If you have ever hosted a website, or are thinking of starting one up for your business, then you know how important it is to have the right features. For one thing, you will need plenty of bandwidth if you are to service all of your customers equally, and if you wish to achieve this, you will need quite a bit of space and system resources that others will not be able to access.
When it comes to e-commerce today, it all comes down to whose web page works the fastest. If a customer attempts to log onto your page and cannot due to bandwidth or speed issues, then you will more than likely lose customers to your competitor. This opens up the need for dedicated servers, and there are plenty of advantages to renting one. With every good plan comes disadvantages, however, and we will cover both sides of the argument.
Advantages:
-Modern web servers are very powerful, much more powerful than their predecessors. By having a dedicated box, you will be able to take advantage of all the power that machine has to offer rather than sharing a slice of it with other users.
-You will have more space, and you will be able to use that space to serve files and even expand your website if you so desire.
-You will not be subject to mass upgrades from the host. Typically, a server host will update a shared server periodically, but as the tenant of a dedicated web server, you will determine which upgrades are necessary, though you will have to pay for them when the need arises.
-Your web server will move relatively fast, allowing customers quick access to various parts of your site.
Disadvantages:
-A dedicated web server can be extremely expensive. With that being the case you will need to evaluate your needs and determine whether or not you really need one. If you do not, then you might want to stick with the shared option.
– Dedicated web servers are easy to pick out on location. They might be situated behind robust firewalls and they may have physical security, but your box will be easy to see on any network.
-You will not receive the same mandatory updates that shared users receive. Typically, a host will determine that an update is best for multiple users, but if you want an operating system upgrade, you will need to pay for it.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to rent dedicated web servers and only a few reasons to avoid them. The only real problem you may run into is breaking even at the end of the month. So long as you keep an eye on your profits and customers however, this should not be a huge problem. In the end, it is up to you and the choice you make will affect your business in ways you could never imagine.
