Benefits And Drawbacks Of Dedicated Hosting

When facing a web project, one of the most important decisions is the choice of the type of accommodation to be hired. There are many web hosting providers on the market that offer different hosting options. Shared hosting is usually the most used, especially because it is the one that offers the lowest prices and conditions to meet the needs of most websites. However, many times it is not the most appropriate for certain projects that need a greater capacity of the servers or have greater control of their configuration.

In this article, we will see what a dedicated server is, what its main characteristics and advantages are, and for what type of projects it is more appropriate to hire this hosting.

What is a dedicated server?

A dedicated server is a computer or computer equipment whose exclusive use is contracted by a single client for the hosting of its website, e-commerce, or web project. This client will make exclusive use of the server, having the possibility of configuring it according to their needs. 

Dedicated servers are usually installed in data centers, with the physical care of the equipment and access to the network being the responsibility of the service provider.

Characteristics of a dedicated server

The main characteristics that define a dedicated server are:

• They are teams that are located in data centers and that offer all of their resources to a single client.
• They are machines that can provide high access speed and large processing storage capacity, given that their resources are exclusive to a single client.
• They usually have professional attention services such as monitoring availability and use of resources, according to the conditions of the contracted server.
• The physical maintenance of the server, as well as its connections, is in charge of the service provider company.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantages obtained when using dedicated hosting to host a website are:

• Server control. A dedicated server has a higher degree of customer configuration than a shared server. The server configurations, the installed applications, and even the operating system can be chosen by the client, giving greater control over the hosting than in other types of hosting.
• Availability of all resources. The main benefit obtained by using a dedicated server to host a website is that all the resources of the machine are available to it. These servers can be hired according to the client's needs so that they can have high performance for exclusive use.
• Monitoring. These servers usually have availability and resource use monitoring, which allows knowing their performance, locating possible bottlenecks, etc.
• Increased security. The exclusivity offered by dedicated hosting is related to an increase in security by not sharing space with other websites.
• Vertical scalability. If necessary, this type of server can increase its resources, for example, by installing a new hard disk or expanding the RAM.

Web hosting with dedicated servers also has some drawbacks such as:

• High price compared to shared hosting. Without a doubt, the main disadvantage of this type of accommodation is its high economic cost, especially when compared to other options such as shared servers. This is since all the cost of maintaining the server falls on a single client instead of being shared between several.
• More complex to manage. Many of the functions, configurations, and maintenance of a shared server are performed by the provider company. However, in dedicated hosting, it is necessary to have greater knowledge in the management of servers, since the configuration and management are carried out by the client. The management and configuration of dedicated servers require personnel with greater technical knowledge as it requires security optimizations, file and directory management, and other functions that only a professional in system administration is capable of performing.

Given the high cost of these types of servers, some web hosting service providers are offering administration services for companies' dedicated servers. This means that a company that has its dedicated server (whether on-premise or in the cloud ), contracts the maintenance and administration (total or partial) of said server from the provider. This solution is interesting in cases where having a technical team in the company is not possible (for economic or technical reasons).

When to choose a dedicated server

Many web projects do not need the features of a dedicated server and other cheaper options are enough to meet the needs of your website.

There are two types of projects where a dedicated server is the best hosting option:

Great web traffic flow

Large projects that generate a  large amount of web traffic and information flow will benefit from hiring a dedicated hosting since they will have all the resources of the machine to be able to satisfy this great demand that is generated.

We can give us an example of companies that hire this type of highly successful e-commerce servers that have a lot of web traffic, receive many requests, and make many sales. With a dedicated server, they guarantee that the online store service is always stable, regardless of the load peaks it receives.

Settings customization

Some web projects require certain special configurations or specific software installations on the server to function properly. In cases where these options are not available to be carried out or are not compatible with shared hosting, we will need dedicated hosting.

An example of this type of server is the websites of banking entities that require total control of the server and their security configurations and facilities to guarantee their services.

We have seen what dedicated hosting is and why it is interesting to hire it in certain cases. Despite the high price of this type of web hosting, the benefits obtained make it necessary for certain projects where there is a large movement of information, a high flow of visitors, or specific changes are required in the configuration or server software.