Your First Dedicated Server

Like most small website owners, you're probably very familiar with shared web hosting. Shared hosting is like riding the bus – it's inexpensive and you don't have allot of options. Understand that web hosting and web hosting customers have a life cycle. The life of your web hosting usually begins on a modest shared hosting account. As your site grows, it demands more – more resources, more attention and more customization. At a certain point, shared hosting just can't accommodate a growing website. When that time comes, its time to step off the bus and find a car of your own.

As with automobiles, there are many types of servers and managed services that go along with dedicated hosting. If you're happy with your current shared host and they offer dedicated servers, by all means reach out to them and give them the first opportunity to provide you with your own dedicated server. If that isn't the case, you need to find a dedicated hosting company that offers great service and uptime. There are some things that you need to consider, and any dedicated host worth its salt should be able to guide you through this process.

Hardware

Just like home PC's, servers come in all shapes and sizes. If this is your first server, you should probably look at something toward the lower end of the market. The Intel Atom is a great starter server, but understand, it is limited in terms of its ability to be upgraded. So, if your website demands more than the Atom can deliver (generally Atoms are deployed with 2GB RAM and 250GB disk space), you'll need to move to another, bigger, server. The Core2Duo and Core2Quad series CPUs are great starters and with the release of the new Core-i line of servers, the older Core2 CPUs can be had at a discount nowadays. Other CPUs you may want to consider would be the Core i3 and Core i5. Your hosting company can advise on how much RAM and disk space you'll need in the server.

Software

You need an operating system for your server and the basic rule of thumb is as follows. If you're using ASP .NET to develop your website, you need to use the Windows operating system; alternatively, if your site is built on PHP and MySQL, you need to look for a Linux-based OS. Linux comes in many flavors and is free (with some exceptions). CentOS and FreeBSD are both tried and true Linux platforms.

Once you've selected your operating system, you need to select a control panel, which will help you with some server and site administration tasks. While you don't need a control panel, if you're just coming from a shared hosting account, a control panel will make the transition to a dedicated server easier. There are many control panels available, however Plesk and cPanel are the two most widely used web hosting control panels. If you will be using a Windows operating system for the server, you need to use Plesk, because cPanel does not (at the present moment) have a production-ready Windows-based control panel. Plesk will work with either Linux or Windows, however, if you are using Linux, I would highly suggest purchasing cPanel to use with it, because it is a little friendlier than Plesk to use.

Managed Service

With your hardware and software selection out of the way, you can really start using your server. However, if you are not a server admin and do not have a server admin on staff, you definitely need to have one to keep your server healthy and happy. Many dedicated server providers offer server management, which is really a blanket term covering the maintenance and upkeep of the server. That service should include patching and upgrading your OS and control panel, monitoring the server for system health and uptime and responding to any problems the server might have. If you've found a host you like working with, but they don't offer this level of care, you can hire a third-party server admin or admin-company to help you maintain the server. That being said, having your web hosting company do this maintenance is ideal, because you really need someone in the datacenter with your server to perform hands on tasks.

While selecting a server and a provider can be time consuming, doing your homework and planning ahead of time can ensure a smooth transition and successful deployment of your first dedicated server.