Getting the Most Out of Your Dedicated Server Hosting in 2019

1. Getting the Getting the Mos Most Out of t Out of Y Your our Ded Dedica icated Ser Serv ver Hosting in Hosting in 2019 2019 ted er

2. Get Getting ting th Ded Dedica icate the d Ser Serv ver e Mos Most t Out er Hos Hosting Out of ting in of Y You our r in 20 2019 ted 19 As we get closer to 2019, it is time to take stock of how dedicated server hosting has benefited your current website. On the other hand, if you have been considering the great leap to a dedicated server for 2019, there is a bit of house-keeping you will need to do. In both cases, you also have to familiarize yourself with the current trends in dedicated server hosting that will hit web hosting markets.

3. Table of contents  Getting the Most Out of Your Dedicated Server Hosting in 2019  What are Dedicated Servers?  Benefits of Dedicated Servers vs. Other Hosting Plans  Misconceptions about Dedicated Servers  How to Maximize a Dedicated Server Hosting  Managed vs. Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting  Server Configuration 1. CPU Capacity 2. RAM Capacity 3. Storage Capacity 4. Boost Security (DDoS Protection)  Final Remarks

4. W Wha hat t ar are Ded e Dedica icate ted d Ser Serv ver ers? s? Dedicated servers are servers that are exclusive to one website. This means that you get your own server which you can alter and add whatever features you need to suit your website needs. A simple way to understand dedicated servers is by using the analogy of building a home versus renting a house. Dedicated server hosting is like building your home from scratch. You have the freedom to determine how many rooms the house will have, the colors that will be painted, type of floor boarding you will use, and the type of decor it will have. You have full control of how the house will look in the end as well as freedom to do additional customizing futures. Whether to go for a dedicated server depends on a number of things. First, you have to consider the size of your website. Ideally, dedicated server hosting is beneficial to large websites that handle high traffic each day like e-commerce websites. Such websites need to be consistently fast and reliable with minimal downtime experienced. Only a dedicated server guarantees reliable uptime.

5. One other thing to consider is the level of security you want for your site. If you run a personal blog where you share lifestyle tips with your audience, then you can do with the level of security provided by other forms of web hosting services. On the other hand, if you are running an ecommerce store with a large database of sensitive client information, you need your website fortified with the unbreachable security. Such high level of security is accorded by dedicated server hosting. The third factor and one that we often shy away from is the cost of running your website on a dedicated server. With all the advanced features dedicated hosting comes with, you can expect the price to be relatively higher. Does your website stand to benefit from the additional features you get from dedicated hosting? Is your budget big enough to cover the cost of running a dedicated server? The bottom line is: if you will constantly need reliable uptime and fast speeds to handle the increasing traffic coming to your website, then you need dedicated hosting. For businesses that handle sensitive data like client financial information (like online casinos), by all means you should get a dedicated server!

6. Ben Benefits efits of of D Ded edica Hos Hosting icate ting Plans ted d Ser Serv ver Plans ers s vs vs. . Oth Other er You can fully understand the benefit of dedicated server hosting when you compare it to other forms of hosting. Currently, we have three server hosting options available:  Dedicated hosting  VPS hosting  Shared hosting. In VPS hosting and Shared hosting, one server is shared between 250 to 500 websites. All features of shared hosting are stored within a network, which all the websites can access. So there will be competition for resources among the websites involved. This is quite different from the benefits dedicated server hosting provides.

7. Dedicated servers provide complete freedom and control for businesses. You are able to configure the server to match the specific needs and vision of your business. You have full access to all the features that come with the server and the freedom to add more features if need be. What’s more, a dedicated has improved security compared to VPS or shared hosting. As you are the only one with access to your server, there are less chances of being vulnerable to a cyber attack. In shared hosting, if one website is hit with a cyber attack, all other websites on that server are vulnerable too. Finally, you get more storage space with dedicated hosting. If a server provides 2TB worth of storage, your website has access to all of it. In shared hosting, 2TB is shared among many websites so there is a high chance that one site will get the biggest share at the expense of the rest.

8. Misco Misconc ncep eption tions s a abo bout ut Ded Dedica icate ted d Ser Serv ver ers s A lot of businesses looking to scale up have the perception that dedicated hosting is very costly. However, when you think of how much you stand to gain as a business, the cost of setting up and managing a dedicated server is relatively abysmal. Shared hosting is prone to network downtimes, cyber attacks, and limited storage to mention a few. You find yourself spending extra on storage and security resources which increase the cost of running a website. In short, cheap is definitely expensive when you compare dedicated servers vs. shared servers. Another misconception about dedicated servers is that you get to do all the heavy-lifting to ensure the server is up and running. Well, if you have a strong background in IT, then this should be a no-brainer. There is also the option of having your server managed on your behalf leaving you to focus on running your business website.

9. Ho How w to Maximi to Maximiz ze e a Hosting Hosting a Dedica Dedicated ted Ser Serv ver er If you have reached this section, it means you already have your website on a dedicated server or are considering the upgrade for 2019. It is possible to configure your dedicated server to ensure you get the most of it. First, you have to understand the options and trends that are available for scaling your website come next year.

10. Man Mana age ged d vs vs. . Unma Unmana nage ged d Ded Dedica icate ted d Hos Hosting ting Dedicated servers can either be managed or unmanaged. Managed dedicated hosting is where the web provider agrees to take care of all backend process on your behalf. Your web host will ensure the server is always up and running and will carry out technical tasks, such as monitoring security risks or creating backups on your behalf. With all the heavy-lifting taken care of by your hosting provider, you are left to handle the more important tasks of your business. Therefore, managed dedicated hosting is a viable option for any business that wants exclusive hosting services but doesn’t have the technical know-how of running a server. Unmanaged dedicated hosting is the complete opposite of managed dedicated hosting. Here, all the responsibility of managing your server rests entirely on you. You have to monitor your own data, create your own backups, and determine the best hosting settings for your website. This option is the best if you have a background in IT and understand how all the backend processes work. Most IT businesses, such as the ones providing web hosting services, would benefit from unmanaged dedicated hosting.

11. Ser Serv ver er Con Confi figu gur ra ation tion One way to get more from your dedicated server is to upgrade your current resources. The resources you are looking at include RAM, Storage Space, and CPU capacity. We look at all three extensively.

12. 1. CPU 1. CPU Ca The CPU or the central processing unit is the engine that fuels and manages all operations happening on your website. This unit is in charge of running programs, computations, and the tasks necessary to ensure your website is fully functional. How fast the CPU can run will depend on the number of processors, or cores it has. Capa pacit city y Most dedicated servers start you off on about 4 cores. Each core can handle one action at any given time. As your website scales up, there will be more activity happening on your WebPages, meaning more cores will be required. Consider moving from 4 cores to 6 or 12 cores so that your website can handle more tasks quicker.

13. 2. RAM 2. RAM Ca Capa pacity city RAM or random access memory acts as the brain of the server. RAM determines how well your website functions by managing the tasks and operations coming from the CPU. If your server has less memory, it may not be able to handle multiple tasks at once like managing different software or customer activity on your website. Generally, 1 GB of RAM should be enough to serve over 3,000 coming to your website. If your website is receiving more visitors than this, then it is time to increase your RAM. Every application on your website will require RAM to run efficiently. Think of your WordPress supported blog or the various number of plugins, like WooCommerce, installed on your website to facilitate sales. The rule of the thumb is to always have an extra RAM to help you expand your reach in 2019. If your website runs perfectly on 4GB of RAM, consider switching to 5GB RAM just to give you room to advance come next year.

14. 3. Stor 3. Stora age ge Ca Capa pacity city All the information processed on your website is stored in a remote location known as the storage space. There are two types of storage space available in dedicated hosting: hard disk drives (HDD) and Solid State Drives (SSD). HDD storage carries the largest amount of space but have relatively low speeds. If you only need that extra space to backup online data, then you are better off increasing your HDD capacity. SSD storage has the advantage of being faster. However, it often comes with limited space compared to HDD. SSD storage is also quite expensive because of the added benefit of speed. If you will need additional space to install more applications or running extra processes, then you will benefit more with SSD storage.

15. 4. Boos 4. Boost t Sec Secur urity ity ( (DDo DDoS S Pr Prot otec ection tion) ) Network security is one of the biggest reasons why ecommerce businesses are moving to dedicated server hosting. 2018 has seen its fair share of cases concerning network security attacks. Many businesses have suffered immense losses through loss of revenue and online presence. Even the security measures deployed in shared hosting servers are not a guarantee that your website is protected. 2019 should be a year of expanding your horizons as an ecommerce business and not fighting the same old story of cyber attacks. Dedicated hosting could protect you from some of these potential threats witnessed in 2018. Viruses and worms continue to affect many websites hosted in the same network. While a virus is a malicious program that can be eradicated with an antivirus, a worm is a lot more complicated to weed out. Worms are malicious programs that replicate themselves to infect a large number of host files. A single malicious worm can potentially infect an entire network of computers making mitigation a lot harder.

16. or fake traffic until the server succumbs to the pressure and crashes. It will take a lot of time and resources to clear this threat and restore your website’s functionality. Another attack similar to DDoS is the use of BotNets. BotNet is a collection of malicious servers teamed up to destroy a specific website or an entire network. It is possible for a hacker to round up a few websites in a network and use them as BotNets to attack other websites. It becomes harder to quell such an attack because you first have to identify whether the threat is coming from amidst hundreds of websites or cloud servers. Some threats use your website URL as bait to attack your online visitors. One such threat is Drive-by Download attacks which is in the form of a fake URL that harbors a malicious program. It is a lot easier for hackers to replicate your website URL if you are on a shared server. A Drive-by download attack can hurt the integrity of your website because online visitors no longer trust your URL. It is, therefore, paramount to protect your website against all these potential threats. And it’s a lot easier if you are protecting yourself from a dedicated server.

17. Fina Final R l Rema emar rks ks Dedicated server hosting could be the deal-breaker of whether your website makes it to 2019. Yes, you may have to break your piggy bank to bankroll this new upgrade but your website will be more secure. Recommended service provider:  https://gthost.com/