Dedicated hosting refers to Web hosting in which the environment with which you are provided is a dedicated one, meaning that you are not sharing it with anyone else. Dedicated servers normally come under this category, since you are leasing a physical server from a web host and the resources contained within that one server are not shared between multiple users; however, a new technology known as VPS (virtual private servers) could also be delegated to this category since the environment which they provide is dedicated, but at the same time is still virtual since the VPS is sharing a physical node with other VPS - the only resource which is only being constantly shared is the CPU. Dedicated hosting solutions are normally taken up by companies or individuals who need their hosting environment to be customized, for example with the use of certain programs which might not be available on shared hosting packages, but in this case since you have your own dedicated environment you are able to install what you want. Dedicated server hosting solutions are only normally chosen in a situation where a return can be made easily, since both VPS servers and dedicated servers are quite costly.

Supported Operating Systems

With Dedicated server hosting solutions, you are normally able to choose any operating system to be installed on your server since your choice will not have any effect on other users or customers; one thing to note is that if you go with a VPS your operating system choices are generally restricted to those which are support by both the VPS partitioning software and the physical hosting node. Cost, support and skills are also factors which can effect the choice of operating system; for example, you could be restricted from going with Windows Server 2003 because it is too costly for you, and you don’t have the necessary skills to administer a Windows server - your web host might also not support Windows Server 2003. If you find either of those three a limitation, then you could always opt for an open source Linux distribution; this is because open source means free, and because of this you are normally able to find a mass of online forums and e-books which give you support on how to configure certain OS settings. The application or content that you are wanting to host might also put a limitation on your choice of operating system; for example, you might have an ASP.NET web application which would mean that you are stuck with choosing Windows Server 2003 as your server operating system. Finally, the security of the operating system should always be a key factor affecting your final choice of operating system; this is because you do not want your system to end up being hacked, most Linux distributions can’t be affected by viruses but by things called rootkits which can lead to an OS reload if a server becomes infected with one; there are many viruses for the Windows operating system, but with the correct precautions and protection you should not face any problems.

Bandwidth and Connectivity

Bandwidth is assigned to each and every server by the upstream provider, and is normally given in an amount; connectivity refers to the different peers with which you are connected to, the more peers you are connected to, the more likely it is that your website will have a fast connection around the entire world. Most peers connect to the main bandwidth exchanges in the world, an example of which being LINX - the UK’s main bandwidth exchange which is based in London. Bandwidth is normally assigned per GB (gigabyte), however until quite recently it was still being assigned as MB (megabytes) - the change being because of the increasing amount of internet traffic; some providers hand out unmetered data pipes which basically means that the servers on the end of that data pipe have an infinite amount of bandwidth (although this is technically not possible). Service Level Agreements, which are better known as SLAs, are normally provided for network uptime and come along with dedicated servers; an example of the content contained within an SLA would include something along the lines of customer credit for the network being down for longer than ‘x’ amount of time. Some dedicated hosting providers claim to be able to provide 100% uptime on their networks, this is normally achieved by the use of multiple connections to a mix of bandwidth and connection providers.

Management

Most Dedicated server hosting providers are able to provide management for dedicated and VPS servers to a certain extend, normally for node, network and included software problems. Since the environment given is a dedicated one, the customer is expected to have a certain amount of knowledge in order to be able to keep the server in working order and to be able to carry out general tasks such as maintenance. Support for the node would cover issues such as problems with the physical node and any hardware to which it is connected as well as software and hardware upgrades and maintenance; network support would cover general issues with the network as well as the maintenance of routers and switches; included software support would cover the base operating system as well as any software which you chose to be installed at the time of purchase, for example a control panel. Simple tasks such as server reboots, and system reload in the case of VPS servers, will normally be carried out for free by the host at no extra cost.

Security

Most dedicated servers and VPS servers are normally located behind both a software and hardware firewall. Most also contain virus scanners and rootkit hunters so that any malicious programs that do find their way onto client servers are found and removed as soon as possible. In the case of VPS servers, the nodes normally have some sort of virus scanner which means any VPS which is found to have a virus will be shut down or sorted in the correct manner Some types of software are banned from being used on the networks of some hosts for the reason being that they can compromise both the security of the client’s server and the hosts network.

Software

With dedicated hosting, you are normally able to install your own software on your server since it is a dedicated environment and your actions will most likely not effect anyone else. Some hosts allow you to purchase licenses for certain pieces of software at the same time when you purchase the server - this can prove to be an advantage for the customer since the host might be selling licenses cheaper, which is normally the case if they are a license reseller. Over the past few years, some software vendors have seen the advantages which the dedicated hosting market could bring them, meaning that many have decided to try and have their software bundled with dedicated server packages as well as setting up special pricing structures for both VPS and dedicated server solutions. Some hosts are able to offer Microsoft software through the giant’s ‘SPLA’ (service provider license agreement) which allows providers to offer Microsoft software on a monthly basis, which can cut the cost down for customers. Most hosts also offer software such as control panels from vendors including SWSoft and cPanel to allow you to manage your server effectively. One thing to note is that software such as IRC servers are not allowed on many host’s networks for the simple reason that they can easily trigger ddos attacks against the host which could lower the network speeds for all customers.

Optimizing Performance of your Virtual Private Server

VPS are the latest range of hosting products that have taken the market by storm, since they are a cheaper alternative to dedicated servers because of their ability to provide you with a dedicated environment such as that provided by a dedicated server but at a fraction of the price; this means that they are a fill in for the large price gap that sites between regular shared and reseller hosting packages and dedicated servers. VPS are able to run any type of software as long as its compatible with the specifications of the VPS, since you are installing the software within your own dedicated environment which means that any actions which you carry out on your VPS hostingare unable to affect the other VPS which are hosted on the same node as you; this means that you are able to use your VPS hosting service for a variety of purposes, just as long as the programs which you want to use are unable to conflict with each other since this would mean that your VPS would crash easily and neither of the conflicting programs would be unable to function correctly within your VPS Hosting.

When you are first provided with your VPS, you might find that there are already certain applications installed on it which you might want to remove since they might not serve any purpose to you because they are not the right programs for you; by removing these programs you are also ensuring that you don’t have unneeded programs on your VPS server which are taking up disk space and memory which might be better used by another program that you already have installed on your VPS or by one which you are wanting to install on your VPS so that you can use it for what you want. An important thing to consider is that with the more programs that you install on your VPS hosting, the slower that it is likely to become, meaning that you should always consider carefully the programs that you want to install on your VPS hosting since you don’t want to install programs that you don’t need since they will be taking up needed disk space and memory, as well as CPU if they are to be running as well; this means that if you do want to use your VPS for multiple purposes, then you should consider buying multiple VPS hosting plans for your needs since it means that you will be able to run all your services plus more if you have multiple VPS hosting plans that you are able to use.

You should always optimize your VPS hosting as well as the programs that you have installed on it to ensure that you are able to achieve the best possible performance from it, since if your VPS is slow and in some cases unusable then you should consider finding another web host or ask to be moved to a different node since you don’t want to be paying for a slow VPS hosting service; you will be able to notice a performance increase in both terms of the programs that you have installed on your VPS as well as in the VPS itself - you might even be able to install another couple of programs if you are able to get your VPS to function with speed with the existing programs that you have installed on your VPS hosting.

It is also important that you check the performance of your VPS at regular intervals - especially the amount of disk space and RAM which you have free, as well as the average CPU utilization if your VPS; these three factors are the main ones which should always be checked since they are the three different main resources that programs utilize when they are running - they use CPU to carry out their main operations, RAM to temporarily store program related data and disk space to place their main files to ensure that they can run without any problems. If you find that either of the main resources are being utilized too much then you should consider uninstalling the offending program or even upgrading your VPS hosting package to the next higher one that is provided by your web hosting company; although upgrading your VPS will mean more money, the benefits to you in the long term will be far better than the negatives which could affect you if you don’t upgrade, and uninstalling the offending program might prove to be inconvenient for you since it might be one of the main programs that you use on your VPS.

Apache/HTTPD

Apache is the world’s most popular web server, and has a large market share of over 50% - it is also referred to sometimes as ‘HTTPD’ since this is the name of its host process when run on a Linux distribution; Apache is known to be a large resource hogger since there are many modifications and add-ons which you can use to expand its use and capabilities, although these can in some cases add to the low performance of Apache on a VPS when someone using it has not optimized it correctly to reduce its resource usage. If you are planning to use Apache on a system in conjunction with other programs, especially other resource hoggers such as MySQL, it is important that you optimize Apache to ensure that it uses as little resources as possible since it could end up affecting the overall performance of your VPS server, and in some cases might even lead to your VPS server crashing; a crashing VPS is the last thing you ant since it will affect your overall uptime, and if you are using your VPS to host other people’s website whether they be friends or clients, they will start to get annoyed if their website is online and offline at intermittent times since it means that people accessing their websites when they are down will not be able to do so.

The first factor for Apache that you should consider when optimizing it to run better on your VPS is whether you want to load certain modules dynamically or to make them static; this factor is an important one to consider since if you dynamically load modules, then you will be able to cut down the amount of memory which is used by Apache, since modules will only be loaded when they are needed, since if you were to make modules static then they will be running all the time along with Apache meaning that the amount of memory used will be more constant but is more likely to be higher than if you were to make modules load dynamically when they were needed. If you have multiple modules attached to your Apache install, then you should consider optimizing the configuration files of these modules to ensure that they are able to run efficiently just as Apache will be able to once you have made the necessary changes to its configuration files as well as other files that it is based on to ensure that it uses less of your VPS’s resources; by modifying and optimizing the configuration files of modules that you have installed for use with Apache, you are able to ensure that the modules concerned will be using up less resources than they would have been if they were not optimized to operate in a more controlled and less resource intensive way.

You can modify modules all you want to ensure that you reduce the amount of resources which are used by them, however, you should always optimize your actual Apache install since this is where the largest amount of resources can be saved then you get around to finishing your VPS optimization work; the most basic way to improve Apache’s performance to ensure that it isn’t using so much of your system’s resources is to clean up the main configuration file by simply removing a few commented lines which can benefit you hugely since it means that several hundred unneeded directives will no longer be used whilst Apache is running which in turn allows both your VPS server and Apache to run faster - after that you can then move on to uninstalling certain elements and other parts of Apache that do not benefit you in any way since they may not be used and might be taking up needed resources.

One final method that you can use to reduce Apache’s resource usage within your VPS server is to disable certain parts of it which you might not want to use at this point in time, but might come in useful at a point in the future; if you find that there are certain components within Apache that you don’t need and feel that they might be using up a certain amount of your VPS’s resources, then you should consider removing them - it is suggested that you disable Apache logs since they are a time consuming Apache process and when they are being written, Apache tends to use up quite a bit of memory which is the reason why you should disable them unless you absolutely need them.

MySQL

MySQL is arguably the world’s most popular open source database system, for the main reason that it can be easily integrated with PHP based websites and applications to ensure maximum use of it; it is also commonly used in conjunction with the resource hogging Apache web server, which means that with MySQL and Apache running at their best on a lower specification VPS hosting plan, you will find that you will be running into problems whether it be either of them crashing or your entire VPS crashing since your resources are just being exhausted by both programs.

If you are using a website which is based on a MySQL database, then you should certainly consider optimizing MySQL since you want your web pages to load as fast as possible, and if MySQL itself isn’t functioning all that fast then you shouldn’t expect your web pages to be loading quickly either; this is because if your website is waiting for access to a MySQL database, then your website will load at the speed which is dictated by how fast MySQL is running - for example if MySQL is running and processing queries slowly then your website will load slowly since it isn’t able to gather the necessary information from the database which is trying to be accessed, and if your website fails to access the database at all then you might find that your website’s visitors are being presented with error messages from the web server that you are using.

One of the main things you can do to ensure that MySQL is able to run fast and effectively within your VPS is to ensure that MySQL has its dynamic durability settings enabled - this will mean setting a certain value for the ‘innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit‘ option which is located within the MySQL configuration file; there are 3 main values which you are able to change this option to, these are: 0 - with this value, Innodb will flush the log approximately once per second, 1 - this should be chosen if you have high durability requirements since log records will be automatically pushed to the disk on transaction commit, 2 - this will ensure that data is flushed to the operating system cache. If you have not installed MySQL yet, then there are certain options which you should consider changing once you have installed it within your VPS hosting environment. The first option which you should consider changing is ‘key_buffer size‘; this option can end up taking up as much as 30-40% of the memory which you have available on your VPS, although this is only really applicable if you have chosen to use MyISAM tables within your MySQL database server setup to serve your website. Another option which you should consider changing is ‘innodb_buffer_pool_size‘; this option is only applicable to you if your tables are using the Innodb framework since they are much more sensitive to the buffer pool size than MyISAM tables are.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with the optimization of both the Apache web server and the MySQL database server which you will most likely have installed on your VPS server, you can easily reduce the amount of resources used on your VPS meaning that your websites will be able to load fast, and that you have the space to install more programs to expand the uses of your VPS if you feel the need to; by having a faster VPS, you are also able to ensure that your VPS will be up more than it would be if more resources were being used and you weren’t able to cut down on its resource usage.

It is apparent that with optimized Apache performance that there are probably components and modules which you have attached to your Apache installation which aren’t necessarily needed and might be using up resources which you could otherwise be using for other programs which you have installed on your VPS server; this means that you should always check and optimize the different parts of your Apache installation to ensure that there aren’t any components or modules installed and running which you don’t necessarily need on your VPS server.

Another improvement which has been discussed is how your databases will be able to be accessed quicker since MySQL will be optimized to run faster but at the same time use less resources which means that both you and your server will benefit. It has also been shown that with optimized Apache and MySQL installations, you are able to cut down the amount of time that it takes for your website to load for your visitors at their computers, meaning that you might even want to consider making your web pages more graphic heavy for example if you want to take advantage of the faster loading times; however, a faster loading CMS based website will only be achieved with optimization of both applications, whereas a static website will only need an optimized Apache installation since static pages don’t need to and are unable to access any sort of database application, even if it is installed on the same machine as the static page is being hosted on.

Clustered website hosting is a type of hosting which involves multiple servers for the same task, and is generally seen as a more reliable type of hosting over standard shared website hosting. With clustered web hosting, all website services are ‘load balanced’ across multiple servers to ensure that the best redundancy possible is achieved; security resources and other standard features are also spread across multiple servers. No human interaction is required for the clustered hosting system to work; this is because most clustered hosting platforms are data driven in some way or another. Most clustered hosting services suffer no downtime because if one server within the cluster fails, there is multiple servers to take over its role; if downtime is ever experienced with clustered website hosting, the reason is normally because there has been a major problem with either the power or the network at the data centre in which the clustered setup - although both instances of fault are very rare. Most clustered setups are normally continually monitored, so if a server does happen to malfunction or face an error of sorts, an on-site network team or support team from the web host will be quickly dispatched to ensure that the problem is fixed quickly and effectively; there are also normally automated systems in place to ensure that the cluster isn’t affected if it is missing a server or two, but in most cases the end-users will not see any problems. Clustered hosting is seen as a solution for businesses and large corporations who require an update percentage which is near to or equals to 100%; this is because although clustered hosting does come at a cost, it is one that is cheaper than a dedicated server - one other thing to note is that the reliability of dedicated servers is not as good as clustered hosting, although some individuals think the opposite.

Virtualization

Clustered hosting could also be seen as a type of virtual website hosting; this is because the actual system is in a sense ‘virtualized’ because of the number of servers that are clustered together. To ensure reliability, and to allow clustered website hosting to achieve its job, websites and services related to the hosted websites are always spread across multiple servers; the systems are ‘load balanced’ to ensure that websites are always available since load balancing makes the use of the server which is being used at the given time of the request for any service - it goes one step further from redundancy since normal redundancy just makes the use of several servers, but does not spread the information out to ensure the maximum reliability is achieved. An example of load balancing would be an end user requesting a page on a website which is hosted on a clustered hosting service; all the web servers within the cluster are too busy serving other websites, so the user is served the web page from a server which is currently free and not serving too many visitors, it also has a low CPU usage at this point because it is not being utilized much. Some web hosts allow you to purchase power for your website; what is meant by power is ‘CPU’ or ‘RAM’, this is because a clustered server pool is a more or less infinite source of resources, and is perfect if you are unable to afford a dedicated server which can match the specifications and reliability of clustered website hosting.

Security

With standard shared website hosting, the security which is provided on both the hosting node and the network is pretty poor when compared to that of a standard clustered website hosting network. In most cases, a standard shared hosting network incorporates a basic hardware firewall as the main line of security to keep a number of server secure; after that layer of security it is then down to security software installed on the servers to fight back any attack or to stop any intruder from accessing the server and compromising any information that it hosts. With a clustered hosting network, the security is normally much more stronger as a series of hardware firewalls as well as redundant proxy, routing and switching technology to ensure that the network is both fast and secure; intelligent routing can help load balance information across multiple servers, along with the use of VPNs and proxies the intelligent routing is also able to bind more than one server to just one IP address to ensure that if one server on one IP does go down, there is a number of other servers to take over its role. This type of network architecture can benefit both the servers and their users / websites that they host during a DDos attack; this is because the attack is being dispersed amongst a large pool of servers in which it is having no effect, when the attack is aimed at one piece of equipment, that piece autmatically stops serving traffic because it is unable to take the strain.

High Availability Cluster

A high availability cluster is one that makes use of several physical hosting nodes with a goal of achieving a reliable network for a certain service which it has been built to host. High availability clusters are normally deployed for things such as file sharing, business class enterprises, customer services (specifically e-commerce websites) and mission-critical databases; all these types of business related IT activities are of the utmost importance for some companies and it is important that the information for them can be accessed when needed, this is the reason for deploying a high availability cluster to host them - albeit at a high cost. The automation processes involved are fairly complicated; nodes have the ability to start services on each other if the service concerned has gone down on another node - they can also carry out the appropriate processes automatically in order to start a service if needed, such as the importing and mounting of file systems. However ‘good’ this high availability may seem, the automation processes involved in it can easily cause problems; for example if the private ‘heart beat’ connection between the nodes goes down, then each node could think that every other node is down when in fact they aren’t and lead to an instance of a service being started although that service is the responsibility of another node - this could lead to data corruption, or even worse: data loss. Implementations of high availability clusters are sometimes put in to increase the reliability of a regular cluster; via the use of things such as storage area networks (SANs) and the erradication of single points of failure; multiple network connections are also used to ensure that there is always at least one connection route available, even if one does fail. Most nodes take advantage of a number of technologies to ensure that they can provide the utmost best reliability. Hard disk wise, they take advantage of disk mirroring meaning that if one internal disk does fail, another internal disk which is a mirror of the main one can take over to ensure that the server carries on running - the technical term for this is RAID (’Redudant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks’). Redundant network connections are also utilized to ensure that if one switch or network interface card fails, there will be another one network switch or network interface card available to ensure that the node stays connected to both the network and the internet. Most of the storage on a clustered network is taken care of by networked storage devices; multiple connections to the storage area network are also used to ensure that files can always be accessed. Multiple power connections are also available for servers via the use of UPS and diesel generators which can be used in the event of a power outage of sorts. The use of multiple connections and other devices ensures that even in the event of connections going because of a fault, the cluster will still be able to operate.

Dedicated Hosting reduces your need to share hardware or software with other websites on a server. Users get the option to install which software they want and also provides secure environment for their site. If you compare shared hosting with a dedicated environment, Dedicated Hosting offers more reliability on a server in a much secured manner.

One of the drawbacks in dedicated hosting is the cost of the server but it’s declining day by day. There is a continuous growth in the Dedicated hosting industry as a result the rates of the servers declining. This is mainly due to the increase in the online presence of small and mid-sized businesses which has increased the level of service and same way decreased the costs of server

*Control and Reliability - Major Assets of Dedicated Server

-Since the user has more control over a Dedicated server it is more secured as compared to shared web server. The user is able to make changes and updates on software installed on a server as he has full root access to the dedicated web server. This helps to run a server smoothly in its most optimal configuration.

-Reliability is the another most important asset of Dedicated Server Hosting. The user is able to optimize page loads by means of page load speed and allocation of resources on server.This leads to customer satisfaction which also increases the goals of website’s presence.

Dedicated Server Hosting by eUKhost