Virtual versus dedicated server hosting

Dedicated server hosting provides you with your own actual Web server computer. You can set up your own host or rent a dedicated host from a number of companies.

Virtual hosting provides shared resources on a single computer. If the user is given some administrative privileges, this may be called a “virtual server.” Virtual hosting and virtual servers provide disk space, CPU time and bandwidth within an actual computer or computers that may be shared by many different users.

The main advantages of dedicated servers are:

• You control every aspect of the machine and operating system and have supervisor access to the root directory.

• Your data are safer and cannot be hacked by other users in the same server.

• You control all the resources, so there is no chance that another site will hog bandwidth or bring down the server.

• The amount of disk space, CPU time and bandwidth depends only on the physical capacity of the server. There are no penalties for exceeding bandwidth.

Disadvantages of dedicated hosting:

• Dedicated hosting is significantly more expensive than virtual hosting.

• If you run the server, you are also responsible for software and hardware upgrades, scaling and repairs. Dedicated hosting on a single server usually cannot offer you redundancy schemes. You usually have one set of hardware and access routes to the Internet Web world. If there is a hardware or software problem, your site goes down. Some virtual hosting solutions can offer redundancy protection, so that your site stays up even if a specific computer or router has a problem.

Dedicated hosting variations – Managed dedicating hosting services will handle chores like hardware and software maintenance and upgrade for you – at a price. You can also buy your own equipment and have the hosting company manage it for you – this is called colocation.

You should only consider dedicated hosting if you have a really large Web site, or one with critical data that must not be accessible to outsiders, such as large and confidential financial transactions, medical records or data related to national security.

Note: Dedicated hosting is not the same as Static (dedicated) versus dynamic IP address. Most virtual hosts will provide you with a unique dedicated static IP address.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 11:54 am and is filed under Getting Started. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.