In the previous article, you had read about Shared Web Hosting, and how it is used by several businesses as a means of getting their website onto the Internet. The advantages of Shared Web Hosting were cheap, effective and hassle free.

However, it was also mentioned that there were limits to the strain that could be placed on the Server resources, since each Server was, in reality, doing the work of Several Servers at the same time. Since most businesses do not need more than what Shared Web Hosting can provide, this works find most of the time.

But what if your business has expanded to reach a state when your website has more traffic that a Shared Web Hosting plan can offer? What if you’re a news site that people visit every day from all around the world? Or if you have a Social Networking site that thousands of people log onto everyday? Websites like Amazon.com, an online shopping system, have unimaginably large amounts of Traffic.

In such situations, Shared Hosting is no longer an option. You can no longer afford to share Server resources with other websites, and you need a complete Server all to yourself. This arrangement is achieved with the Help of Dedicated Web Hosting

What is Dedicated Web Hosting?

Dedicated Web Hosting, as the term implies, is when you agree with your provider, to rent or lease an Entire Server for your Website, not to share with anyone. In addition to giving you more resources, it also allows you to be more flexible in how the Server is managed.

Since Dedicated Servers cannot afford to be down at any time, they are usually housed in Data Centers. Data Centers are establishments that have the infrastructure to house and maintain highly mission critical and expensive computer systems. They usually have multiple sources of power (redundancy), a controlled environment (temperature, humidity etc), multiple data connections, and high security.

Bandwidth Costs

When you lease a Server, you are additionally charged for the amount of data that is transferred to and from the Server. Bandwidth is usually measured by one of the three following systems:

1. 95^th Method: This method, takes 5 minute samples, and averages the bandwidth usage over that 5 minute period. At the time of billing, it ranks all the 5 minute averages in descending order, and flatly discards the top 5%. The 95^th Percent sample, is the bandwidth average that you are billed for. This method has the advantage, of allowing spikes in network traffic.
2. Total Transfer out Method: In this method, you are charged as per the actual amount of data transferred either in, out, or both in and out of your Server.
3. Unmetered Method: In this method, there is a flat cap on the Bandwidth you can utilize. Anything more than that will not be allowed. You are charged a flat fee, and there is not danger of paying for extra Bandwidth Utilized.

Management of Dedicated Servers

Unfortunately, there is no clearly defined terminology that is prevalent among providers to describe the management of the Dedicated Server. What one provider terms fully managed need not be what another terms as the same.

Nonetheless, management of Dedicated servers falls into three grades

1. Fully Managed: In this model, the customer does not have to bother about the technical aspects of the Server at all. The provider takes care of the Operating System (OS), Patches, Software, Security, rebooting the system, backups, hardware maintenance, and System upgrades.
2. Managed: This is a middle path, where the provider monitors the system, and updates
   it when necessary. The customer has the ability to perform specific tasks on the Server
3. Self Managed: In this, the customer does most of the work in maintaining the server.
4. Unmanaged: In this model, there is no involvement from the providers side at all.

You need to choose the type of management that suits you best. If you need a lot of flexibility, have very specific needs, and have the IT experience to do this sort of work, then you’re better off managing your own Server. But if you just need the dedicated resources, and don’t care about specific requirements, then you can have the provider manage the Server for you.