A ‘dedicated server’ is a computer that typically sits in a data centre and is specially designed for that purpose. A dedicated server is the ultimate in power, security, and control and opting for a dedicated server means that you won’t have to share resources with anyone else.
As your business grows and develops there will come a stage at which you’ll be reviewing and changing the technologies that drive your business and its operations. It’s now more important than ever with advances in technology and fierce competition in the marketplace that your website or other server applications are efficient, reliable and perform when needed.
There are many uses for dedicated servers and one of the most common uses is to host websites or to handle web traffic to an application or software. There are two ways in which a dedicated hosting service can be set up: internally (‘in-house’ or ‘on-premise’) or externally such as in a data centre.
We often get asked a lot of questions about our dedicated servers and the various benefits of using a dedicated server compared to a shared hosting environment. Some of which we have outlined below.
Security & Reliability
Dedicated hosting essentially means that your website or other application has its own server all to itself. As the sole user of the hardware you have control of your security and reliability. A good dedicated server provider will have designated technical staff at a data centre (such as our support team) to monitor the equipment and ensure that everything is running smoothly on your behalf.
Performance & Flexibility
These include being the sole user of the hardware. Dedicated servers are highly configurable and can be built to specification. For example, they can be configured with either Windows or Linux operating systems. You can learn more about our windows and linux dedicated server here.
Control
As you have complete control over the server, you are also in control of its security and deployment of use, including its resources, storage, memory, CPU and bandwidth. This is quite an important requirement if you are a business which has a specific level of standard you need the servers to work to.
Cost
Typically, dedicated servers come at a higher cost than shared hosting (as it offers great power and flexibility). When looking for dedicated servers, it may be a good idea to look for one that is local to either you or your market. There are performance benefits from doing this, as well as the type of support and technical expertise you may receive.
Management
To manage and maintain a server effectively it is important to ensure the presence of necessary technical knowledge and expertise (especially if opting for a dedicated server which does not come with any support – typically known as a ‘bare metal’ or ‘unmanaged’ server). Some organisations offer a managed dedicated service and you can find out more about our managed hosting options here.
If you would like any further information on our dedicated server hosting solutions or any of our other hosting services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at hello@datacentreplus.co.uk or call us on 0161 464 6101, we’d be happy to help.
