subject: Why Dedicated Servers Mean Less Risk To Your Business [print this page] Dedicated servers are the obvious choice for any business wanting to reduce risk, both in terms of the obvious benefit of keeping servers safe from physical damage, and also in terms of reducing the risk of losing custom due to a slow or unavailable website.
To begin with, it helps to explain a little bit about what a dedicated server is exactly. As standard, your company website will be hosted on a server provided by a web hosting company along with other websites. For personal websites or for very small companies this approach to web hosting provides an adequate service at a relatively low cost. However, for all but the smallest of companies this method of sharing web space simply will not do. When a server issue occurs, which will inevitably happen from time to time on a shared server, medium and large companies are put at risk of much bigger losses than their smaller counterparts. A dedicated server on the other hand is one that is for you and you alone.
Think for a moment about the revenue that your company brings in per day through your website. Now imagine that your site was unavailable for 12 of those hours due to a technical issue. If you could happily make no sales for those 12 hours then you probably do not need a dedicated server, although it may still be beneficial to opt for one, but if in those 12 hours you could potentially lose out on a significant amount of money then it would be highly recommended to begin using one. In fact, if the cost of upgrading to a dedicated server is what it putting you off consider the fact that the amount of money it saves you could be more than the cost of the upgrade in the first place.
On a shared server, whether you like it or not you will be affected by the activities of other companies using that same server. Overload and bad scripts are just two of the many factors that can influence your website even though they are not directly related to it. What one user does on the server can potentially affect everyone else on it so you may find that your website starts to run very slowly or, in the worst case scenario, crashes altogether during typically peak periods.
If you opt for a dedicated server however no one else will be using it and so the only one that can affect the usability of the website is you. You can schedule maintenance for periods when there are typically very few users online and can ensure that no new software is tested or installed during peak periods. You also have the ability to choose exactly which hardware you want, with the memory and bandwidth needed, to be sure that you have a server able to cope with demand. You also have full administrator access to the server so are able to do a full reboot if needed, without going through a third party and adding extra time to the process.
The web hosting company that rents you your dedicated server will most likely also provide excellent technical support so in the unlikely event that something does go wrong you will be able to phone up and get it sorted out quickly. This service may even be included in the price of your web hosting, although you will need to double check that at the time of purchase. Managed servers such as these can prove invaluable in the case of technical issues because they save time and money due to not needing to call an outside expert in, plus there is no need to employ specialised IT staff which can save you money on salaries or training.
Your server will most likely be stored at a colocation facility along with other servers. These facilities go to great lengths to safeguard the security of the servers within, protecting them from fire damage, flood damage, theft and more. You are therefore also benefitting from these services without the need to pay for enhanced security at your place of work.
Overall, dedicated servers greatly reduce your dependency on the web host and protect you from problems caused by other server users, so they are the ideal choice for reducing risk of website down time. Managed servers ensure that support is on hand when it is needed and using colocation services to store your new dedicated server provides enhanced security, also minimising the risk of irreplaceable data loss.
