Building Your Website: What Are the Benefits of Using a Dedicated Server?

You may be wondering should I get a shared web host or should I get a dedicated server for your website? I am going to try to answer that question for you now. The main problem with shared servers is that they are locked down so that they are easier to protect. A lot of shared servers have settings that you might need turned off. The good thing about a shared server is that they are cheap. You may want a dedicated server though if you have a lot of traffic and you need to run a lot of scripts. There are a lot of benefits to using a dedicated server but it may not be necessary for your websites. In this article I will try to explain the reasons for choosing one verses the other.

Most of the shared servers are a lot slower then a dedicated server. This is in part due to the fact you may be sharing your server with as many as a thousand people. When you have a dedicated server you are the only person using it. So one thing you need to know to make your choice is whether or not you will have a lot of people going to your site or not. The people that will only have a hundred people or so a day will almost always be fine with a shared server. The people that are looking at having many thousands of people a day need a dedicated server usually. Your site will be more reliable and you will not have to worry about someone else crashing the server and you loosing customers.

If you are one of the people that are really worried about a customer not reaching your site you will want to get a dedicated server. You will be the only one that has control of your server and you can get it set up as safe as you want. The people that have special software are normally better off with a dedicated server since you will be able to make the changes needed to your settings to install it. On a lot of shared servers you are stuck with the settings they give you and you will not be able to do what you are looking to do.

When you run a dedicated server you have the option to set up a firewall that will only allow the people you want to access it. This can make your site safer and stop people from countries that are not your target audience from seeing your site. You will also be able to block attacks to your server easier. One other thing you will get with your dedicated server is an ip address. A shared server you have to share the ip address with all of the sites. A unique ip address has been showing to help your website rank better in some search engines. This is a very important thing if you are looking for mostly free traffic to your website.

One more great thing about dedicated servers is you can usually add more disk space and ram to your server for a fee. This is a good thing because when your site starts to grow big you don't want to have to move your sites and have downtime when it isn't needed. When you have a shared server you will need to move your sites or upgrade your plan.

You now know the main reasons for choosing a server. When you are looking for your server be sure to search for reviews and always look at the terms of service. There are a few companies that try to hide things in the terms. I hope I have helped you make the best choice for your website.