| Choose the RIGHT Type of Hosting (Shared, VPS, Dedicated Hosting)
By: James Kington
Which Hosting is Best For Your Business?
If you are trying to decide which type of hosting best suits your needs, this will be a great place to start! This article will in plain English explain the differences and pros and cons of different types of hosting. This is an especially important decision in your business, as it will directly affect how your business will run on its web space. You should first decide which type of web businesses you plan on getting involved in.
Shared hosting is popular because it is extremely economical. This type of service allows multiple customers to use the resources of one server. Resources simply mean the total web space, the memory, the bandwidth, and the processor speed. Different users can share the costs, therefore the reason for its economical advantages. In order to insulate one user from the next, key processes are assigned to each customer or specific domain. These specifications are workable, but are not completely secure. Some advice people not to use shared unless you are running a low resource consuming site of some sort.
A simple analogy would be choosing to rent a room on your own or finding a roommate. You will have the same advantages and risks when choosing shared hosting. Shared hosting is like renting a room with a few roommates. It will be congested, but cheaper.
A few disadvantages of shared hosting would be:
- Server crashes regularly: if the server does not monitor the server’s activity, it can overload quickly.
- Slow Server Response Time: Using the roommate analogy; if your roommate and you both need to use the phone, it is going to slow down somebody’s schedule. In shared hosting, if there is a lot of traffic, you will be waiting a long time.
- Sharing the Same IP: if other sites on the server are being blacklisted, you will also share the same fate.
Although VPS allows for increased security, it is still considered shared web hosting. You are still sharing memory resources and CPU time on the same machine. The VPS or virtual private server also allows multiple customers to share one server, but with an extremely high level of privacy. The insulation is achieved by running a different operating system for each customer. VPS users have complete access with the benefits of a dedicated server, but with a much lower cost.
VPS accounts are insulated, therefore minimizing the risks of unauthorized access. Each account has its own private mail server. This allows a user to configure his own anti-spam standards as he prefers. Another benefit of VPS is the feasibility of having custom firewall configurations, whereas with shared hosting, this is not possible.
Dedicated server hosting on the other hand, gives you the freedom to be the sole owner of the server. It comes with a high price, but you can do whatever you want without having to share resources. List below are some advantages of using dedicated hosting:
- You are the boss!: You have complete control, and can install whatever applications or scripts you want.
- More secured: it will be provided its own firewall. Therefore, making it less vulnerable to attacks by hackers or codes. Your dedicated hosting provider will usually provide you with backup for an additional fee.
- No limitation in bandwidth usage. You can upload and download as much as you want, within the limits of the server channel.
- Better performance. Visitors who browse your sites will be happy because the pages will appear quickly on their browser.
In conclusion, choosing which type of hosting generally depends on your needs. Keep researching the pros and cons of the dedicated, shared, and VPS hosting. And don’t forget that a good decision will determine your online business success!
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