Special note: This article isn’t written by Jan Hvizdak, the services-seo.net founder, and is only translated from Slovak to English language. It’s goal is informational only. You may redistribute this article „as is“ only if you provide a link back in the references list. This document was written by student(s) and was tested in order to pass the copyright test.

In this article, I’d like to intorduce you dedicated servers, their advantages and disadvantages of such solution for your web site. Nowdays, there are two basic terms in the world of web hosting companies; ‘Virtual server’ and ‘Dedicated server’. Let’s analyse differences between them too.

What is a virtual and dedicated web hosting service?

Virtual web hosting means that your web site is stored on some computer (also called as web server) besides other web sites; There may be for example 10, 20, 100, 500 of such sites or even more. This solution’s disadvantage is limited speed of both, internet conection and processor, less safety and the major problem is that you’re not able to install/uninstall or upgrade various packages and modules. The only one advantage of this service is it’s cost availability.

If your web site is located on a dedicated server, then the whole machine is yours. Thus you get more speed, safety and you control everything. If you buy such service, you should be able to install or uninstall various modules, including new PHP engine or MySQL database. You’re simply allowed to upgrade it the way you need it. This kind of web hosting is required by large web sites with lots of databases, millions of visitors each day, use a lot of system resources. If you keep sensitive data within your databases, you should consider dedicated web hosting too, so no-one will be able to share your data. Unfortunately, this service is much more expensive than virtual web hosting and usually costs at least $400 per month.

The list of advantages and disadvantages of dedicated servers

You’re in need of a dedicated web hosting service if:

• 1) Your web site has as many inputs as a virtual server can’t handle in a real time,
• 2) You need to install a lot of webpages on a server,
• 3) You require a service or module which virtual servers don’t offer,
• 4) You require a high security level.

All advantages can be grouped into following:

• 1) Very low security risk,
• 2) System resources are fully available for your applications only,
• 3) Possibility of modifying system variables,
• 4) Special care of your server,
• 5) Processor, memory, HDD performance used by your site only,
• 6) Usually unlimited amount of transferred data,
• 7) Your own IP (internet protocol) address,
• Uninstalling and installing required modules on demand,
• 9) Web hosting firm is usually responsible for all hardware components.

Providing a dedicated server should be an outstanding service

Rental of a dedicated web server is usually followed by a set of requirements like high performance, speed, safe run, no breakdowns and comfort. This service offers focusing on business more than potential server’s problems and maintenance.

As web business spreads, operating very important and difficult online applications gets it’s importance in every country. Old and new companies still tend to offer new services which require more system resources than an ordinary virtual hosting might offer. Even if internet companies in countries like USA, Great Britain, France or Australia offer dedicated web hosting for long years, other countries use to offer it too.

As time goes by, web products and solutions are getting more sophisticated and they require more speed than a virtual server offers. Nowdays, classical servers can’t handle complex, expensive, and integrated intranet and internet applications as real-time operations if serving more than 1 of them at one moment.

Example of a dedicated server:

ASUS RS120-E3

Specification:

• CPU Intel® P4 Prescott 630 3.0 Ghz
• RAM 512 MB DDR2 533
• HDD 2x 80 GB S-ATA-II RAID1
• 2x newtork card Broadcom® BCM5721 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet
• ATI® RAGE-XL /8MB Graphic cars
• CD-ROM
• 4x USB port
• 1x Serial port
• 1x 64bit / 100MHz PCI-X
• 1x PCI-E x8
• 1x miniPCI
• 2x PS/2 (keyboard and mouse)
• 1x 400W source

Connectivity:

Usually at least 10 Mbps. It is about 100 Mbps, however in the case of overloaded network it’s only 10 Mbps. Of course, it’s possible to raise the connection speed. On the other hand, it costs more. In my experience, such speed is enough if you’re getting up to 1 000 000 visitors each day.

Very important point is a restart possibility. You should be able to restart the server via cell phone call, SMS or via any other way on demand immediatelly. You should be able to access the server anytime too.

Another configuration:

Fujitsu Siemens RX100S3

• Intel® Pentium® 4, 800 MHz FSB, 630 3.0 Ghz
• RAM 512 MB up to 8 GB, unbuffered ECC DDR2-533 SDRAM, PC2-4200
• CD/DVD or CD/DVD-RW
• HDD 2x 80 / 160 / 250 GB SATA, easy change or hot-plug
• 2x ports SATA 300 with RAID 0,1
• 2x 100 / 100 / 1000 Mbit/s Ethernet LAN
• ATI Rage XL 8 MB graphic card

Fujitsu Siemens RX200S2

• 1 or 2 processors 64-bit Intel Xeon™; 800 Mhz FSB; 2.8 up to 3.8 Ghz
• RAM 1 GB up to 16 GB, ECC DDR2-400 (PC2-3200) SDRAM
• CD/DVD or CD/DVD-RW
• HDD 2x 35 / 73 / 146 / 300 GB Ultra320 SCSI, hot-plug
• 1x Ultra30 SCSI controller with RAID 1
• 2x 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbit/s Ethernet LAN
• ATI Rage XL 8 MB graphic card

Fujitsu Siemens RX300S2

• 1 or 2 processors 64-bit Intel Xeon™; 800 Mhz FSB; 2.8 up to 3.8 Ghz
• Single-Core or 2.8 Ghz Dual-Core Intel® Xeon™
• RAM 1 GB up to 16 GB, ECC DDR2-400 (PC2-3200) SDRAM
• CD/DVD or CD/DVD-RW
• HDD 6x 35 / 73 / 146 / 300 GB Ultra320 SCSI, hot-plug
• 2 channel Ultra30 SCSI controller with RAID 1, RAID on mother board level 0, 1, 10, 5, 50
• 2x 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbit/s Ethernet LAN
• ATI Rage XL 8 MB graphic card

Bear in mind, that you should back-up your data on a regular basis.

This article was published on 12/13/2006 (mm-dd-yyyy).