You’ve had your website on a virtual host or virtual private server for years and it’s worked just fine. But now you’re finding it harder and harder to deal with shared resources, server outages caused by other users on the server, limited control over your websites and scripts, and the inability to have full access to the server root. When your business or personal website runs into these problems, it’s time to look into dedicated servers. Here we’ll examine the four main benefits that a dedicated server can offer your organization.
Control benefits
The primary benefit that a dedicated server provides is the amount of control you have at your disposal. Instead of working through a ticketing system or a limited control panel, you do whatever you want on the server. You have root access control; the ability to execute commands to the server, such as reboot commands; and the ability to install whatever script and operating system you want. Some hosts even allow you to create user accounts and resell services.
Although you have complete control over your server, you don’t have to support it entirely yourself if you don’t wish to. A managed dedicated server has regular maintenance tasks, such as backup and operating system patches done by the Web hosting company. It also monitors the server for uptime and will reboot it as required if something goes wrong. Also, unmanaged dedicated servers are a better deal if you’re experienced with server maintenance and know how to keep the dedicated server up and running.
Hardware benefits
The downside of virtual servers and virtual private servers is that they share their resources across several accounts. You don’t get access to the full capacity of the server, limiting you when it comes to memory, processing power and storage capacity. A dedicated server, however, is for your use only, allowing you to use as much or as little of the hardware as you need. Dedicated server hosts also offer upgrades and add-ons to server packages, so if you need more hard drive space or additional memory, you don’t have to jump through hoops or sign up for an entirely different hosting package to get that option.
Support benefits
Web hosts who offer virtual hosting have a great deal of users to manage, many of whom are inexperienced webmasters. The level of support is often limited for lower-tier accounts, but dedicated servers have the option of better support levels, such as 24/7 monitoring and phone support. When you’re running mission-critical scripts for your business website, you want your support team to fix any problems you may run into.
SEO benefits
Dedicated servers also provide some search engine optimization advantages that come about from getting a dedicated IP address for your server. Instead of worrying about sharing your IP with other sites on a virtual host, you get one, or more, entirely to yourself. That way you aren’t penalized due to the actions of someone else on the server. Many dedicated hosts allow you to purchase additional IP addresses, so you ideally have a dedicated IP for each website you run.
