Useful Information:
Shared Hosting VS Dedicated Server
by SY Ho
Are you at a crossroads now, deciding which
type of hosting best suits your needs? This
is definitely an important decision as it
will affect how your business will run on
the webspace in the future. So, before you
start submitting a ticket to the support
department or calling the sales department
of any hosting provider to ask regarding
your confusion, take a look at the guidelines
and tips which I'm about to introduce to
you.
First of all, ask yourself, which type
of web busineses are you planning to get
involved in? Next, I'll show you the advantages,
disadvantages and features offered to
you by both shared hosting and dedicated
server hosting. Before I proceed further,
let's refresh your mind with the definition
of both types of hosting. Shared hosting,
as most of you should be well-versed,
is hosting where a lot of websites share
the same resources in one server. Resources
here simply mean the total webspace, the
memory, the processor speed, as well as
the bandwidth.
Dedicated server on the other hand, give
you the freedom of being alone. Alone
means you are the sole owner of the server.
You can do whatever you want and no other
sites share the resources with you. It
sure comes with a price as dedicated server
is way more expensive than shared hosting.
However, if you believe that the advantages
which I shall be listing in a short while
are the advantages you long to have, then
it's wise to conclude that these advantages
can outweigh the expensive price (but
still affordable) of dedicated server.
Facing the challenges in the world of
sharing!
Here's a simple analogy; renting a room
on your own or finding a roommate to share
the room with you. Simply, that's the
problem or risks you might be facing when
you opt for shared hosting. Shared hosting
is just like you rent a room with a few
other roommates. Won't it be congested
to share in a small room? However, there
is a reason why people choose to find
roommates. Price is the main concern.
Same goes to hosting industry. Shared
hosting is cheaper and more affordable
compared to dedicated hosting. Nowadays,
you can find shared hosting with the price
of USD4 to USD15 per month.
Therefore, if you think that price is
an issue and you are still green in hosting
world and your online business has yet
to achieve heavy traffic, the best solution
is to go for shared hosting first. Consequently,
you have to bear the drawbacks of shared
hosting but if you choose a reliable and
experienced hosting provider (probably
in a hosting industry for around 3-4 years),
the provider will ensure the most minimal
drawbacks for its clients. In shared hosting
environment, you will encounter certain
disadvantages as follows:
Sharing Same IP
Having the same IP address in shared hosting
is the main concern when other sites in
the server is actually being blacklisted
for unethical activities such as spamming
or generating illegal script. Since, you
share the same server, it's obvious you
will share the same IP address. So, when
other sites are blacklisted, those sharing
the same IP with them will also unfortunately
share the same fate - being banned alltogether
by search engine. You will be the victim
of crime which you don't commit. However,
there are times where you can buy yourself
a dedicated IP but this usually is not
needed unless you are getting yourself
an SSL certificate. In cases such as this
one, it depends on your hosting provider
on how they deal with clients who do illegal
and unapproved activities. Usually, a
reliable and responsible host will suspend
those sites which perform spamming in
order to rescue other sites who are innocent.
In short, to get yourself a shared hosting,
get to know how your provider deal with
those sites which are hosted in the same
server as you.
Slow Server Response Time
Using the same analogy as above, if you
and your roommates want to use the bathroom,
you have to queue up, correct? Hence,
it will slow down your daily work. Same
goes to shared hosting. If one of your
neighbours have heavy daily traffic, it
will consume most of the bandwidth and
when things get tighten up, you will feel
the slow response time such as difficulty
accessing your website. This is because
server will respond to the requested file
in order of the queue. If one of the visitor
happens to request it later and is on
a long queue, that visitor will experience
slow response time and might eventually
end up leaving your website.
Server Crashes Regularly
The factor to server crashes more often
than usual, is the fact that certain scripts
are generated and it can overload a server's
resources. If webhosting provider does
not monitor the server's activity, those
poorly-written CGI script can give you
more headache than relief. Hence, it's
vital for host provider to monitor the
server regularly to prevent server from
crashes and to protect your site from
being affected. You as a client, please
do take the initiative to question your
providers on how they take precautions
for cases like this one. A well-knowledgable
and reliable host provider will be able
to answer your question to your satisfaction.
Despite aforementioned bad points, a
lot of websites also use this shared hosting
solution and if a proper provider is chosen,
you can be assured that such incidents
will barely happen.
Dedicated Hosting -
A world of your own
What makes people opt for dedicated hosting
instead of shared hosting? Again, the
most important criterion is money. If
you can afford a costly solution like
this, go ahead. However, don't just simply
go ahead without weighing the pros and
cons of dedicated hosting. Even if you
have money, and you are just a small medium
enterprise, think twice for investing
in dedicated hosting. Reason is because
dedicated hosting is mainly for large
and busy sites such as portal, search
engine, online content provider, heavy
traffic forums and etc. In addition, dedicated
hosting usually requires more technical-savvy
specialist to monitor it. Listed below
are some of the advantages why dedicated
hosting is a popular option:
You are the boss!
Here, it means you have more control of
everything. You can install whatever applications
and scripts you want. You can do script
testing and if anything were to happen,
no one else to blame but yourself. You
will have the ability to customise the
hardware and softwares installed on your
server, which you cannot find this priviledge
if you are under shared hosting.
No more limitation in bandwidth usage
Compare to shared hosting, you might get
yourself a "warning letter"
from your hosting provider if you exceed
the maximum bandwidth allocated to you.
With dedicated hosting, you have the amount
of bandwidth of a server. Hence, downloading
and uploading any materials from your
site will not be a problem if you have
a lot of daily visitors performing such
activity.
More Secured
Having a dedicated server is in fact more
secured compared to shared hosting. This
is because dedicated server will be provided
its own firewall. Therefore, the information
stored in dedicated server is less vulnerable
to attacks by hackers or any malicious
codes. In addition, hosting provider will
usually provide backup for you with added
fee, but, in terms of security, it's actually
worth it.
Better Performance
Since dedicated hosting means only you
alone are hosted in that server, the response
time of the server to requested files
will be so much faster compared to shared
hosting. Visitors who browse your website
will feel happy because your pages will
appear on their browser fast enough to
satisfy them. Fast loading time will always
brighten anyone's day!
Generally, choosing which type of hosting
solely depends on your needs. So, to make
a wise decision, do more researches and
evaluations as well as consult those highly
technical savvy people. Remember that
a good and smart decision will determine
your online storefronts' success. Cheers!
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