subject: A Summary Of Web Hosting Packages [print this page] Having taken a quick look at the various forms of shared hosting that can be used by clients to serve a web site to the rest of the world, the second installment in this couplet introduces a few alternative options which may require slightly larger budgets.
Dedicated Hosting
This form of hosting is popular with larger business clients where performance and security are paramount and the budget is in place to do pay for it, because it offers complete control, high security and uncompromised physical resources.
Features:
Client rents an entire single server
Web site has access to all physical resource and connectivity
Often comes with managed hosting
Benefits:
Scope for complete control over server configuration
No competition for bandwidth resource
No competition for processor resource
Access to entire servers disk space
No security threats from other sites/partitions on the server
Drawbacks:
Cost of renting entire server
Potential for wasted capacity if higher spec hardware is rented than the site requires
Clustered Hosting
Clustered hosting employs more than one server to reduce the risk of downtime for clients who cant afford their site to go offline.
Features:
Web site is hosted across multiple servers
Can utilise shared or dedicated servers
Can offer back up systems and load balancing
Benefits:
No single point of failure - one server failing does not take the site offline
Load balancing allows traffic to be distributed between servers reducing the demand on each and improving overall performance
Drawbacks:
Cost if using dedicated servers
Lack of customisation if using shared servers
Colocation
Sometimes referred to as Co-location or simply Colo, this form of hosting allows clients to reap the benefits of a data center location but still retain ownership of the hardware.
Features:
Client buys and owns server(s)
Servers are housed in a data center
Client rents space for servers
Benefits:
Physical security of data center location
Physical safety of data center location
Access to high bandwidth connections
Retained value of the hardware as company assets
Drawbacks:
Initial cost of purchasing servers
Less scalability due to cost of replacing hardware
Potential for wasted capacity if high spec hardware is purchased to future-proof the platform
Managed Hosting
Managed hosting is a type of hosting where the features refer to the support that the client receives rather than the type of server it comes with and therefore it can incorporate any type of hosting/server set up such as shared or dedicated. A fully managed platform is effectively the deluxe package for clients with larger budgets and a shortage of expertise in-house.
Features (typically):
Expert support and advice
Technicians available to make configuration changes
Performance monitoring
Usually a dedicated server
Benefits (depending on the type of support):
Access to the expertise and knowledge of hosting provider
Round the clock support in case of performance issues or downtime
Proactive and reactive support for changes in the web site or web site usage
Help to effectively scale and configure platform
Drawbacks:
Will tend to be expensive in comparison to self-managed packages
