Benefits of a dedicated web server?

Good day, Mark:

Over the past 15 years we've been in business (thanks to Jesus), Internet technology has changed a lot given the young age of the Internet.

Today, you have the choice of shared hosting, virtual machine hosting (also known as virtual private servers), dedicated servers, cloud hosting, as well as modified shared hosting with CloudLinux where it sets up the physical server running the shared hosting with a lightweight virtual environment.

Typically shared and shared extended with CloudLinux will be your most economical type of hosting; but sometimes also the most chaotic (at least on the pure shared side) as those companies that chose to compete on price do their best to see how far they can push a physical server before it caps out without actually capping it out.

The danger of pure shared hosting, aside from companies that oversell their infrastructure and environment, is that any other customer (or group) on the same physical server can bring down your site(s), or you could bring down there sites.

CloudLinux helps lesson that type of danger dramatically, but you are still sharing resources; and there are certain areas where CloudLinux does not fully contain things (such as mail services). If the shared hosting provider is using cpanel, Plesk, or a number of non multi-server automation systems, then chances are high email is on the same physical server that's running the shared hosting service. That means that webs can bring down email, and email can bring down web.

The next step up is the virtual machine (virtual private server) market where you typically pay more than shared hosting, but less than a dedicated server.

If the provider is not using Parallels Virtuozzo or OpenVZ (which allows for overselling as well as running the same operating system core for all virtual machines -- read bad if security and isolation matter to you), and they are using market leaders like Citrix XenServer and VMWare, then to the end user (customer) of a virtual machine, it looks like you have your own dedicated server.

Both market leaders -- Citrix XenServer and VMWare -- do a very good job at virtual machine (vm) isolation that it is extremely rare that the customer on one vm can bring down another vm.

Cloud Hosting, while relatively new, is taking off faster and faster. Some providers claim they are providing Cloud Hosting, but they are basically providing hyped up (marketing hype, not necessarily technology hype / souped up) virtual machines portraying them as Cloud Hosting. Others, truly have geographically dispearsed data centers providing for a true Cloud experience.

Cloud Hosting can be cheaper than dedicated, often similar in price to vm hosting, depending on the resources you need; and have the benefit of your increasing resources (or decreasing them) on demand. Need 2 more GB of RAM, turn up the dial, and it is there for you given that's within the parameters of the provider.

VM, Cloud Hosting, and dedicated servers typically give you true root access (the keys) to the server.

Dedicated, it is all you, and no one else sharing the physical resources of the server.

For those that like or need control, dedicated may sound like the right answer, but there's always con(s) with the pro(s).

While dedicated servers can give you a lot of power and flexibility, like Cloud and VM unless management is included, it will be up to you to take care of everyting. And even if management is included, if you are not careful, the management is retroactive requiring you to know enough to ask for help when help is needed.

In a good shared environment (including CloudLinux), the servers are secured, and kept secured.

From the VM to Cloud Hosting to dedicated servers, more often than not you are in an unmanaged or partially managed environment. The lower the price of the server/services, the chances are increased that you get less and less proactive help (if any at all).

Therefore, it is typically recommended for companies that are just putting their first web site up, that uless you have statistics to show the need for more than shared, go with shared to start, and then work up the ladder.

A good hosting provider will hold your hand as your company grows from shared to vm to cloud or dedicated.

Thank you.