Today every business has a website. For some companies, it’s a way to introduce themselves to their target audiences. And for others, a website is a business tool by itself. Take, for example, e-commerce businesses, b2b, and services — they’re using sites to deliver their products to their customers. Therefore, at some point, they might have so much traffic that their hosting can’t handle it due to the lack of resources.
Knowing that this issue might happen, owners of such businesses struggle to make a decision that would be correct in the long run when picking a hosting option for their website or application. And we understand that it’s not an easy choice — while you could go for a dedicated server right away, it can be a quite expensive option. Also, you’ll need a tech background or a system administrator to manage a server. So when do you need a dedicated server? Let’s figure it out.
First of all, what is a dedicated server?
A dedicated server is a hosting service that provides you with a remote server, and you’re the only one who’s using it. It’s quite like having a physical machine with one significant difference — you don’t have to worry about the hardware. Your provider takes care of it taking off your shoulders the need to waste space on the server and time on maintaining it.
So it’s a rather appealing deal — you get to use the resources of a whole powerful machine without sharing it with anyone, and you don’t have a headache server maintenance brings. However, there are pitfalls as well. To understand this service better let’s talk about all the pros and cons.
Advantages of a dedicated server
This option has important benefits that make it so appealing to many business owners. To make it easier for you to evaluate them, we will compare a dedicated server to a virtual private server.
Maximum security
Both VPS and dedicated hostings are rather secure. However, a virtual private server has one drawback — you’re sharing a server with other users. Neighbors don’t affect each other because everyone has their dedicated space. Yet, if someone’s website gets hacked, yours is also exposed to a potential threat. And while we at King Servers do our best to protect all our servers, we can’t force users to perform certain security-oriented actions and safeguard everyone from a human mistake.
When it comes to a dedicated server, you won’t have any neighbors that could harm you. If you take your time to set up a sustainable security system, you will be perfectly safe. We at King Servers offer an automated anti-DDOS system that will keep your website protected from DDOS attacks. So you’re covered here.
Full control over the software
Since you’ll get a whole server just for yourself, you will be able to decide how you run and use it. Of course, VPS hostings are also highly configurable, but the amount of resources they offer is limited. So you’ll have much more freedom if you choose a dedicated server as you’ll get quite a lot of resources and a basically bare machine that’s ready for you to manage it as you like.
You’re the only who’s using a server
It means that you’re getting all the resources a physical machine has. You don’t have to share them with anyone like you’d need to do in the case with VPS hosting. And you won’t experience any issues because of having neighbors. You can host several websites or apps on your dedicated server — no one can stop you. Well, as long as you have enough resources for all those sites and apps. So even though VPS hostings lower the impact of all the users on each other, you still have more independency with a dedicated server.
A dedicated server can handle a high load
VPS hostings usually can handle quite a lot of traffic. But some complex websites and apps need more resources than a VPS hosting can offer. With a dedicated server, you won’t need to worry about a possible traffic spike that will make your website or app go down. Of course, the amount of resources depends on the machine you choose. If you’re not sure which configuration will fit you, just drop us a line, and we will help you to make a correct decision.
Disadvantages of a dedicated server
Again, we will compare it to a VPS hosting to help you understand the differences.
It’s not cheap
Dedicated hosting is more expensive than a VPS which is logical because you’re getting a whole machine. But some businesses might not be able yet to handle such expenses. Then it’s better to choose a suitable VPS hosting and then upgrade to a dedicated one as traffic and profit grow. With King Servers, you’ll be able to transfer your website or app from a VPS to a dedicated server without any hassle and downtimes.
You need a tech background or a system administrator
As you get a whole server, you need to maintain it — and that’s a challenging task. If you don’t have knowledge and experience in server maintenance, you will need to hire a specialist who will keep things running properly. It means that you’ll have more expenses. It’s easier for beginners to maintain a VPS hosting even though it still requires some technical skills.
When do you need a dedicated server?
Now let’s talk about the main question — how to understand that you need to get a dedicated server?
Generally, if your monthly traffic larger than a VPS hosting can handle, you should consider switching to dedicated hosting. Another reason would be that your website or app is quite complex and requires a lot of resources to just keep things running smoothly — then the high performance of a dedicated server will be very useful.
If you often experience downtimes because your hosting gets overloaded with the number of users — that’s a clear sign that you need more resources. If pages started loading very slowly — it means that your website gets heavy enough for you to switch to dedicated hosting. In other words, you’ll notice that you lack resources for your website or app to run smoothly and remain accessible for your users.
Another reason to get a dedicated server is the need for especially high security for your project or if you need to implement some specific tailored configurations. With a dedicated hosting, you’ll have the freedom to perform any action you need and install the software you want.
Projects that involve virtualization can be run only on dedicated servers as you’ll need a lot of resources to execute your goals. The same goes for online games — such project require a server with a video card. And that’s something you can get only with a dedicated hosting.
But how to understand that you need a dedicated server when you’re just getting your business online? In this case, you can only try to predict the pace at which your traffic will grow. If you expect your project to evolve quickly and gain lots of users within a short amount of time, you should go for a dedicated hosting from the beginning, if your budget allows that.
If you’re still struggling to understand if you should opt for a dedicated server, contact us and tell us about your business. We will evaluate your traffic and help you understand which hosting fits you better. Also, we will help you to choose the suitable configuration of a dedicated server.
