Shared Web Site Hosting Vs Dedicated Server

With the emergence of e-commerce, the internet has opened up opportunities for anyone with ideas of making money online. Because of this, a website is essentially your key into cyberspace, and the web hosting company is the entity that holds it. While there are many types of services available, for most webmasters, it all boils down to these choices: shared hosting vs. a dedicated server. The two environments share similarities, but the differences are significant and can play a huge role in the success of your business.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is currently the most popular form of hosting available, sought after by personal users as well as small to medium sized businesses. As the name implies, a shared server supports the businesses of numerous users, possibly housing hundreds to thousands of sites. These users share a single machine, including all of its resources, such as disk storage, bandwidth, memory, CPU and even an IP address. Shared hosting is the preferred choice by many because it is extremely affordable. With the market being so competitive, you can easily find a shared host for as low as $5 per month.

Aside from being inexpensive and widely available, shared hosting simply makes a perfect solution for some users. The low monthly fee gets you a wealth of great features to help create your site and build a web presence. Some of the major attractions include various programming scripts, multiple email accounts, comprehensive web builders, powerful database systems and intuitive control panel software that allows to administer the entire operation with ease. Some companies even provide a number of e-commerce tools, such as shopping carts and free advertising bonuses, to get you off on the right foot.

Share the Server, Share the Risks

Price is important for obvious reasons, and if it's your main concern, then shared hosting may be the solution for you opposed to a dedicated server. Before making the final decision, it is only right that you are aware of the shared risks as well.

Search Engine Problems

Sharing an IP address puts you at the mercy of other users hosting on the server. For example, there could be spam or adult-oriented sites hosted on the server. Since many of these administrators often attempt to trick search engines into giving them undeserved rankings, search engines such as Alta Vista typically counter the attempt by banning the IP address and all of its websites from the index. This could limit the exposure of your site, all for something that has nothing to do with your company. Fortunately, some hosts will allow you to purchase an IP address of your own.

Performance Issues

One of the biggest knocks on shared hosting is attributed to slow server response. Simply a high-capacity computer, the server accepts requests for your files and serves them to the web so they can be accessed and viewed. Due to the fact that the server may be hosting a number of sites, the traffic from other users can have an adverse effect on your business. When the server has trouble responding, your visitors are the first to suffer. In more extreme cases, the pages might time out, or even worse, not load up at all. Because of this, you should always inquire within a provider to get an idea of approximately how many sites reside on each server and how much traffic those sites are receiving.

The Dedicated Server

Hosting your site on a dedicated server is more expensive by far. However, this option offers more benefits in the terms of control, flexibility and stability. Hence the name, a dedicated server is dedicated solely to your business, enabling you to host one or multiple sites without the traffic issues that relate to shared hosting. When placing the two side by side, dedicated hosting would be similar to owning your home instead of leasing an apartment. Following the same scenario, being a homeowner will cost a bit more, but the advantages tend to be well worth it.

More Secure and Stable

In this environment, you don't have to worry about any other users slowing down the operation with their traffic or crashing the server with poor scripting. This gives you greater security, stability, and control over the uptime of your website.

Better Performance

A dedicated server ensures a faster response, even with a high volume of traffic. Since the machine only has to worry about your data, instead of thousands of other websites, visitors can access your web pages and files with ease.

More Resources

With shared hosting, you are typically offered a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth each month. Owners of sites that exceed these resources are charged additional fees for doing so. On a dedicated server, you have the option of choosing a package with enough resources to suit the needs of your business. Understanding that your plan requires a higher capacity, a company will usually provide you with more than enough.

Conclusion

The purpose of this article is not to sway you in one way or the other. Despite the risks, there are a number of businesses using shared hosting with no problems at all. And while the dedicated server offers numerous benefits, this hosting solution is not for everyone. Now that you are more familiar with each service, choosing a provider for your business should be much easier.

Adam Hobach is a Network Engineer with "CyberLynk.net". You can learn more about "Web Hosting" services online at http://www.CyberLynk.net

© 2008 CyberLynk Network Inc. http://www.CyberLynk.net You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "Author Biography").

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Posted in: Dedicated,Hosting,Server,Shared