Why Some Companies Use A Dedicated Server Vs Server Co-Location

If you are trying to decide what web solutions are best for your business, you may be considering the use of a dedicated server vs server co-location. Making the decision about your web hosting is important since anything to do with your website can deeply affect how successful your online presence can be. If you are not someone who is completely familiar with web hosting, the decision may be even more difficult since you may not know what the differences are and how they can affect you.

Web hosting in its most basic form is using a companys servers (which are very specific, very powerful computers) to put your website online. A website is a collection of programs and computer code which other computers can read to generate visuals and audio information. When a website is hosted, it is presented in such a way that computers from all around the world can access this information on their own computers via the internet. When a computer accesses this information via the internet, that visual and audio information appears on their computers.

With a dedicated server, you are in control of an entire server. You lease an entire server from a web hosting company and therefore you can make more decisions about the operating system and any other software which is being utilized. However, if your website is popular and receives a lot of web traffic you may find that your bandwidth, or transmission charges, are quite high and this can be a problem for many smaller businesses.

One way that a dedicated server is better than server co-location is that while you are paying for the bandwidth which is used when customers access your server, staff at the dedicated hosting company will be responsible for maintenance and dealing with any issues that come up. It is far more hands off, and you do not need to worry about updating your server with new technology or software since the hosting company will do this for you.

Unlike a dedicated server, server co-location is listed as being an affordable way for small business to maintain and broadcast their website. Unlike a dedicated server, with co-location you physically own the server itself. This may mean a larger initial outlay to pay for the hardware. You then take the server to an information centre which is run and maintained by the co-location company. You are basically renting space in a warehouse, and therefore bandwidth is not charged, simply rental space. The company you are renting space for gives you an IP address that allows your site to be accessed and then you are responsible for the rest.

This may not seem like a bad idea. You get a secure location and a back-up power supply so that power outages do not bring down your website and make it inaccessible. Since a power outage can make a website inaccessible to users and lose you a large amount of revenue in a small amount of time, having a back-up power supply like a generator is something which makes server co-location incredibly appealing to many e-commerce websites in particular.

If you are someone who does not want to be responsible for the maintenance and updating of your server, co-location may not be the best for you. Because it is your server, updating the operating system or any programs becomes your responsibility and many people do not care for that overly much.

Comparing costs is the only way for you to determine which of these methods is better for your company. Having learned a bit about the process and what makes a dedicated server different than server co-location, you will now be able to back and look at your expenses and find ways to trim them. Decreasing your business’s bottom line, while still receiving quality service is, after all, the eternal struggle which many small businesses are wrestling with.

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Dhruv Patel

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