Explanation of Dedicated Servers

When we talk about hosting web servers, there are three basic varieties - shared web hosting servers, VPS (virtual private web servers) and dedicated servers. Shared web hosting servers host numerous customers and so the system resources per user account are restricted, virtual private server packages offer more configuration independence, but also affect other virtual web hosting servers on the hardware node if utilized heedlessly, and dedicated servers give you the liberty to do everything you wish without messing with anyone else.

Why would you need a dedicated server?

Dedicated servers are commonly much more high-priced than shared hosting servers or virtual web hosting servers. Why would anyone, then, use them? The answer is quite simple. If your company has a high resource-swallowing web portal, or simply has very precise web server architecture requirements, the most relevant option would be a dedicated server. For someone who is inclined to invest in security and reliability, the higher price is of no importance. You are bestowed with full root-level access and can utilize 100% of the dedicated web server's system resources without anyone else availing of these system resources and messing with your websites.

Hardware configurations

Most shared hosting providers, incl. us at Mid Georgia Hosting, provide several hardware configurations you can choose from depending on your needs. The hardware configurations offer different kinds of microprocessors, a different number of cores, different RAM memory and server hard disk sizes and different traffic usage quotas. You can select a hosting CP, which is handy software if you want to utilize the web server for web hosting purposes only and choose not to use a Secure Shell terminal for all the changes you will be making. We offer three sorts of Control Panel software - Hepsia, DirectAdmin and cPanel.

The web hosting CP of your choice

If you are a self-reliant Linux user (our web servers are powered by Linux or other Unix-based Operating Systems), you could manage your dedicated server through an SSH terminal only. That, however, could be inconvenient, particularly if you wish to grant complete root access to somebody else who has less technical experience than yourself. That is why having web hosting CP software pre-installed is an excellent idea. The Hepsia Control Panel graphical user interface that we offer does not give you full root-level access and is chiefly suitable for somebody who maintains many web sites that absorb lots of system resources, but wishes to administer the online portals, databases and e-mail aliases through an easy-to-use web hosting Control Panel. The DirectAdmin and cPanel web hosting Control Panels, on the other hand, grant root access and offer 3 levels of access - root, reseller and user. If you plan to resell hosting packages instead of using the web hosting server only for yourself, you should select one of these two.

Server monitoring and backup procedures

Last but not least, there is the matter of monitoring the dedicated server and of backing it up. In the event of a predicament with your dedicated web hosting server, like an unresponsive Apache or a network outage, it is desirable to have some kind of monitoring system enabled. Here at Mid Georgia Hosting the system administrators monitor all dedicated servers for ping timeouts, and, if you have a Managed Services package, they monitor the separate services on the dedicated server as well. Backups are also an extra option - the hosting vendor offers you data backups on our own backup web servers. You could select a kind of RAID that would permit you to save the very same data on two server hard disks as a protective measure in case of a hard drive failure, or in case someone whom you have given root access deletes something by mistake.