Starting an ecommerce site or an application loses its sense if not created by utilizing powerful and secure hardware and software. On the other hand, to keep options indeed open, one cannot ignore the question of the server on which they are going to place their eproject.
There’s a choice of hosting types and one should realize that basing their online undertaking on, say, a shared server may pose a definite threat to it. To understand why a dedicated server is the optimal solution for e-businesses, let’s begin with a brief survey of the dedicated servers’ principal distinctions.
What is the Vital Difference of Dedicated Server?
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As opposed to all other hosting models, thar of the dedicated server has a number of fundamental distinctions which certainly play a crucial role for efficacious work of companies offering products and services online.
The cornerstone here is that if one purchases or rents a dedicated server, one acquires it for their own use. Being the only tenant by default then implies further options for the user:
- You do not share server resources. Obviously, if you utilize the server of yourself, you never ask yourself questions like “How many people are actually on the server with me?” or “Is that the reason for my website constant slowing down?” and so on. In case of the dedicated server, you deploy its capacities in its entirety on your own. It implies you have control over all bandwidth capability of the physical server as well as the whole power of the CPU.
What space does your project need? Local storage volume is another challenge with which dedicated servers can perfectly cope with. Here at your disposal are drives SATA, SAS and SSD. This should be not only your choice of their size which will define the space obtainable for your needs – write and read rate of the drive together with options of further capacity build-up should be considered when taking your decision.
It may be useful for you to observe the basic terms used for description of dedicated server work, a link to which is at your disposal on our website.
- You customize the entire server capacity. You are the one who defines the measures of this wholeness. Your dedicated server can be as powerful as you wish, so it’s up to you to choose a single or dual processor with as many cores as needed. This will determine which memory span you can afford.
But not only hardware is substantial to decide on – the same is true for the software products you want to install. Here, dedicated servers provide you with much more options. You choose then an operating system according to your price, safety and usability expectations. The OS compatibility with specific apps is also tangible. With respect to all these factors, you can opt, for instance, for an edition of Windows Server, Ubuntu, Linux or free CentOs and FreeBSD.
As to specific software and hardware, you definitely won’t have such freedom of choice with any other hosting type than that on a dedicated server. In your business area, required programmes can be peculiar enough, and an ability to install them on your system itself and their tunability often cannot be provided but by the dedicated servers.
- You establish the rules of security. The website security system includes implementation of various protective measures. An example of such a measure is the firewall. Firewall is a computer system element which blocks unauthorized or undesired access to your website. It includes all sorts of malicious attacks on your system – while the firewall repels such an attack, your website keeps on functioning without perceptible fluctuations.
Firewall is a very effective means of filtering the whole network traffic and controlling it. To install it on your system, you must be on either a dedicated server or on VPS (Virtual private Server) both of them enabling root access to firewall installation. You will then be able to attune the firewall as necessary – your firewall can inhibit or allow file sharing on your website; and it is another handy option on the part of a dedicated server.
The same way other security components – Antiviruses, various protection and monitoring systems – can be implemented and adjusted. Thus, your website gains an exclusive security model without which reliable ecommerce is scarcely possible at all.
This is a general concept of how the dedicated server works and is managed by the user. But what does it mean in practice? And why do experts recommend it especially to larger companies and claim that in the long run they will pay for it less, while it has a higher price in comparison with other hosting types?
What Does My Business Obtain With Dedicated Server?
Doing business today means to promote it via the Internet with the help of websites and applications. The problem is that there are too many rivals competing for customers at the same market with you and to win those customers your I-net resource should have the following characteristics:
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Round-the-clock Access
To provide your clients with it, you have to assure your website traffic and speed capacities. How quick is the site to respond and load? How long does it take your customers to find the necessary information? So, response speed, serviceable design, almost intuitive and accessible night and day, and other challenges are to be coped with the help of a dedicated server which allows you to choose the very capacities needed to satisfy your customers’ demands.
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Less Downtime
Shared hosting is notorious for its frequent downtimes often caused both by the server being down when the number of users becomes critically large and by DDoS attacks also very often happening in the world of furious competitive fighting. For each ecommerce website, skeletonizing of such troubles is a must and in most cases the optimal solution here is the dedicated server only.
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Online Image of Your Project
Thus, you can see that choosing a type of hosting is not just a question of your preferences – it’s a question of competitiveness of your online commerce and, to a large extent, of your reputation. Seemingly, to win your customers’ trust your web site only has to be reliable, trouble-free and well-designed, but technically it cannot always be implemented with other servers than dedicated as it supplies you with a much wider range of options.
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Higher Position on the Search Page
As you know, the position of your website given by the search engines has a lot to do with successful promotion of your ecommerce. Search engines use various algorithms for Internet sites ranking one of which is the analysis of websites load and response rates. It can be essential for your SEO-strategy. The lower your site is the lower is its position on the result page, and vice-versa. Thus, choosing a dedicated server, you take a profit-making decision as it makes its contribution to your business advertising.
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More Comfortable Security Blanket
A large online project is always a target for multiple scammers, hackers and so forth. You face then a number of tasks:
- keeping your data storage safe;
- keeping personal information of your clients safe and transferring it without fail;
- dealing with various DDoS attacks and other malicious activities directed against your web resource;
- tracking the viruses.
By shared hosting you only have an option of hoping that someone has made provision for all server customers’ safety, but experience tells that it is hardly the right alternative for a large business as there may be nonstandard challenges confronting your security system and which must be resolved with the help of a complex multilevel approach. Surely, the best way to work out such an approach is to buy or rent a dedicated server.
What businesses are to opt for a dedicated server?
Which type of hosting is the best for your eCommerce? It depends on its size, operational needs, budget and plans for development. If your company is small and your budget is limited, you can try shared hosting which certainly will save your costs, but you have to be ready for occasional page slowing down and downtimes with which you will scarcely be able to cope yourself and will need support.
Sometimes it ends up in purchasing more equipment and services to solve such problems. Thus, even for smaller businesses it may be reasonable to consider using a more reliable type of hosting as it will obviously pay in the long run.
Then needless to say that larger companies cannot entrust their reputation, their revenues and security to a cheaper but less reliable shared hosting. But don’t get us wrong. Shared hosting is not a bad hosting type. It can be actually good for common customers who do not have to process huge amounts of information, keep it safe and intact, accept millions of requests at the same time and so on. But for a big company this is just not the way.
Why does it indeed pay?
Renting and purchasing a dedicated server presupposes more expenses and more technical knowledge on your part or a specialist to administer it properly. It may insinuate doubts in your mind whether it is worth paying.
What you actually should take into consideration is that you will pay anyway and it’s only a question of time and sometimes of your survival value on the market. You can try to start your ecommerce on a shared server at your own risk, but don’t be surprised when you need to solve problem after problem and order more and more hardware and software programmes to protect or to speed up your site.
The optimal solution is to generate your dedicated server package from the very beginning. Moreover, dedicated servers employ only the latest enterprise-class equipment which facilitates trouble-proof work of your online business. Of course, it should be done according to your budget scheme, but your resource needs should be a determinative attribute for the package you choose.
One more feature to take into account is the place of data centres. In case of dedicated servers, they are never located in residential areas where their work can be interrupted frequently. Instead, dedicated servers utilize high-speed networks built specifically for companies’ use.
Additionally, you may consider the location of the provider in general. It must be said then that providers which among other offer dedicated servers can be seen as the most reliable and capable to cinch your website’s seamless work. Not the least thing is their location and coverage. It’s obvious that large global providers with multiple areas covered are the most dependable.
Bottom Line
The larger the business and the more ambitious its plans the sooner the dedicated server is a must for it. The experience tells us that it is better to develop your online concept in advance and work out the whole scheme of how your website should work on the dedicated server. It will safeguard you against almost all sorts of wakeners and loss of customers.