Getting the Most Out of Your Dedicated Server Hosting in 2019

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Getting the Most Out of YourDedicated Server
Hosting in 2019
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Getting the Most Out of Your Dedicated Server
Hosting in 2019

• As we get closer to 2019, it is time to take
  stock of how dedicated server hosting has
  benefited your current website. On the other
  hand, if you have been considering the great leap
  to a dedicated server for 2019, there is a bit of
  house-keeping you will need to do. In both cases,
  you also have to familiarize yourself with the
  current trends in dedicated server hosting that
  will hit web hosting markets.

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Table of contents

• Getting the Most Out of Your Dedicated Server
  Hosting in 2019
• What are Dedicated Servers?
• Benefits of Dedicated Servers vs. Other Hosting
  Plans
• Misconceptions about Dedicated Servers
• How to Maximize a Dedicated Server Hosting
• Managed vs. Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting
• Server Configuration
• CPU Capacity
• RAM Capacity
• Storage Capacity
• Boost Security (DDoS Protection)
• Final Remarks

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What are Dedicated Servers?

• Dedicated servers are servers that are exclusive
  to one website. This means that you get your own
  server which you can alter and add whatever
  features you need to suit your website needs. A
  simple way to understand dedicated servers is by
  using the analogy of building a home versus
  renting a house.
• Dedicated server hosting is like building your
  home from scratch. You have the freedom to
  determine how many rooms the house will have, the
  colors that will be painted, type of floor
  boarding you will use, and the type of decor it
  will have. You have full control of how the house
  will look in the end as well as freedom to do
  additional customizing futures.
• Whether to go for a dedicated server depends on a
  number of things. First, you have to consider the
  size of your website. Ideally, dedicated server
  hosting is beneficial to large websites that
  handle high traffic each day like e-commerce
  websites. Such websites need to be consistently
  fast and reliable with minimal downtime
  experienced. Only a dedicated server guarantees
  reliable uptime.

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One other thing to consider is the level of
security you want for your site. If you run a
personal blog where you share lifestyle tips with
your audience, then you can do with the level of
security provided by other forms of web hosting
services. On the other hand, if you are running
an ecommerce store with a large database of
sensitive client information, you need your
website fortified with the unbreachable security.
Such high level of security is accorded by
dedicated server hosting. The third factor and
one that we often shy away from is the cost of
running your website on a dedicated server. With
all the advanced features dedicated hosting comes
with, you can expect the price to be relatively
higher. Does your website stand to benefit from
the additional features you get from dedicated
hosting? Is your budget big enough to cover the
cost of running a dedicated server? The bottom
line is if you will constantly need reliable
uptime and fast speeds to handle the increasing
traffic coming to your website, then you need
dedicated hosting. For businesses that handle
sensitive data like client financial information
(like online casinos), by all means you should
get a dedicated server!
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Benefits of Dedicated Servers vs. Other Hosting
Plans

• You can fully understand the benefit of dedicated
  server hosting when you compare it to other forms
  of hosting. Currently, we have three server
  hosting options available
• Dedicated hosting
• VPS hosting
• Shared hosting.
• In VPS hosting and Shared hosting, one server is
  shared between 250 to 500 websites. All features
  of shared hosting are stored within a network,
  which all the websites can access. So there will
  be competition for resources among the websites
  involved. This is quite different from the
  benefits dedicated server hosting provides.

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Dedicated servers provide complete freedom and
control for businesses. You are able to configure
the server to match the specific needs and vision
of your business. You have full access to all the
features that come with the server and the
freedom to add more features if need be. Whats
more, a dedicated has improved security compared
to VPS or shared hosting. As you are the only one
with access to your server, there are less
chances of being vulnerable to a cyber attack. In
shared hosting, if one website is hit with a
cyber attack, all other websites on that server
are vulnerable too. Finally, you get more
storage space with dedicated hosting. If a server
provides 2TB worth of storage, your website has
access to all of it. In shared hosting, 2TB is
shared among many websites so there is a high
chance that one site will get the biggest share
at the expense of the rest.
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Misconceptions about Dedicated Servers

• A lot of businesses looking to scale up have the
  perception that dedicated hosting is very costly.
  However, when you think of how much you stand to
  gain as a business, the cost of setting up and
  managing a dedicated server is relatively
  abysmal. Shared hosting is prone to network
  downtimes, cyber attacks, and limited storage to
  mention a few.
• You find yourself spending extra on storage and
  security resources which increase the cost of
  running a website. In short, cheap is definitely
  expensive when you compare dedicated servers vs.
  shared servers.
• Another misconception about dedicated servers is
  that you get to do all the heavy-lifting to
  ensure the server is up and running. Well, if you
  have a strong background in IT, then this should
  be a no-brainer. There is also the option of
  having your server managed on your behalf leaving
  you to focus on running your business website.

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How to Maximize a Dedicated Server Hosting

• If you have reached this section, it means you
  already have your website on a dedicated server
  or are considering the upgrade for 2019. It is
  possible to configure your dedicated server to
  ensure you get the most of it. First, you have to
  understand the options and trends that are
  available for scaling your website come next year.

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Managed vs. Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting

• Dedicated servers can either be managed or
  unmanaged. Managed dedicated hosting is where the
  web provider agrees to take care of all backend
  process on your behalf. Your web host will ensure
  the server is always up and running and will
  carry out technical tasks, such as monitoring
  security risks or creating backups on your
  behalf.
• With all the heavy-lifting taken care of by your
  hosting provider, you are left to handle the more
  important tasks of your business. Therefore,
  managed dedicated hosting is a viable option for
  any business that wants exclusive hosting
  services but doesnt have the technical know-how
  of running a server.
• Unmanaged dedicated hosting is the complete
  opposite of managed dedicated hosting. Here, all
  the responsibility of managing your server rests
  entirely on you. You have to monitor your own
  data, create your own backups, and determine the
  best hosting settings for your website. This
  option is the best if you have a background in IT
  and understand how all the backend processes
  work. Most IT businesses, such as the ones
  providing web hosting services, would benefit
  from unmanaged dedicated hosting.

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Server Configuration

• One way to get more from your dedicated server is
  to upgrade your current resources. The resources
  you are looking at include RAM, Storage Space,
  and CPU capacity. We look at all three
  extensively.

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1. CPU Capacity

• The CPU or the central processing unit is the
  engine that fuels and manages all operations
  happening on your website. This unit is in charge
  of running programs, computations, and the tasks
  necessary to ensure your website is fully
  functional. How fast the CPU can run will depend
  on the number of processors, or cores it has.
• Most dedicated servers start you off on about 4
  cores. Each core can handle one action at any
  given time. As your website scales up, there will
  be more activity happening on your WebPages,
  meaning more cores will be required. Consider
  moving from 4 cores to 6 or 12 cores so that your
  website can handle more tasks quicker.

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2. RAM Capacity

• RAM or random access memory acts as the brain of
  the server. RAM determines how well your website
  functions by managing the tasks and operations
  coming from the CPU. If your server has less
  memory, it may not be able to handle multiple
  tasks at once like managing different software or
  customer activity on your website. Generally, 1
  GB of RAM should be enough to serve over 3,000
  coming to your website. If your website is
  receiving more visitors than this, then it is
  time to increase your RAM.
• Every application on your website will require
  RAM to run efficiently. Think of your WordPress
  supported blog or the various number of plugins,
  like WooCommerce, installed on your website to
  facilitate sales. The rule of the thumb is to
  always have an extra RAM to help you expand your
  reach in 2019. If your website runs perfectly on
  4GB of RAM, consider switching to 5GB RAM just to
  give you room to advance come next year.

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3. Storage Capacity

• All the information processed on your website is
  stored in a remote location known as the storage
  space. There are two types of storage space
  available in dedicated hosting hard disk drives
  (HDD) and Solid State Drives (SSD). HDD storage
  carries the largest amount of space but have
  relatively low speeds. If you only need that
  extra space to backup online data, then you are
  better off increasing your HDD capacity.
• SSD storage has the advantage of being faster.
  However, it often comes with limited space
  compared to HDD. SSD storage is also quite
  expensive because of the added benefit of speed.
  If you will need additional space to install more
  applications or running extra processes, then you
  will benefit more with SSD storage.

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4. Boost Security (DDoS Protection)

• Network security is one of the biggest reasons
  why ecommerce businesses are moving to dedicated
  server hosting. 2018 has seen its fair share of
  cases concerning network security attacks. Many
  businesses have suffered immense losses through
  loss of revenue and online presence. Even the
  security measures deployed in shared hosting
  servers are not a guarantee that your website is
  protected.
• 2019 should be a year of expanding your horizons
  as an ecommerce business and not fighting the
  same old story of cyber attacks. Dedicated
  hosting could protect you from some of these
  potential threats witnessed in 2018.
• Viruses and worms continue to affect many
  websites hosted in the same network. While a
  virus is a malicious program that can be
  eradicated with an antivirus, a worm is a lot
  more complicated to weed out. Worms are malicious
  programs that replicate themselves to infect a
  large number of host files. A single malicious
  worm can potentially infect an entire network of
  computers making mitigation a lot harder.

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or fake traffic until the server succumbs to the
pressure and crashes. It will take a lot of time
and resources to clear this threat and restore
your websites functionality. Another attack
similar to DDoS is the use of BotNets. BotNet is
a collection of malicious servers teamed up to
destroy a specific website or an entire network.
It is possible for a hacker to round up a few
websites in a network and use them as BotNets to
attack other websites. It becomes harder to quell
such an attack because you first have to identify
whether the threat is coming from amidst hundreds
of websites or cloud servers. Some threats use
your website URL as bait to attack your online
visitors. One such threat is Drive-by Download
attacks which is in the form of a fake URL that
harbors a malicious program. It is a lot easier
for hackers to replicate your website URL if you
are on a shared server. A Drive-by download
attack can hurt the integrity of your website
because online visitors no longer trust your URL.
It is, therefore, paramount to protect your
website against all these potential threats. And
its a lot easier if you are protecting yourself
from a dedicated server.
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Final Remarks

• Dedicated server hosting could be the
  deal-breaker of whether your website makes it to
  2019. Yes, you may have to break your piggy bank
  to bankroll this new upgrade but your website
  will be more secure.
• Recommended service provider
• https//gthost.com/