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What Is A Dedicated Server Host?

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Dedicated Server HostHaving a dedicated server host basically means that your website or websites are on their own stand-alone server. When you sign up for a dedicated server web hosting account, the hosting service commissions a server just for you.

With a dedicated server, you get to choose the hardware, operating system, control panel software, customer management software, application software and support, multimedia support and overall server configuration. You also get full root access, security controls and reseller tools.In short, a dedicated server gives you complete control.

Perhaps the main advantage to having a dedicated server is that it allows for much more memory and bandwidth. You are free to change and add much more without worrying about it being too much volume for the server. On other types of hosting accounts there is a limit, and when that limit is reached, your site goes down.

Dedicated servers can handle much larger amounts of bandwidth, which means that the website can handle more traffic and the flow of information back and forth from the end user to the server. A dedicated server usually has intrusion detection and other serious methods to help maintain the security of the server and the information it handles. Programmers can change or tweak just about anything they wish, giving the website much more power and ability to function in a large web environment. Dedicated server hosting also gives you the ability to be a hosting reseller if you so desire.

Dedicated servers are typically housed in a collocation center or data center. Data centers feature the state of the art in environmental control technology. This is necessary to maintain the optimum operating environment for the servers. The servers get hot, so they must be kept clean and cool. The humidity must also be controlled to prevent condensation as the temperature in the data center cycles between its set-points.

Security is another function of the data center. The typical data center has no windows. Keycard & code security along with biometrics (fingerprint recognition, voice identification and weight matching) are required for access to the servers. Fire detection and suppression systems are also a key component and can include firewalls between sections of the data center, advanced smoke and fire detection systems, sprinkler systems and gaseous fire suppression systems. These can be tied into the power control network of the building to enable an alarm to cut power to affected systems.

Data and system reliability is also a key component of the data center architecture. Most good dedicated server hosting companies have technicians and system administrators on site that monitor the servers 24/7 and act on issues as they occur – before they turn into major problems.

UPS backup power supplies and backup generators for building main power are also in place to mitigate power outages. RAID arrays are part of this infrastructure as well and exist to keep redundant backups of all server data. A data center typically has multiple high-speed Internet backbone connections and fully redundant telecommunication and server equipment. Good dedicated server hosting companies (or any good hosting companies) have no single point of failure, meaning no single failure can bring down the system – or your website.

Types Of Dedicated Servers Hosting

Fully Managed Dedicated Server Hosting

Fully Managed Dedicated Server HostingManaged dedicated server hosting is by far the most popular choice for businesses and web designers. With managed dedicated server hosting, you are not expected to be the full time system administrator. This means most of the server operations, such as security, software maintenance and updating and troubleshooting are handled by the hosting company.

As a business, you most likely will not have time to maintain a server while running your business. So, hosting companies bundle a number of these services with your account.

Benefits included in managed dedicated server hosting plans can include:

  • Software updates
  • Operating system updates and maintenance
  • Control panel software
  • Advanced software and server configurations
  • Application deployment
  • Database management
  • Backup services
  • Server monitoring and recovery
  • Advanced technical support
  • Telephone based support
  • Firewall configuration
  • Anti-spam and virus protection
  • Security scans and audits

Unmanaged Dedicated Server Hosting

Unmanaged dedicated server hosting is essentially the opposite of managed plans. With unmanaged hosting, the company still houses your server in their data center and provides all of the security and controls necessary to keep the server physically running. Server configuration, software installation and updating, operating system maintenance and updates, data / website security and day-to-day administration are left to the customer (you).

Unless you really know what you are doing, we don’t recommend unmanaged hosting. Many of the unforeseen problems and software issues that come up can be daunting to fix for those who are not experienced administrators or IT professionals. Also, performing all of these tasks takes time – time that is better spent running your business.

Unmetered Dedicated Server Hosting

Unmanaged dedicated server hosting is not the same as unmetered dedicated server hosting. Unmetered dedicated server hosting means that the server provider does not meter the bandwidth usage and/or other usage metrics typically monitored by a dedicated server host. Unmetered dedicated server hosting is typically more expensive than managed dedicated server hosting because there are no limits on your plan. This is the top of the line, and is only needed for those websites that are truly immense and get thousands of unique visitors per hour.

Who Needs Dedicated Server Hosting?

Which dedicated web hosting solution?Dedicated web hosting is usually what large websites run on. Very large companies contract out their own servers for their internal and external web sites. They may even have their own servers in-house and IT staff to support them. Websites that perform a high volume of work, such as high traffic, extensive video or streaming content, a large download library or very large websites (1000’s of pages) typically require dedicated server hosting to achieve the necessary performance to serve their visitors and customers.

Dedicated managed web hosting is absolutely the way to go if you’re planning on having an e-commerce business website selling physical goods. Since you will hopefully have a lot of traffic on your website, you will need the best bandwidth you can get to avoid crashing the website. Some e-commerce businesses can decide to start slow, and then build their way up from shared hosting to VPS hosting and eventually up to dedicated server hosting. Ecommerce websites that receive a lot of traffic and/or produce a lot of sales will need a dedicated server.

Dedicated Servers hosting is the top of the hosting food chain, and therefore is the most expensive hosting option. Most sites start small, on shared hosting plans. Those that thrive and grow eventually end up needing a dedicated server. It is very important to know what the goals are for your website and how they will be achieved. This way, you have a plan in place for your business to grow and be able to support the higher cost of dedicated server hosting.

While the price of using a dedicated web host is usually much higher, the stability and flexibility is definitely worth it. High traffic websites usually need a dedicated server just to support the number of views or hits they receive. This especially includes the amount of information being communicated to the server if there are multiple financial transactions (sales) being made. Such a site needs to be able to handle all of this activity without getting bogged down, slowed down or shut down.


The Best Dedicated Server Web Hosting

The following table is a comparison of the best dedicated server hosting providers. They are ranked and sorted so you can get a clear picture of what each provider offers. When you choose the one that fits your needs, click the link to check it out.

The Best Dedicated Servers Hosting
hostgator dedicated servers hosting
5 Star
Visit: Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting
glowhost dedicated servers hosting
4.5 Star
Visit: GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting
Package Name Basic Standard Elite Pro AMD Level I AMD Level II Intel Level I AMD Level III Intel Level II
Rating Best Starter Best Mid-Range Best High Capacity
Package Monthly Cost (Managed) $174.00 $219.00 $279.00 $374.00 $199.00 $239.00 $239.00 $339.00 $369.00
Package Monthly Cost (Unmanaged) n/a n/a n/a n/a $149.00 $189.00 $189.00 $235.00 $235.00
Setup Cost Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
HARDWARE
Package Name Basic Standard Elite Pro AMD Level I AMD Level II Intel Level I AMD Level III Intel Level II
Processor Type Intel Xeon 3040 Intel Xeon 3110 Intel Xeon 3210 Intel Xeon 3360 AMD Athlon X2 5050e AMD Athlon II 250 Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 Dual AMD Opteron 2350 Dual Intel Xeon 5520 HT
Processor Speed 1.86GHz Dual Core 2.00GHz Dual Core 2.13GHz Quad Core 2.83GHz Quad Core 2.6 GHz Dual Core 3.0 GHz Dual Core 3.0 GHz Dual Core 2x 2.0 GHz Quad Cores 16x 2.26 GHz Cores
Memory 1 GB DDR RAM 4 GB DDR RAM 4 GB DDR RAM 8 GB DDR RAM 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 2 GB 6 GB
Hard Drive Storage 250 GB 2x 250 GB (dual) 2x 500 GB (dual) 2x 500 GB (dual) 320 GB 320 GB 320 GB 320 GB 750 GB
Monthly Bandwidth 1500 GB 1500 GB 2500 GB 2500 GB 2000 GB 2000 GB 2000 GB 3000 GB 4000 GB
Network Speed
(Up & Down)
100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps
IP Addresses 5 13 13 13 5 5 5 5 5
ADMINISTRATION
Host hostgator dedicated servers hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated servers hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

Control Panel Linux: cPanel & WHM

Windows: Plesk Control Panel 9.x

cPanel & WHM
Client/Reseller Management Linux: WHM or WHMCS

Windows: Plesk Control Panel 9.x

ClientExec
Domains Unlimited Unlimited
Sub Domains Unlimited Unlimited
MySQL Databases Unlimited Unlimited
FTP Accounts Unlimited Unlimited
SSH / Root Access yes yes
URL Redirect yes yes
Web Based
File Manager
yes yes
Custom
Error Pages
yes yes
SOFTWARE
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

Operating System Linux: CentOS 5.x (recommended/standard), RHEL4 (RedHat), FreeBSD 6.2, Fedora 4 and 4.5, or Debian

Windows: Windows Server 2008 R2 w/ Remote Desktop (64-bit w/ 32-bit compatibility)

RedHat Linux
Web Server Linux: Apache

Windows: IIS

Apache
*ASP.NET (Windows Only) yes no
*MS SQL (Windows Only) yes no
CGI yes yes
PHP yes yes
MySQL yes yes
Perl yes yes
Ruby On Rails® yes yes
fastCGI yes yes
Python yes yes
SSI yes yes
JSP yes yes
Cron yes yes
Curl yes yes
CPAN yes no
GD/GD2 yes yes
Image Magick yes yes
FFMPEG & FLV yes yes
Streaming Video/Music yes yes
SiteBuilder yes no
FrontPage Extensions yes yes
SUPPORT & SECURITY
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

No Contract yes yes
Uptime Guarantee 99.9% 99.9%
Customer Support 24/7/365 24/7/365
Managed Firewall yes yes
Security Patches yes yes
Software &
Script Updates
yes yes
Antivirus yes yes
Hotlink Protection yes yes
IP Deny Manager yes yes
Password Protected Directories yes yes
Online Tutorials & Knowledgebase yes yes
24/7 Server Monitoring yes yes
Secure Datacenter yes yes
Backup
Power & HVAC
yes yes
Data Backups yes yes
Backbone Connection yes yes
EMAIL
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

POP3 Unlimited Unlimited
IMAP yes yes
SMTP yes yes
Web Mail yes yes
E-mail Alias yes yes
Autoresponders yes yes
Catch All yes yes
Spam Assassin yes yes
Mail Forward yes yes
Mailing List yes yes
Outgoing Emails/Hour Unlimited Unlimited
SCRIPTS
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

Fantastico
Script Library
yes yes
Soholaunch Pro yes no
PHPnuke yes yes
Chatroom yes yes
Forum yes yes
Guestbook yes yes
Counter yes yes
FormMail yes yes
phpMyAdmin yes yes
Blog yes yes
WordPress yes yes
Joomla yes yes
Drupal yes yes
SERVER STATISTICS
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

Urchin 5 yes no
Analog yes yes
AWstats yes yes
Raw Access Logs yes yes
Access yes yes
Referrer Logs yes yes
Error Logs yes yes
E-COMMERCE
Host hostgator dedicated server hosting

All Hostgator Dedicated Servers Hosting

glowhost dedicated server hosting

All GlowHost Dedicated Servers Hosting

Private SSL Support yes yes
Interchange Shopping Cart yes no
osCommerce yes yes
ZenCart yes yes
Cube Cart yes yes
Free Website Templates yes no
Brandable
Control Panel
yes yes
Domain Name Reseller Enom Domain Reseller Account no
Package Monthly Cost (Managed) $174.00 $219.00 $279.00 $374.00 $199.00 $239.00 $239.00 $339.00 $369.00
Package Monthly Cost (Unmanaged) n/a n/a n/a n/a $149.00 $189.00 $189.00 $235.00 $235.00
Setup Cost Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
Rating Best Starter Best Mid-Range Best High Capacity
Package Name Basic Standard Elite Pro AMD Level I AMD Level II Intel Level I AMD Level III Intel Level II
hostgator dedicated server hosting
5 Star
Visit: Hostgator Web Hosting
glowhost dedicated server hosting
4.5 Star
Visit: Hostgator Web Hosting

Still not sure which dedicated web host best fits your needs?
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