Tuesday, July 29, 2008

When Is The Time To Think About A Dedicated Server

By Ricardo d Argence


It's a great thing to have a website that is well liked, especially if the website concerns your business. However, you've probably never thought popularity could cost you money. There will be a specific amount of bandwidth allocated to you monthly on a shared web service. Traffic overages are dealt with differently depending on your provider's agreement.

Some servers will suddenly shut your site down, which means your visitors will see only a page telling them you have exceeded your allotment. Others will allow your page to keep running, and will charge you for the extra bandwidth. Extra usage charges could end up costing you hundreds or even thousands of dollars if your site gets popular rapidly.

That is why it's crucial to keep an eye on your usage of bandwidth and the amount of traffic that uses your site each day. If you think you're going to exceed your bandwidth, you should get a new server that is dedicated, hardworking, and with a much better bandwidth. It might be tempting to use one of the shared hosting servers that claims to offer "unlimited" bandwidth. However, in the end, if you read the fine print, you will no doubt discover the restrictions.

In addition, shared web services have less availability time than a dedicated server. By upgrading, not only will you be increasing the length of time your website is available to the viewers, but you will even attract more. The benefits of upgrading to a server of your own are that it will improve reliability and performance as well as give you total control over your website.

Mysterious outages and script restrictions will become a thing of the past. You can also run more sites on one server - as much as a few hundred. However, keep in mind that you may have to pay additional charges. Although a dedicated server should pay for itself in the long run with the customers that it will attract, prepare to be shocked by the initial investment.

There's a setup fee, and a dedicated server can cost as much as $200/month. However, if you stop and think about it, you'll realize that that amount per month in exchange for reliability is a good deal, versus poor reliability and occasionally being charged several hundred dollars for bandwidth overage.

Put an end to the nightmare of shared hosting look into your options for a dedicated server. You won't have to deal with problems from scripts other users are running, downtime, or extra charges just because you've become popular. If you're happy with your existing provider, ask about their options for dedicated servers. If you've had to deal with bad customer service and other problems, however, you might be better off shopping around.

If your site is growing in popularity, keep an eye on the bandwidth your visitors are using. If you don't pay very close attention, your site's popularity could end up costing you a lot of money. Instead of having to worry every month whether or not you'll exceed your allotment, try switching to a dedicated server that will put an end to unexpected fees and extra downtime.

Overall, a dedicated server will be well worth the investment, despite the increased cost. A reliable server for a low price can obtained by having control, reliability and all the bandwidth you need to take care of your website's visitors.

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