Many growing websites and online businesses will eventually hit the limitations of shared hosting. While shared hosting is a cost-effective solution for smaller sites, some people will need more.The question for these websites and business is, “How will I know if I need a dedicated server?”
Do you need room to move?
Many shared hosting facilities have limitations on storage space and the number of files you can store on your share of the server. This can be an issue for community-based sites that encourage members to upload files such as user account avatars or larger files like user-generated audio and video.
This is also an issue for anyone who wants to host a number of their own sites in the one location, especially if those sites have many users. Think about the hard drive on your personal computer for a moment. If you are the only one who uses the computer, you can generally keep the number of files and the amount of storage space used under control. Even if the numbers start to climb, it is a relatively easy task to get rid of old, unwanted files and save some storage space. However, if you share the computer with your family, storage space becomes a bigger issue as everyone has their own ideas about what number and size of files is reasonable.
Dedicated servers have greater storage allowances and the number of files is only restricted by the size of the hard drive you leased. This makes dedicated servers well suited to sites built around user-generated content or servers that host a number of different sites. The more generous storage arrangements means you need rarely worry about coming up against your quotas.
Special Apps
Shared hosting is designed to meet the needs of the majority of users. This often means supporting only a small selection of web applications, such as PHP-based frameworks, and in some cases Perl. Many other web application frameworks are not well supported by shared hosting plans. If you want to run a service built on Ruby on Rails for example, or a custom-built content management system, you will need to consider the flexibility of a dedicated server.
You will also appreciate the flexibility of a dedicated server if you like to experiment with the latest software. While most shared hosting environments offer a range of simple “one click installs” of popular software packages like WordPress, they support for emerging or highly niche products is rare. Leasing a dedicated server means you are able to install and evaluate anything you like, no matter how highly specialized or niche it might be.
More Bandwidth
Shared hosting provides enough bandwidth for all but the busiest servers. However, if you have a very highly trafficked website, for example a very popular internet forum, or your server transfers a lot of files (project management applications are a good example here), you will find that shared hosting doesn’t provide quite enough bandwidth. Dedicated server hosting plans will give you that little bit more bandwidth headroom that you need to keep your server working fluidly as well as the peace of mind that your users are having a smooth experience.
Is a dedicated server worth it?
Although a dedicated server is a substantial investment, it can be a worthwhile one. Any single one of the above reasons is legitimate grounds to move from shared hosting to a dedicated server. If server uptime and flexibility is important to you, it is time to start thinking about what a dedicated server can do for you.
