If you are running an online business, you probably know about the role of a server. The server is just a computer that provides online space to you so that you and the users can access the data from any location.
Most businesses start their online journey with a shared server, which, as the name suggests, is usually shared by multiple parties. Your shared server may be hosting multiple websites, and they share the server handling costs between them. Sharing makes shared servers cheap and a great option to kick start your online journey cost-effectively.
However, as the online business grows, the website has to hold huge volumes of content, business data, and sensitive information. The information load can be so much that it will outgrow beyond the capability of a shared server; once this happens, the website begins to be slow and glitchy, and it directly affects your business.
As your page load time increases, the customer bounce rate also goes high. Customers tend to lose patience and leave without browsing your site if the page doesn’t load within 4 seconds. Of course, the bounce rate directly affects the conversion rates, and the overall sales get affected.
So, how can you sustain the growth of your business and its demand for powerful technology?
Well, the only solution to this situation is to shift your website and other data from a shared server to a dedicated server. Yes, large websites often require a dedicated server due to various reasons. From data security to customization, dedicated servers solve a lot of problems faced by websites on a shared server.
So, if you are wondering whether you must shift your online business to a dedicated server, this article is just for you. Let’s take a detailed look at the various aspects of a dedicated server to make the decision easier for you.
What Is a Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server or dedicated web hosting is a hosting service where a separate physical server is dedicated to a single owning party. So, when you choose to have a dedicated server, you get a separate server with CPU, HDD, and RAM, all dedicated solely to you.
So you can enjoy extensive freedom of customization and storage on the server, as it is not shared by anyone else.
A business may choose to use a dedicated server for web hosting, online gaming, private cloud database, streaming, and several other such purposes. But having a dedicated server doesn’t mean that you have to manage it all on your own. Server providers offer a wide range of services to their customers, and you get to choose which services you would like to have with your dedicated server.
Types Of Dedicated Servers
There two types of dedicated servers based on management and handling. they are,
- Unmanaged Dedicated Server: An unmanaged dedicated server is where the service provider handles only the physical server and its functionality while you handle the rest of the server management processes. With unmanaged dedicated hosting, you need to monitor the CPU, Storage, and RAM, optimize the performance regularly, and upgrade the OS. The service provider will only be responsible for the physical safety and accessibility of the server. So, unmanaged dedicated software offers greater access, but it is suitable only if you have sufficient technical knowledge about server handling.
- Managed Dedicated Server: It is a more suitable option for common people who don’t have deep technical knowledge about servers. With managed dedicated servers, your service provider will take care of all the technical aspects such as network, virtualization, OS, setup, hardware, etc. A managed dedicated server is a hassle-free option for online businesses. You and your employees can focus primarily on business aspects while the server is managed and maintained by expert professionals.
What Are The Benefits Of Having A Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server offers several benefits that are not available with any other server types. Some of the most popular benefits are,
- Better Storage and Memory: This is a major reason why businesses opt for a dedicated server. You get to use the entire storage space of your server; so you can independently add details and improve your online presence without having to worry about storage and RAM space. On a shared server, data on other websites may be responsible for causing higher page load time on your website; this problem doesn’t exist on dedicated servers as the entire server is dedicated solely to you.
- Flexibility and Customization: For a growing business, flexibility, and customization, are of high value. Many people share the same server on a shared server system. So, you cannot make changes to the server independently. With dedicated servers, you get extensive flexibility. You can configure the RAM, disk space, and CPU according to your preferences. You can also upgrade, add and remove applications independently at will. So, for a growing business that requires greater flexibility, dedicated servers are the best choice.
- Security: Shared-servers can be shared by hundreds of people, out of which, some of them can also be hackers and spammers trying to extract sensitive information from other websites. So, if your shared section holds sensitive business information and user data, it is always at risk of a cyber-attack. There is simply no efficient way to ensure safety on a shared server. But with a dedicated server, this problem is solved entirely. A dedicated server is allotted solely to you, and you also get your separate IP address. It makes sure that your data is only accessible to whom you allow access.
Role of Control Panel In Dedicated Server
A control panel is a controlling software installed on a dedicated server. It offers various options, allowing you to manage and administer your dedicated server with ease. Control panels are aimed at providing easy server management options so that customers with a limited understanding of servers can also do the various management tasks.
Amateur online businesses often neglect the importance of a control panel. Many people believe that it is a useless extra investment but only the experienced ones understand that control panels can make many complicated and time-consuming tasks effortless to accomplish.
With control panels, you can create and manage domains, manage emails, set up spam filters, manage websites, set up member and staff accounts, create websites, and carry out numerous other web-based applications.
A control panel software is installed on the dedicated server, so, depending upon the operating system, you must choose the right control panel for yourself.
Let’s go through the various types of control panels available online so that you can make the right choice when you choose one for yourself.
Types Of Control Panels
Almost all control panels offer similar accessibilities and features but based on the operating system and some other distinctive features, three types of control panels are popularly available. The three most common control panels available in the market are cPanel &WHM, Plesk Panel, and DirectAdmin. Let’s take a brief look at all the three control panels:
- cPanel: cPanel and WHM(Web Host Manager) is popular among the users of Linux OS. It is highly user-friendly and offers a wide range of features. That’s why most online businesses prefer to use cPanel. cPanels offers easy solutions for managing multiple accounts, reselling web hosting, and managing customer accounts. There are plenty of features on cPanel, which may require some time to understand and master. However, once you get familiar cPanel is a very easy-to-use control panel for business purposes.
- Plesk Panel: Plesk Panel is also a highly user-friendly control panel, available on Linux and Windows operating systems. Plesk is highly popular as it allows users independence to use multiple operating systems without requiring changing the control panel. Plesk also has a highly intuitive interface, so you don’t need to have a deep knowledge of computers to use Plesk. Plesk features such as database management, appearance and branding, third party components, fully automated billing, monitoring and statistics, and integrated site-building, are some of the most loved features.
- DirectAdmin: DirectAdmin is a Linux based control panel similar to cPanel. It offers a simplified lightweight platform and a user-friendly admin area, that allows you to control several server management features. The most loved feature of DirectAdmin is the availability of a lifetime license. Once you purchase the license you get access to periodic control panel updates, unlimited domain support, and plenty of other features. Due to its lightweight and simple structure, DirectAdmin offers unmatched stability and speed. Other benefits of DirectAdmin include lower maintenance, easy expansion, and manual configuration.
Which Control Panel Works Best?
Every control panel has similar features and some advantages over one another. So, which control panel would suit you the best? Well, the answer depends on several factors such as your requirements, your technical knowledge, your operating system, etc.
cPanel suits people with basic knowledge of computers, but the wide range of features can sometimes be overwhelming. Plesk panel, on the other hand, is chosen mostly by Windows users. It is also popular among users who make use of multiple operating systems. DirectAdmin is lightweight and easy to understand but is more of a root-level control panel. It means that the user needs to have a good technical understanding of server management and programming.
So apparently, it’s conclusive that all the control panels have some benefits that would suit people with specific requirements. However, if you are confused, your dedicated server service provider would be able to suggest you the best control panel according to your requirements.
Professional service providers are experts. So, they can understand your demands, your knowledge and suggest the best control panel for you.
What Are The Business Applications Of Dedicated Hosting?
Apart from security and storage benefits, businesses may choose to have a dedicated server for several other reasons. Dedicated servers are powerful systems that can make way for several business opportunities and ideas.
Businesses use dedicated servers to host eCommerce websites, game streaming channels, live streaming, and many such applications. These types of websites have to process high volumes of data at a fast speed so that the users can enjoy an uninterrupted service. On a shared server, the activity on other websites can affect the performance of your website. That’s why businesses choose to have their dedicated server to host such high-performance websites.
Dedicated servers provide the best security to the sensitive data. Therefore, businesses make use of dedicated servers as a safe storage house for all their sensitive data. You can also use dedicated servers to host safe meeting rooms, to communicate sensitive information with the employees and directors.
You may also choose to buy a dedicated server to upgrade the online presence of your business. On the path of growth, there comes a time when your business needs a complete upgrade online and offline. You may add new machinery or change the office interior or expand the office space online. Just like that, for your online upgrade, you can buy a dedicated server. The dedicated server will give you extra storage space, a powerful CPU, and RAM, that you can use to improve the graphics and other features of your website. A website with interactive options, high-quality imagery, and fast page loading, will automatically help you in gaining customers’ trust and improve conversion rates.
So, a dedicated server has several business applications, which improve the overall performance of your business. From having a high-quality website and faster online system to conducting seamless team meetings and live streaming your addressing to employees, dedicated servers can make plenty of business tasks effortless and high class.
Can I Do Business With A Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server has many uses in a corporate scenario, but did you know that a dedicated server in itself can become a business for you?
Yes, the powerful computers called dedicated servers have many implementations. So, if you want to do business with just a dedicated server, you can start your own web hosting company and offer web hosting services to other websites through your dedicated server. You can also host other websites to share the cost of server handling.
Because you get full control of the server, you can easily allot desired space and bandwidth for the websites with help of one of the control panels. Web hosting service providers charge their customers on a monthly and yearly basis. So, if you host other websites on your dedicated server, you can earn a steady income from your customers.
How To Build My Web hosting Business With Dedicated Server?
First, you need to buy a powerful dedicated server from a reliable service provider that offers good technical support. Having a good service provider ensures seamless quality and steady availability of the server. Also, reliable service providers offer plenty of expansion options and instantly deployable dedicated servers, so you can expand your business as you like, any time.
The dedicated service provider is the foundation of any web hosting business. The progress of your web hosting business will then depend on how you reach your potential customers. You can build a good website and gradually develop your brand so that your customers can find you trustworthy.
You must also have a good billing system that offers good value-for-money to your customers. Further expansion and growth of your business would primarily depend on your marketing expertise. You must continuously come up with new ideas, offers, and exciting subscription benefits that can bypass your competition and attract customers. Once you observe steady progress you can expand your dedicated server’s capacity or get a new one to host more websites.
How Many Websites Can I Host On a Dedicated Server?
The number of websites that a dedicated server can host, can vary according to the types of websites hosted. It is possible to host hundreds of websites on a dedicated server, but it is also important that all the websites exhibit good online performance.
A hosting provider must look at several factors to determine the healthy number of websites to host. Let’s take a look at these factors to understand better.
- Server Capacity- This is the most obvious factor of all. The capacity of the server directly impacts the performance of websites. So, if you want to host numerous websites, you must have the best specifications on your dedicated server. The server must have sufficiently powerful RAM, CPU, and HDD space, to be able to load and access all the websites smoothly. If you buy the server from a reliable service provider, you can quickly expand an existing server or instantly deploy a new one whenever you need it. So, the web hosting provider must keep a check on the number of websites so that they can quickly expand as the number increases.
- Types Of Websites- Another major factor that affects the number of hosted websites are the type of hosted websites. Based on the activity and volume of data, websites can be divided into two types, static and dynamic websites. Static websites are basic HTML websites that do not hold much data. Static websites usually have text and image information for viewing purposes and hence, do not require much interaction with the user. If you are hosting static websites, you can host hundreds of websites on your dedicated server and all the websites will still work smoothly. But if you host dynamic websites, the number decreases to some extent. Dynamic websites are more interactive. They hold a lot of data and interactive options that make the website quite more complex than static websites. To host many dynamic websites on a dedicated server, you must have powerful RAM and CPU so that the websites load faster and smoothly.
- Bandwidth- Websites on a dedicated server have to have a balanced bandwidth consumption among them. Live streaming, video gaming, and online video streaming websites have large bandwidth consumption. So, if you are hosting such websites, it is important to have a balanced load on the server, otherwise, the performance of all the hosted websites can be compromised.
- Applications- The Applications running on your dedicated servers, such as email, gaming, or forex trading, can affect the number of hosted websites due to their bandwidth consumption. So, to host multiple websites smoothly, it is best not to run too many applications and services together.
- Business Demands: As a business, you may have your demands and requirements. you wouldn’t want to host too many websites that you no longer have space to support your own business needs.
You may be hosting websites to manage the costs of a dedicated server, or as a web hosting business, but if the number of hosted websites exceeds the healthy limit, it can create a lot of hassles for all the hosted websites, including your own. So, the above major factors have to be understood well to understand the healthy number of websites your dedicated server can host.
Role Of A Dedicated Server Service Provider
The server provider plays a very important role when it comes to the management and physical assembly of the dedicated servers. The service provider is responsible for the physical device and its availability at all times.
Dedicated servers are advanced computers that cost a reasonable amount. Improper handling of the server may also cause damages and result in lengthy downtimes. Frequent downtimes can affect your business adversely and also cause losses.
Therefore, it is very essential to purchase services from a reliable service provider, to ensure that you get the best value for money.
There are plenty of dedicated server service providers online, and it can be difficult to find out the best suitable service provider for you. Here are some things you must check in a service provider before you purchase their services.
- Experience: You must check whether the service provider has sufficient experience in handling and managing dedicated servers. Dedicated servers are complicated systems, and due to their immense potential, many new unreliable service providers are popping out every day. To ensure that your investment is safe, you must always choose a service provider who has years of experience.
- Flexibility: The purpose of getting a dedicated server is its flexibility. Amateur server providers don’t have the required expertise and may not provide all the features. So you must always choose a service provider who offers remarkable freedom when it comes to accessing, customizing, or upgrading your server.
- Security: Before you pay a service provider, you must not forget to ask them about the security parameters that they follow. Your customers also trust your business because of the safety and quality you provide. Your dedicated server would hold lots of sensitive information about your business. So, you must not jeopardize all your hard work by investing in an insecure dedicated server. Reliable and experienced service providers use extreme measures to ensure the safety of your dedicated server. Service providers deploy various scanning bots to locate and eliminate virus programs like trojans, crashers, and worms. They also continuously scan the systems to implement protective programs to prevent cyberattacks from hackers and spammers. That’s why choosing a reliable service provider must be your top priority.
- Deployment time: Sometimes you may require an upgrade or a new server in an emergency. And if the server deployment takes too long, you may lose business. So you must always check how quickly can your service provider deploy the dedicated server for you. Top-quality service providers understand your requirements precisely, and therefore, they deploy the server as fast as possible. An experienced service provider may also offer pre-configured servers that can be deployed instantly upon request. Due to their experience, they understand the various needs of different clients. Therefore, they design pre-configured servers, to perfectly suit the requirements of the majority of the clients.
- Support: This is one of the most important features that you must check before paying a service provider. As an entrepreneur, you may not have the required technical knowledge about servers, and so, good technical support is a must. The service provider you choose must be available for assistance any time you need it. Inexperienced service providers may not have a sufficiently professional tech-support team; as a result, you may have to face issues such as on-call waiting time, late responses, and inefficient or delayed support. For a business, time is money, and if you have to wait for tech-support every time you run into a problem, you are bound to suffer monetary losses. The benefit of choosing experienced service providers is that they value your time, and therefore, they will be quick and smart while providing technical assistance and resolving issues for you.
- Server Location: The role of server location is very crucial. to ensure a seamless service, you must make sure that the service provider offers well-chosen locations for your server. Inefficient service providers may attract customers by providing cheap servers located at unstable locations. Servers located in politically or naturally unstable places may experience frequent stoppage or even a complete break-down. Server Location may also affect the performance speed if the physical server is too far from your users. The closer the physical server is to your users, the faster will be the speed of service. The service provider you choose must provide a wide range of server locations to choose from so that you can select the server location that suits your business the most.
- Affordability: Finally, the service charges of your dedicated server should be affordable and reasonable. You must foresee all your future expenses and overall server handling costs to make sure that the expense stays within your budget. To ensure that you get good value for money, you must go through several sites and compare their prices and services. That way, you can understand which service provider offers the best services at a reasonable price.
Conclusion
As evident, dedicated serves are a great way of boosting your online presence. It offers you complete control and flexibility so that you can design your server to precisely suit your business needs. With sufficient storage and system capacity, you can upgrade your website to offer a high-tech user-experience.
Dedicated servers also open up a wide range of business opportunities for you. You can offer hosting services and other online services to several organizations. It can also help you in building funds to sustain your business and server handling costs.
Once you get a dedicated server from a reliable service provider, you can bravely boast about the extreme level of safety that your business provides to its online users and customers. It will reflect how deeply you value data safety and will help you gain maximum trust from your customers.
Finally, it all comes down to the service provider you choose. Take special care that you choose a reliable, experienced, and efficient service provider likeAtrixHost. AtrixHost is a global leader in server solutions and its extensive experience allows them to offer tailored service that’ll precisely suit all your needs.
So, if you are stuck at a point, where you are finding it difficult to grow your business on a shared server; if the website is too slow and stopping you from making any more changes on it; maybe it is the right time to get a dedicated server for your business.
Just contact AtrixHost and get a new dedicated server from a reliable and experienced service provider. It will not only solve all the issues but will also present new growth opportunities for your business.