes on the internet. When everyone in the world wants to access the same websites and popular places online at the same time, congestion occurs, and just like sitting in a traffic jam, you end up waiting a lot longer than you need to.

If only the network had been designed properly! If only it had had a CDN! That is, a content delivery network. This is also known as a content distribution network. This is my personal preference to the name of the network, as it suits its purpose much more clearly. You see, the purpose of a CDN is to create a series of nodes using high availability data centers. This can be a little bit complicated; however, if it is done right, it can be as good as increasing your bandwidth tenfold. That is 10x your current bandwidth.

How is that done? Well, consider this: when everyone is going home at rush hour, they are all using the same routes. This means that there is not enough room for everyone to flow smoothly, increasing latency, increasing collisions, and increasing wait times. Now imagine that there were 10 separate routes that could be taken to get to the different areas of the city, and everyone could use those 10 routes. How much would the traffic flow speed up? Well, theoretically it would increase by 10x. Content distribution networks are exactly the same. What they do is keep traffic off of the backbone of the network by keeping clones of the data on separate high availability data centers, which are placed closer to client ‘hot spots.’ This means that instead of everyone trying to get to one place, they are now accessing ten places with the exact same information.

There are obvious benefits to having such a design. It increases the flow of traffic. It keeps people entering the site, potentially increasing profits and advertising opportunities. It can also be a great way to back up your information in case one or more servers fail.

Of course, there are still drawbacks to everything, and the drawback to this method is the cost. You are now paying for more server space, and servers are not generally cheap. As well, the network becomes considerably more complicated, meaning that more maintenance is required.

With this in mind, having content delivery networks are an essential way to keep high traffic networks working effectively and efficiently, and a great way to keep your clients and customers happy.

Why Should You Outsource Your Company’s Web Hosting?

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How many of you out there know that there is a TON of stuff to do in a good business? There is all of the organizing. There is the planning. There are the meetings. There is the dealing with annoying customers. There are a billion things that you need to do to keep your business running smoothly, and the last thing that you want to be on your mind is how the company website is doing.

Hiring managed services can be exactly what you need when it comes to hosting your website. Not only do they provide a variety of options, but there are a lot of new server and web hosting companies emerging today with aspirations of making it big, and as such they may just give you a discount. On top of this, they are the ones that take care of the servers. They make sure that they stay running, they make sure that they are insured, and that means that you can worry about the rest of your business.

So then the question becomes, what kind of managed services do you want to use? There are dedicated servers. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. There are also a billion other types of servers out there as well, all with their own benefits and weaknesses. So how do you know what kind of server to use? Well, in order to answer this question, you need to first ask yourself what exactly you need in a website! Does the format of the server matter to you? Is your website a secondary branch of your marketing strategy? Perhaps, then, a shared server could work wonders for you. They are the cheapest kind to get. Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum, the dedicated servers. This type of server is basically completely customizable. You can choose the OS that it runs, meaning the operating system, you can choose the hardware architectures that will be installed, and you have an enormous amount of real estate to work with.

Outsourcing your web hosting is a great way to keep your business focused. Instead of worrying about the state of the website, and hiring an employee to take care of these servers and electronic devices as a (rather expensive) full time job, you can simply opt to give your business to a reputable server company. This way they will do what your employee would have done for a fraction of the cost that you would have paid the employee. Consider that an employee is going to cost a minimum of $2000 a month, MINIMUM. A server company, for dedicated hosting, is going to cost considerably less than this. On top of this, the company will really take care of all of the work. You don’t have to worry about your website!

All in all, outsourcing your server and web hosting needs is like outsourcing your biggest hassles that your really don’t need. You pay a little bit, get a lot in return, and in the end everyone is happier.

The Advantages of Using a Managed Hosting Service

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Hiring employees for a business is really expensive. After the industrial revolution, people began to get more and more rights (as they should get) and the almost slave labour of this tumultuous time ended with legislation outlining the rights of the working individual. As such, every business tries to limit the amount of employees that it hires, and instead tries to get as much production out of a few that they can possibly get.

It’s not wonder either, because running a business is expensive! So why hire more employees than you have to? Why would you hire someone to take care of a server for your website when you can simply ask for a company that specializes in this sort of thing to do it for you, at a fraction of the cost? Indeed, managed hosting are getting more and more affordable, and shared servers are becoming more and more available. So what does this mean for you and your business? It means that you now have new options to save money while maximizing your marketing potential through the internet.

Using managed services for your business allows you a great deal of flexibility in choosing exactly what you need with your website. You could opt for dedicated server hosting. This particular choice gives you great flexibility and the ability to personalize the server the way that you want and need it. Then there are the so called shared servers, that give you a place on the internet for a very cheap price. However, they don’t give you much more, being highly restricted, and often problematic in that up to 250 other websites can be stored and run off of the same server. This means a lot of traffic for you and your poor little web site.

Outsourcing server hosting also is beneficial in another way: you give them money every month and then forget that they even exist. This is great because now you don’t have to worry about trying to run your website personally, trying to fix every little bug that may occur, trying to make everything work in a way that you want it done. This is what you’re paying these fine server-company folks to do for you! And they know that if they don’t make you satisfied, there are a thousand and one other server companies that would just love to have your business. This means less worries for you, less hassles, and perhaps best of all, less costs.

Finally, it saves you the trouble of having to go out and find the right servers, of having to buy your own, of having to buy the OS, of having to buy the specific hardware configurations, of having to do all of that not so fun stuff.

Ultimately, having a managed hosting service for you and your business is a great idea. It can save you money in numerous ways, from preventing unneeded employees to not spending extra money on insurance and other intricacies involved with running a server.

Choosing Between Windows and Linux Hosting

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There are  a lot of options when it comes to choosing how you are going to get your website up on the internet. I mean, everybody wants to get their websites up on the internet these days, and because of the varying needs and desires of all of these new clients, many new types of servers and ways to run servers have been created to suit these needs. So what happens when no only are there about a hundred different types of server options, but then you can also get them in both the Microsoft and Linux flavours? Which lollipop, so to speak, are you going to find the most tasty? Well, the answer is really simple: it depends on what you need it to do.

Before you know the difference between Linux and Microsoft servers, you should probably know a little bit about servers in general. Servers are used to put your web site on the internet. They are basically powerful computers that offer ‘services’ to the hundreds and thousands of possible clients out there just waiting to take advantage of those services. They can range from being a simple shared host to a dedicated server host, to any other number of different kinds.

So what is the difference between linux hosting  and windows hosting? Well, let’s start with Windows first. Windows hosting is known for its ability to handle multimedia-heavy applications and websites. They are typically known for giving a lot of ‘connection’ between the user and the host, meaning that they are good for allowing the two parties to interact. They are better options for items that use a lot of Microsoft technologies as well. Microsoft hosting is like going to disneyland. There is always a lot going on, from the rides and all of the yummy treats to the giant mascots and the amazing hotels. One thing that you need to be careful with is that sometimes they can take up a lot of resources and that mean you may have to fork out more money to maintain a hosting plan on Windows.

Linux hosting is like a Toyota. They generally aren’t the pretties car on the road. They are plain, and don’t support fancy and futuristic technologies (at least, they didn’t used to ;) Toyota has come a long way. Imagine their low end models!). However, one can make a very good argument that Toyota is possibly one of the most stable cars on the road, one that you can always rely on. This is like Linux! They are very stable, and very powerful, and are very secure. If you have a website that isn’t overly fancy and that you  need to be very secure, Linux is the way to go. Of course, for the maximum personalization you will need a dedicated server host.

In conclusion, although both the windows and the linux hosting servers can be good choices, and can basically do almost anything the other is made for, they do have their strengths and weaknesses, and any wise businessman will take advantage of these.

Domain Name Servers: How Do They Affect Your Website?

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I want you to imagine something. I want you to consider how many websites exist in the world today. There have to be thousands, right? Noooo, way more than that! Millions! Millions of different websites that can be accessed today. Now, think about how you access them. You don’t type a whole bunch of random numbers into your computer and hope that the right website comes up. That is ludicrous! And I know that we certainly are not capable of storing millions of different IP addresses in our minds, being able to access the ones that we need at will. That, again, is ludicrous. So how, then, are we able to access the various results of web hosting world wide? The answer is simple: DNS.

Web hosting, and in particular dns hosting, is very essential for the existence of the internet. Without DNS hosting, the internet could exist, but it would be almost unnavigable. Essentially DNS stands for Domain Name Servers, and they are what allow you to access the web sites that you need. DNS servers were in a hierarchical manner, with 13 main servers existing worldwide that contain every single website in the world. Servers below these don’t contain as many names, and the lower down the hierarchy, the less names the server will know.

So how do they work? Well, imagine that your website is located on some specific dedicated servers. It has an IP address, an allocation of seemingly random numbers that humans don’t really tend to understand well. So how do people find your website? Well, located on a DNS server somewhere will be the name of your website, and right beside it, the IP address that corresponds to it. Suddenly your dedicated servers went from being nameless numbers to something that we can understand! This is what DNS is!

Essentially, without DNS, people would never find your website. It’s like if you’re learning a new language. You don’t know what certain words mean, but you need to find out, because they are very important for you. So what do you do? Well, any sane man would consult a dictionary, first of all (or in this day jump on Google translate). This is the exact same thing as your web browser querying a DNS server, asking it what this name means, in the language that it speaks, which being a computer is numbers! So essentially DNS servers are huge dictionaries that allow your computers and the millions of other computers in the world to find your website, and without these DNS servers, your website would be almost useless. You can see how important they are!

All in all, DNS servers do more than just take extra bandwidth and space. They allow the internet to be what it is today. They allow it to be fast and efficient and organized, and if DNS servers didn’t exist, the internet would be almost unusable! As such, be sure to make sure that your website is registered in the DNS server of your internet provider, or you’ll never get any visitors.

Things to Consider When Setting Up Your Website

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Advertising is quite possibly the single most important aspect of running your business. You can’t run a business without customers, and without advertising, nobody will ever know that you exist. This is why it is so important to get your name out as quickly, cheaply, and effectively as is humanly possible. After all, there are millions and millions of people online, each with the possibility of seeing your very own business web page.
However, hosting a website can come with a lot of complications, and being your own website designer may not be the best idea. You see, there used to be a time when it was perfectly acceptable and ok for a person to make his or her own web page. In fact, this is still a perfectly reasonable alternative, if you are willing to invest the considerable amount of time it takes to learn how to make a website. However, hiring a professional website designer may be infinitely better than doing it on your own, and there are really good reasons for this.

Have you ever been searching the net and suddenly stumbled upon a webpage with a single colour background, and perhaps some random pictures with text going down the middle? This is probably what your website will look like if you do it yourself. As such, although hiring professionals to make your webpage will cost you money in the beginning, it will ultimately bring your more money in the end. This is because they are, after all, professionals. Just make sure that you choose a reputable company who isn’t there to just take your money.
Of course, these days, most web host will provide a free website builder or web designing tool for their customers. Through an intuitive interface, you can have your own professional-looking website without any programming knowledge. All the graphics, design and layouts are done for you. All you have to to is to upload your content. How easy is that?
Looking for a web hosting company these days isn’t hard.. What can be difficult is finding a good one. When you are looking for a server company, ask them a few questions. Are they going to do all of the maintenance? How old are their servers? How many websites do they generally run off of each server? Any more than 250 and you should walk away, even if you plan to get a dedicated one. If they rip their other customers off like this, what will they do to you? As well, you should ask them what kind of insurance they have on their equipment, and how often it is given maintenance.
A good server company will help you make sure that your website is suited for the specific type of server that you want (which is also why you need to hire professional webpage designers) so that your site runs smoothly and efficiently. Once you have chosen the company that you want, and matched the website, and found that it’s ok, it’s time to get it all up and running! Load the webpage and information onto the server, and start advertising to the world that you are here, and here to stay!

What is Dedicated Hosting?

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There are a lot of different options for a business to get its website up and running and online. This is both a blessing and a problem, as there may be too many choices, which can leave a potential client unsure about what to choose and why. However, just knowing what you need may be all the information that you need to make a decision, and for those who need a lot of flexibility and control over their website, dedicated hosting may be exactly what they are looking for.

Dedicated hosting is when a business offers a dedicated server, which means that instead of sharing a server with a bunch of other websites, you will be paying for the entire thing, all to yourself. This means that you get a tone of flexibility, and a tone of control. However, this freedom certainly comes at a price, as servers are not cheap! When it comes to renting servers, the dedicated server is without a doubt the most expensive type that you can choose. So does that mean that it is worth it, and do cheap dedicated servers exist? Well, depending what you need, a dedicated server may be exactly what you’re looking for, and if you look around, there are always different companies offering discounts to win you over.

In order to understand just what a dedicated server is, it may be helpful to understand how they compare to some other servers. Imagine you are looking for a place to live. A dedicated server could be likened to a big 4 or 5 bedroom house in a really nice neighborhood. It’s really nice to have, but it’s expensive, and you might not need all that space. But with a big house like this, you won’t have to deal with other foot traffic, and you can change whatever you want! Personalize it to work the way you need it to. Now compare it to shared hosting. Imagine that you just rented a room in this house now, and that all of the other rooms, and perhaps even the living room, are also rented out to other people. It is a lot more cluttered. You won’t be able to personalize it the way you need, and you will need to share everything, such as the bathrooms and kitchen. This can be a real hassle.

Finally, imagine that each room had its own kitchen and bathroom, kind of like an apartment. It is still cheaper than renting the whole house, but you still have all of the freedom that renting the whole house brings! This is VPS hosting. It is known for offering the freedoms of a dedicated server with a much reduced cost.

This is why so many people are interested in dedicated servers, and especially cheap dedicated servers. They offer so much freedom. However, if you don’t need so much freedom then they are not really worth so much money being paid into them! Renting an entire server can be very expensive, and when you don’t need that kind of space or freedom, it’s not worth it.

Tips on Choosing the Right Web Hosting Company

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So you finally chose to get your business a website! That’s great. You already hired the programmers and HTML guys, and they already finished everything up for you. Now you need to find what kind of web hosting you want to use, and perhaps more importantly, which company you will go with. This can be a serious challenge for those companies out there just starting out, as there are many, many different hosting companies who are all waiting to eagerly snatch up your money. As such, you need to make sure that they are worth the cost that you’re going to pay!

One of the first things that you need to look for when looking for a web hosting company is how many websites they host on one server at a time. This kind of hosting is called shared hosting, and it is the cheapest way to go. However, if the server company is hosting too many websites on each server, then you will be paying them for a sub-par product, unable to do the things which you need it to do. Having too many websites on a server will mean that it won’t be able to handle the traffic well, and will be very slow. Generally anything more than 250 sites per server, you should steer clear.

Something else that you should look for is what kind of security they are packing. The last thing that you want is your sensitive business information being hacked or found by another business sharing the same server as you! The server company should have a firewall in place, whether virtual or physical. A firewall is a series of safeguards that are designed to limit access to your information and files, which means that it is more protected from the other businesses sharing your server or even company.

Another thing really keep an eye on when choosing a company is how much redundancy they use, or in other words, if they have a server backup, and how much they have. Every company should have a server backup. This is for your own good! If a company does not have one, then they are only interested in themselves and don’t care what happens to your information. A backup server is something that is there in case the server that you are using goes down or something happens to it. Maybe a power surge fries it, or perhaps they simply lose power somehow. However, having a backup will always be able to save your information and keep your website online when it otherwise would not.

Essentially, when you are looking for a company to host your website and the information that is sensitive and important to you, you just need to look for things that indicate that they actually care about what happens to your website and your information. You need to look for indications of good customer service, and that they aren’t over-burdening their servers. If you use common sense and ask a lot of questions, you should get a good feeling for how the company is.

The Difference between Cloud and Dedicated Hosting

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There are many, many options on the market today when a company or business is looking for a way get their website up and running. However, this can sometimes be a problem, especially for the starting business. Which type of hosting should I use? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? One question that often comes up what is the difference between cloud hosting and dedicated hosting, and what the advantages of each are.

To answer this, let’s split up the information and begin with dedicated servers. Dedicated hosting is known as one of the most flexible and ‘under-control’ servers for the business. This means that the business or client can have almost limitless control over the configurations and settings of the server, such as the hardware and software that it is running. Basically dedicated servers are an entire server that a client rents out to use, as opposed to a shared server or cloud server, where the server is shared. Dedicated hosting sounds great, and many clients agree, but they are also the most expensive type of hosting. This means that you are paying a lot for this kind of flexibility, and although some feel that the cost justifies their needs, it is not for everyone, especially if you don’t need so much freedom and flexibility.

Cloud servers are an entirely different way of going about the server game. Having a cloud server is kind of like…well, it’s really not like anything! With cloud servers the client’s data and website are spread throughout multiple servers, as opposed to simply renting out one, physical server. This has its advantages and downfalls, however more and more businesses and people are falling in love with the idea. One of the main advantages of cloud hosting is that it is considerably cheaper to having a dedicated server. You are not renting an entire server all to yourself, so your costs are much cheaper. In fact, one thing unique to cloud hosting is how the client is charged. With cloud hosting you basically pay for the amount of computing power that you are using, so if you need more or less every month, you will pay more or less that month. This can be a great way to get your information up and online without paying an arm and a leg. However, some people are concerned with the security of cloud hosting, as your data is no longer physically separated and controlled, but stored over multiple servers shared with other users. In fact, you don’t even know on which server your data is stored! This, for some people, is unacceptable.

In short, to decide which type of server you want to use, you need to decide what exactly you need, and what cons you are willing to put up with. If you want a big chunk of server all to yourself, with almost unlimited control, a dedicated server is recommended. However, you’re going to pay for this kind of freedom. Cloud hosting may be a better option for those more fiscally minded.

Why You Should Choose a Dedicated Hosting Service over a Colocation Service

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Choosing what type of server hosting can be a difficult prospect for a lot of businesses. There are a lot of different ways to host your business’ website, and all of them have different strengths and weaknesses. So what is the best way to get your website up and going, for the cheapest possible cost, while still maintaining a good degree of sovereignty over the settings? Some people like to think it is colocation service.

Colocation service is when you rent a server space from a web host, and they do not manage your server. They simply maintain the actual physical facility in which the server is stored. The reasoning behind this is that colocation must be cheaper than renting dedicated hosting. However, when you look at the many different costs that this now involves, you may find that colocation isn’t such a great idea. First, the business is always going to have to pay someone else to maintain the server for them, whether he works at the business or not. As well, the business is going to have to buy certain other things as well, such as insurance, and maybe a router or switch, which only serve to increase the costs involved. Although colocation is considered to be one of the more flexible options of server hosting for businesses, it is also known as the one with the highest startup costs, which may deter most clients. In fact, the majority of places that offer colocation are beginning to try to phase it out; instead offering their clients dedicated hosting.

Dedicated servers are another option that a web host can offer a business as a means to get their website up and running. These also offer a great amount of flexibility, such as the ability to choose the hardware and software that the server will run, as well as certain configurations and settings. However, the main drawback to dedicated servers is that they are the most expensive way to go. With this said, you are paying for a lot of control over your site and the way that you want it. This is very worth it to a lot of businesses. So what is the difference between a web host offering dedicated servers or colocated servers? It is who maintains the server, basically.

With dedicated servers, the hosting company will do all of the work for you. They will make sure that your power won’t be cut off, that the insurance is paid, that all of the machines are working properly and at the best way. Colocated servers don’t offer a lot of these benefits, and is still expensive. As such, this is why dedicated servers are superior.

In conclusion, colocated servers may appear to be a great deal, but they end up being just as expensive as dedicated servers with the extra costs of maintenance involved. Dedicated servers are run and maintained by the server company, meaning that you are free and clear to worry about your business, and not how your website technology and machinery is working!

When Should Your Business Get a Managed Server?

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There inevitably comes a time in every business’ life that it needs to begin paying for someone to manage managed services for its website. This may be construed as a bad thing, but it’s actually something very good! This shows that the business is in fact growing so much that they can’t keep control of their website, and that their current server settings cannot handle the traffic of everyone visiting its website.

So, when should one consider getting managed services? Or better yet, what kind of web hosting should the business choose? These are both questions that need to be asked, especially if the first question is already answered by the business! However, in general, a business should begin to pay for a second party to manage their servers if the business website can no longer handle the volume of traffic and if the business no longer is able to or wants to devote enough time to manage and control it itself. The second question, the one concerning the type of web hosting a business should get, is the more difficult to answer. So, what are the best types of hosting available?

The main types are as follows: shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS, and cloud. The first, shared hosting is the cheapest. This may be the type you want if you do not require a lot of control over the settings on the server, such as the format of it. It is one of the most popular kinds because it is so cheap, but it certainly does have its limitations. It’s like renting a room from somebody. You can live there and sleep there, but you have to share the kitchen, and share the washroom, and every other part of the house, and you’re always going to be running into other foot traffic inside.

The second kind of hosting are called dedicated servers. These are the most expensive type of hosting, and this is because you are renting an entire server for yourself, your one website. This is not recommended for smaller businesses but only for large ones with very specific needs for their website. You can liken it to renting a very large house in a great area of the suburbs, perhaps. You have no one to share it with you, and you can do whatever you want to the house to personalize it.

The third is VPS, which means that it is virtual. It’s like renting an apartment. You all share the building, but you get all of the advantages of the dedicated server. This can be a great choice. Finally is the cloud, which is perhaps the most simple: you pay for as much as you use every month. Ultimately, knowing when to get a second party to manage your servers can be tricky, but if you want a website created or don’t want to manage one yourself anymore, hiring another business to do this for you can be a great idea, especially with the assortment of different choices.

Which Web Hosting Service Should You Choose?

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There is a vast array of web hosting services available on the internet and frankly, it can be so daunting! Just simply browsing through the websites of web hosting providers can give you an intense headache.

What with shared hosting, vps, dedicated servers, cloud hosting…you’ll be forgiven if you’re truly lost. And especially if you are an entrepreneur just starting out on your business, you would do well to consider carefully the options available on the market so that you can find a plan that is the ‘best’ fit for your business. Well, there is no such thing as a ‘best fit’ per se, as you will probably go through the various cycles of growth in your business. With each cycle, your web hosting needs will naturally change.

For me, when I first started business selling some fitness equipment online, all I wanted was a simple static website, which basically serves as an online brochure. There were pages and pages of information with pictures of my products. And if somebody wanted to make an order, he has to fill in a simple order form, which would then send the details of his order to my email account. And when I opened my email box, voila! there’s my order.

As my business grew, technology also improved. Soon, it was the order form wasn’t enough for my needs. In fact, my shared hosting account does not even support scripts that were so vital for having a shopping cart. And it was then necessary for me to move to another web hosting provider that had features to support my scripts. And then, it was necessary for me to start charging my customers’ credit cards instantly so that I can rush the orders to them. And so, it became apparent that I had to get a dedicated server, so that I could implement greater security to allow my shopping cart to ‘talk’ to my credit card processor’s servers. All this were happening in real time so that within a minute, the my customers’ credit cards were charged and I can process their orders.

In many ways today, things haven’t changed that much. People are still processing orders online and collecting credit card information. However, these days, payment processors like Paypal makes things a lot easier for the smaller merchants. In fact, online shopping has changed so much that it may not be necessary to have a shopping cart installed on your account. Thousands of people are shopping at so-called blog shops, which are basically nothing more than a simple blog with pictures and information online. And if a customer likes what he sees, he can simply make a payment using Paypal, send the unique transaction ID to the seller and that’s basically it. But that would also mean that the web hosting requirements have changed too. So, it would mean that instead of requiring a hosting account with all the bells and whistles, all a blog shop owner requires is simple a blog!

And so, if you’re confused over the various offerings available on the market and how you can choose a web hosting plan, then you’ll want to read on. I am putting together a series of articles here that would hopefully help both the small business owner and enterprise decision maker who prefers to read it in simple English without the technical jargon (hopefully).

Please be patient as this blog will take time to grow (I do have a full-time job, you know.) So, please check back often for the latest update! Thank you!