Advantages and Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated servers are seen as the best type of web hosting for people who are running large resource intensive websites that receive many visitors, as well as for people and businesses who need to be guaranteed a stable service that is more reliable than other types of web hosting, such as shared website hosting and VPS hosting; this is because a dedicated server is yours only, meaning that you are not sharing it with anyone else, thus meaning that all the resources on the server are for your use only and can’t be used by anyone else, allowing you to ensure that you are able to provide a reliable and stable service. However, dedicated server hosting is out of most people’s price range for the main reason that dedicated servers are relatively expensive to get hold of, since they are physical machines, unlike VPS hosting for example where the servers are actually virtualized on a physical hosting node that is shared; this means that dedicated servers are only mainly used by businesses who have a large budget and want to ensure that their servers are stable, or by people who are running large websites that provide them with enough revenue to be able to justify and cover the cost of a dedicated hosting server.

The dedicated server hosting market has seen a boom in recent years, meaning that the overall costs of dedicated servers has been reduced, allowing people who couldn’t previously afford one to purchase one to cover their needs; this means that the overall number of dedicated servers being taken out with web hosts has increased, thus increasing the amount that web hosts have been earning, but also increasing the number of web hosts there are to choose from since many people have seen the advantages of starting a web host and have decided to do so. In order to use a dedicated server, you will need to ensure that you have the necessary knowledge to be able to administrate one with ease, this means that you should choose an operating system for your dedicated server that you are comfortable with during the order process, since getting used to the dedicated hosting environment will be much easier if you are using a familiar interface or system; it is important that you know what you are doing with a dedicated server since in most cases it is up to you to keep the server up to date and secure, to ensure that hackers and other malicious attackers aren’t able to gain access to it and exploit it.

You should also be familiar with the relevant dedicated server terms before purchasing one, so that you know if you are running out of a certain resource or so that you know what a problem is if something happens to go wrong with your server; this is because in some cases the support team of the web host from which you have purchased your dedicated server might only provide you with limited support, meaning that you should know the ins and outs of your server as to avoid any problems with it. You should ensure that what you want to use your dedicated server for is in line with your web host’s AUP (acceptable usage policy), since if any activities or actions that you carry on your dedicated server aren’t in line with it or are affecting the performance of other servers on the same network as yours, then your web host might suspend your dedicated server in order to sort out the issues; in most cases you aren’t allowed to use dedicated servers for free web hosting because of the high risk of system abuse that is involved, and you aren’t allowed to host warez or IRC servers either since warez are deemed as illegal, and in most cases IRC chats are used to discuss illegal activities which is why web hosts don’t allow them in most cases.

Dedicated servers have many advantages over other types of web hosting, meaning that if you need the utmost reliability then you should consider a dedicated server for your needs, since it is something that should fit the needs of most people; the main advantage is that you aren’t sharing the server or resources with anyone else which is most people’s main reason for choosing dedicated server hosting.

Advantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting has to be the best type of web hosting for anyone, since you are not sharing your server with anyone else meaning that you have complete use of all the server resources; this means that you can allow for your large traffic website to flurish in a dedicated hosting environment. If you run your own small hosting business, then you are also able to ensure your clients a high level of reliability and uptime, meaning that their websites will also be up and available; with other types of hosting you aren’t able to guarantee either of these factors since other websites and accounts could easily affect you.

Dedicated Resources

The main advantage of having a dedicated server is the fact that the server is all yours, meaning that you have complete use and control of the server’s resources since there is no one else on the same server to use them as well; this means that if you run a resource intensive website, or an application or service that requires high specification hardware, you are able to without disrupting anyone else and without anyone else disrupting you meaning that you are able to ensure that your website or server is reliable and always available.

Although with the lower end equivalent of dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting, you are given guaranteed resources that will always be available for your use, but the CPU of the main host node isn’t split between the VPS on the server equally in some cases, meaning that it is a resource which isn’t always guaranteed for your use; however, with a dedicated server you have your own CPU meaning that it is always available for use by you - you also have a choice of CPUs in most cases, meaning that you could have up to 8 CPU cores available for your own use at any time. Like VPS hosting, you have your own dedicated amounts of RAM and bandwidth which you are able to utilize on your dedicated server; however, with a dedicated server, the amount of RAM that you have is actually physical meaning that you can easily have it upgraded - bandwidth is the same as a VPS server though, meaning that you can only transfer as much bandwidth you have each month - once you have used all your bandwidth up you will have to upgrade your dedicated server by purchasing more bandwidth.

Since your dedicated server is yours, no one else is sharing it with you meaning that the performance and reliability of it isn’t able to be affected by anyone else; the only way that your dedicated server can be affected by other people is if someone attacks the network which your dedicated server is connected to - for example, another server that is connected to the same network as yours might get DDOS’d, which can slow down the entire network, this will affect your dedicated server directly since any external connections to it will be very slow. In most cases, you aren’t provided with any sort of control panel to allow you to remotely manage your dedicated server, meaning that if it crashes you will have to get your web host’s support team to bring it back up again; it is for this reason that it is suggested that you use some sort of external monitoring system so that you are alerted when your server goes down, or when too much of a certain resource has been used.

Root/Administrator Access

Unlike other types of web hosting, except VPS hosting, with dedicated server hosting you are able to have root/administrator access to your dedicated server meaning that you are able to install and do anything you want within your dedicated server, allowing you to customize it to the way that you want it to be; this means that if you want to host a website or application on your server that requires you to have a certain component installed or for the server to be configured in a certain way which isn’t possible on other types of hosting, you are able to do so and at the same time are enabling your website to be more reliable by hosting it on a dedicated server.

Root/administrator access is needed on a dedicated server since it allows you to installed the programs that you need to ensure that your dedicated server is secure, and so that you are able to run what you want and use your dedicated server for what you want; you can also carry out custom configurations of certain programs with root/administrator access, meaning that you can easily change the configuration of a certain program if needs be. With root/administrator access, you are also able to easily manage and view the server resources, allowing you to monitor them so that you can take the necessary action if a resource was to get overloaded which could cause the server to crash, which is not something you want since you might not have the ability to restart it yourself; you could also deploy an internal monitoring system so that you easily view and manage your server’s resources without having to be constantly logged into it - this would also mean that you have the ability to view and manage your server’s resources over the internet from any location in the world.

In the case of a Linux dedicated server, you will be given ‘root’ access to it meaning that you will be able to manage it using the ‘root’ account, normally via the means of SSH meaning that you should be aware of the main Linux commands prior to purchase a Linux dedicated server; Linux server administration via the means of SSH is carried out through the use of unique commands, meaning that in most cases a GUI isn’t provided for administration access - however, in some cases a GUI via the means of VNC might be available for your use.

In the case of Windows dedicated server hosting, you will be given ‘administrator‘ access to your dedicated server meaning that you will be able to manage it via the means of remote desktop, for which a client comes pre-installed with the most recent Microsoft Windows versions; this means that if you have the Microsoft Windows operating system installed on your desktop computer, you will be able to interact with your Windows dedicated server via the means of remote desktop, meaning that you can easily manage your dedicated server using the Windows GUI.

Priority Support

As dedicated server customers are the highest paying for most web hosts, you will find that you receive priority support for your dedicated server, just as long as your web host provides a certain level of support for dedicated server customers, since some don’t provide any support at all for dedicated server customers since they take it for granted that they have the necessary knowledge to be able to administrate their dedicated hosting server effectively; this means that if you choose a web host that provides support for dedicated server customers, you will be able to get support for almost anything quicker than you would be able to with other types of web hosting.

If you are already on a lower end web hosting package, such as a shared hosting package or VPS server, then you should notice that your support requests will be replied to quicker than they were on lower end hosting packages; this means that priority support is one reason that many people choose to move over to dedicated server hosting, since most aren’t happy with the level of support that they are receiving on the lower end package that they are currently on.

Most web hosts also give priority support to dedicated server customers since most dedicated hosting customers are using their servers to host important websites, meaning that it is important for the server to always be up and stable so that the hosted websites can always be accessed; if a dedicated server was to crash, then it could cause a considerable loss to the business that has taken it out, meaning that most individuals and businesses alike try to go with a web hosts that provides priority support where possible, since at the end of the day maximum uptime is what is wanted by the dedicated server clients.

If you choose to go with a web host that doesn’t provide any support for dedicated server customers, then you will need to ensure that you have the necessary knowledge to allow you to administrate your dedicated server effectively.

Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

There aren’t really any disadvantages that you can directly apply to dedicated server hosting, which is one of the reasons why it is so popular with both businesses and individuals alike. The only factor nearest to a disadvantage that you could apply to dedicated server hosting is the cost of it; this is because dedicated servers cost quite a lot, compared to lower range hosting packages such as shared hosting packages an VPS hosting packages; the cost is only high because the server physically exists, and the original cost of the server for your provider was probably hundreds of pounds, and they need to make that money back in the short term, especially if they are providing many dedicated servers, otherwise they won’t be making any profit on each server. The arrangement that your web host has with their data centre can also affect the price of dedicated servers; this is because data centres charge a certain amount of each individual server that is hosted with them, to cover the cost of electricity, bandwidth and the rack space that has been filled - your web host has to deduct this amount from the cost of your dedicated server since they still want to maintain a profit from your server, but at the same time it needs to be located within a data centre so that it is connected to the internet.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if your website receives a large amount of visitors or is mission critical then dedicated server hosting is for you, for the main reason of the added stability which isn’t provided with lower range hosting packages such as shared website hosting and VPS hosting; this means that you are able to ensure that your important website is always available for your visitors, when with lower range packages it might not always be. The fact that your website will be more reliable is because you have your own server with its own resources that are not shared with anyone else, thus meaning that there isn’t anyone else or any other server that will be able to affect the performance of yours in any way; as mentioned previously, you have your own CPU unlike VPS hosting which doesn’t, meaning that your programs and services will always be able to process what they need to without the threat of not being able to because there isn’t enough CPU space available.

Although VPS hosting does provide you with your own guaranteed RAM and bandwidth, the physical CPU isn’t evenly shared between all the VPS that are hosted on the server concerned, meaning that it only takes one greedy VPS to take the whole hosting node down by using up all the available CPU space; in the case of dedicated server hosting, the CPU is all yours meaning that it can’t be used by anyone else or by any other server - you also have the option to choose from dual or quad core CPUs meaning that you have the ability to give your dedicated server extra reliability.

As mentioned previously, the only way that another server is able to affect the performance of your dedicated server is if another server on the same network as yours was to be DDOS’d, meaning that you have that extra level or reliability and security when compared to other types of hosting; a DDOS would slow the entire network down meaning that all servers would be affected and no-one externally would be able to connect to the servers.

With a dedicated server, you are also given root/administrator access, allowing you to install any programs or services that you want, just as long as they are in line with your web hosts acceptable usage policy - you are also able to carry out custom configurations with root/administrator access, since your dedicated server is your own dedicated environment; with a Linux dedicated server you will be given root access via the means of SSH, and with a Windows dedicated server you will be given administrator access via the means of remote desktop - although the use of remote desktop requires that you have the Windows operating system in order to use the remote desktop client.

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.

Advantages and Disadvantages of VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is seen as the fill in for the large gap that stems between standard shared website hosting, and expensive dedicated server hosting; this is because the prices of VPS hosting are very similar to those for high end shared web hosting packages, and much less than those for dedicated servers but are able to provide clients with an environment which is very similar to that of a dedicated server. Unlike standard shared website hosting, but like dedicated server hosting, you are able to install your own programs within your own VPS hosting environment - this means that you can easily customize your VPS server to work and function in the way that you want it to, which you wouldn’t be able to achieve with standard shared website hosting; this also means that if you want to host an application in an environment which needs to be custom configured, then you are able to do so at a fraction of the cost of an ordinary basic dedicated server.

VPS hosting is only really made for those who need to be able to host their applications or websites in a custom environment, since in most cases a certain amount of knowledge is needed so that you’re able to administrate your VPS, since your web host might not provide you with support in some situations; it is because of this that you should always make sure that you know what you are doing when signing up for a VPS server, since you don’t want to order it then find out that you aren’t able to use it correctly - at the end of the day, not all web hosts will give you your money back.

You should also ensure that you are aware of the specifications of the VPS that you have ordered, since in some cases web hosts can accidentally assign you with the wrong amount of a certain VPS resource, or if you are not aware of your limits you could easily end up overloading your VPS which could lead to it crashing; if your VPS crashes or overloads then you also run the risk of overloading the main VPS node on which you are hosted, which is not something that you want to do since it could lead to your web host having to suspend your VPS or even terminate it if it is continually overloading the hosting node.

You should also be careful as to what programs and types of website that you choose to host within your VPS environment, since some programs use up too many resources, which again can lead to the overloading of your VPS and the hosting node on which your VPS is hosted; your website could also be resource intensive if it is for example ‘dynamic’, meaning that every time a visitor loads a page of your website, the page has to locate and pull the required information from a database - this itself can be resource intensive meaning that if you have a site which receives a large amount of visitors and is dynamic then you should consider dedicated server hosting since it meets your needs and requirements in a more specific way. More and more web hosts are starting to provide customers with VPS solutions, since the market itself has had a steady growth over the last few years, this means that there is now a larger choice of VPS hosting packages for people who are looking to take a VPS out to choose from; the reason for this large growth is mainly down to the stabilization of the software that is used to base VPS hosting systems on - more free solutions for VPS hosting have also come about meaning that the actual price of VPS servers has been dramatically reduced, allowing people to pick a VPS solution up for as little as $5 these days.

The fine line between VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting is a blurry one, meaning that for some it is hard to distinguish the difference between the two; with the help of this article, you should be able to choose whether or not VPS hosting is for you, and what the advantages and disadvantages are when it comes down to using a VPS server for your needs.

Advantages of VPS Hosting

For many, especially those who are upgrading to VPS hosting from a shared hosting account, VPS hosting is able to bring many advantages including the ability to install any software that you want as well as being able to host your websites in your own space without the worry of being affected by any other users or websites that are hosted on the same server as you; the price of VPS hosting is also attractive to many who are in need of a dedicated server, but are unable to afford one. VPS hosting is also provides better uptime than shared web hosting, which means businesses who currently have their websites on shared hosting are attracted to VPS hosting if their websites are down frequently because of an issue on the shared web hosting server on which their account and domain reside; it is because of this that the market has begun to grow, since many are now requiring better uptime for their websites, especially those which are mission critical for some.

Dedicated Environment

The main advantage of VPS hosting over shared hosting is that you given your own dedicated environment in which you are allowed to do pretty much anything you want, just as long as it doesn’t affect the other VPS servers that are hosted on the same server as yours. With a dedicated environment, you are able to install any program that you want on your VPS so that you can configure it to work in the way you want it to, just as you would be able to with a dedicated server; this also allows you to host custom websites and application that might require certain server side settings or component in order to function, and they might not be available on standard website hosting.

Within your dedicated environment, you are able to utilize your own resources such as your own hard drive space that has been assigned to your VPS, as well as the guaranteed RAM that has been assigned to allow you to run as many programs as possible within your VPS, or just to make it run faster - although that is dependent on what you prefer. You can configure your server to be any type of server, just as long as you don’t have any type of server or web hosting control panel that has pre-installed its own services on your VPS; for example you can install Apache and use your VPS as a dedicated web server, or you could install MySQL and use your VPS as a standalone database server.

If you have a low specification VPS, then you could simply use it as a testing environment where you can test out your new websites and applications before you deploy them in a live environment, so that you are able to see what effect they will have on the server and whether there is any problems with them; this means that if the application or website is faulty and was to cause damage to the server, it would only damage the VPS which is something that can be repaired - if it was to be put live on a dedicated server or similar and was to damage the server, then the server itself may not have been repairable.

Your dedicated environment is your own, meaning that what you do within your VPS will not affect the other VPS hosted on the same server as you in any way, and anything that the other VPS on your server do will not affect your VPS; this means that unlike shared web hosting, you are able to ensure the utmost reliability, and that the main reason for your VPS to crash would be because you or your website has overloaded it with too many requests or similar.

Guaranteed Resources

Unlike shared website hosting, with VPS hosting you are given guaranteed resources that will always be available for use by your VPS server, meaning that you are given limitations as to what you are able to run on your VPS; although in some sense this might appear to be a ‘disadvantage’, the fact that you have your own guaranteed resources that can’t be used by other VPS hosted on the same server as you means that you are able to guarantee your clients or website a certain amount of reliability, depending on the amount of the guaranteed resources that you have assigned.

It is important that you know the amount of certain guaranteed resources which you have assigned to your VPS server, since these can affect what programs and services you are able to run on your VPS; for example, if you run a website which is accessing a database a lot then a low specification VPS isn’t for you, since the continual access requires a large amount of RAM otherwise you could overload your VPS. However, there is one resource which in most cases is not guaranteed equally to each individual VPS - the CPU; most web hosts have a policy which means that a VPS server can use as much CPU as it wants, but when it uses it up to a certain point the VPS is automatically shut down - on the other hand an increasing number of web hosts are starting to deploy a fair share CPU architecture, in which the CPU is split and equally shared between the VPS servers.

The three main resources that are guaranteed are disk space, RAM and bandwidth; the amount of disk space that is assigned to your VPS server physically exists on the hard drive of the host node, meaning that the space assigned is yours to use only, and no-one else’s; the amount of RAM that you have assigned is also guaranteed, meaning that the programs installed on your VPS will always have that amount to use; the amount of bandwidth is also guaranteed, meaning that you can transfer the assigned amount of data before your VPS is no longer reachable.

At the end of the day, you want to be able to ensure that you are getting good value for money, and if you have high guaranteed resources then you are able to ensure that your websites and applications which you intend to host and install on your VPS server will run smoothly - it is when your websites run smoothly that you know you are getting value for money; if you happen to have a VPS server with low guaranteed resources then you are better off using it for testing, since if it used properly then you might find that it crashes frequently.

Burstable RAM

Burstable RAM is the amount of RAM that your VPS can use once it has used up all its guaranteed RAM, meaning that you can allow your VPS to have a RAM spike every now and then, although the practice isn’t recommended since the burstable RAM might have already been claimed by another VPS hosted on the same server as you, since it can be accessed and used by all the VPS hosted on one server. The amount of burstable RAM that your VPS is able to use is dependent on the VPS plan that you have, in most cases the amount that you are able to use is double that of the guaranteed RAM that you have uniquely assigned to your VPS server; this means that if you have a VPS with 256MB guaranteed RAM, you have 512MB of burstable RAM that your VPS is able to use if it runs out of guaranteed RAM.

Burstable RAM should only be used in the most desperate of situations, since if your VPS happens to use it too frequently or ends up using too much of it, your web host may be forced to suspend or terminate your VPS since it could easily be affecting the performance of other VPS hosted on the same server as you. You shouldn’t take burstable RAM for granted, since if your VPS happens to have regular RAM spikes then you might find it crashing regularly if it is unable to acquire any spare burstable CPU; it is also for this reason that you should regularly monitor your VPS using a third party monitoring system so that you can be alerted as to when your VPS crashes if you are unable to be at your computer all the time. Burstable RAM is something that is only available with VPS servers, since dedicated servers are physical meaning that they have a physical amount of RAM which can’t be virtualized to give any extra, and shared web hosting is based on one server meaning that user don’t get their own virtual/dedicated environment in which they are able to install any programs of their choice.

In most cases you aren’t able to increase the amount of burstable RAM that your VPS has, since it is made up of the left over RAM after all the relevant VPS have been created on the server; however, you should be able to increase the amount of dedicated RAM that your VPS has, allowing you to improve the performance of your VPS at a lower cost than having to upgrade your VPS package altogether. As mentioned previously, burstable RAM is a resource which should only be dipped when really needed; this is because it could affect the performance of the other VPS that are hosted on the same server as you, meaning that your VPS might be suspended without warning - you don’t want this to happen since everything on the VPS will become unavailable. One thing to note is that burstable RAM isn’t available for Windows VPS because of the architecture of the Windows operating system; it is only available for Linux VPS based on either OpenVZ or XEN.

Disadvantages of VPS Hosting

Although VPS hosting might have a few advantages that will benefit most, it also has disadvantages like any type of hosting does, that have the ability to affect how some people are able to use their VPS server. If you are new to VPS hosting, then the main disadvantage for you will be that you might not be able to use your VPS correctly, since you might not have the required amount of knowledge to - in this case you should read a few VPS tutorials before parting with any money on one. Another main disadvantage of VPS hosting is the fact that in some cases the CPU of the main server is not equally shared between all the hosted VPS, meaning that it is open to compromise from rogue VPS, and if done correctly a rogue VPS could easily bring down the whole node if it ends up using too much of the CPU.

CPU

In some cases, the way the CPU is used by all the VPS hosted on the same server as yours can prove to be a disadvantage, sine in most cases the system architecture of the virtualization software means that the actions of other VPS hosted on the same server as your can easily affect the performance of yours; if this is the case for your VPS, then you should consider moving to a web host where they deploy the correct type of CPU splitting to ensure that the performance of your VPS isn’t affected by the performance of others on the same node as yours.

In most cases the CPU of the host node is not evenly distributed between all the VPS that are hosted on the node, meaning that the VPS are able to use up as much or as little of the CPU as needed - this system is open to abuse since one VPS can easily use up the whole CPU and cause the whole node to crash, in turn bringing down all the VPS on that single node; however, most VPS virtualization softwares have a monitoring system of sorts built in, meaning that if a VPS was to use up too much of the CPU, that VPS would be automatically suspended or shut down as to ensure that it isn’t able to affect the performance of other VPS hosted on the same node. If too much CPU is being utilized by another VPS hosted on the same node as yours, then you might notice that your VPS becomes un-responsive to certain commands, and that your website may not be loading meaning that it might be timing out; this will be because there is not enough CPU left to process your requests, which is not something that you want - it is because of this reason that you should try and choose a web host that deploys a fair share CPU architecture so that you are guaranteed a certain share of the physical CPU.

If your VPS is based on a node that is using fair share CPU architecture, then you are able to ensure that there will always be a certain amount of the CPU available for you use, meaning that you are able to guarantee your website or clients a certain level of reliability; also, with fair share CPU architecture, it is more or less impossible for one VPS alone to bring the entire VPS node down since the amount of CPU assigned to each VPS would not crash the entire server if it was used up - this means that it would take several VPS that are maxing out their CPU to crash an entire VPS node. Although in some cases, such as with the use of fair share CPU architecture, the CPU of a VPS may appear to be at an advantage, overall when you consider all the options the CPU architecture of a regular VPS can be classed as a disadvantage.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Website Hosting

Shared website hosting is the most basic type of web hosting, in which you share the server on which you are hosted with a number of other users and websites; one thing which sets shared website hosting apart from other types is the fact that users who are hosted on the server are not allowed root or administrator access to the server, thus meaning that you are limited as to what you are able to do with your shared website hosting account.

Almost everyone starts off with shared website hosting, since it is cheap and affordable for many, and the fact that you don’t have to worry about the administration of the server on which you are hosted is one factor which attracts many people who are new to website hosting to shared hosting plans; most shared web hosting plans also come with easy to use and feature rich control panels that allow users to administrate almost any part of their domain or website without the need for any intervention from their web host or anyone else for that matter.

The support available for shared hosting is also much better than that of higher up plans in most cases; this is because the web host that you are using is able to give you more direct support if you are using their control panel, and if they are providing you with a third party control panel then it is easier for them to provide you with support still, and the official documentation is also there if you still need extra help after your web host’s support team has intervened. Shared web hosting accounts come with many different features that you can use to help build your website from the bottom, meaning that if you are completely new to web hosting and web design in general, then you can easily get a website started up under your new web hosting account without having to have any technical knowledge; in this case, you could use an included script auto-installer for example, to install a CMS system within your hosting environment so that you can start adding content to your new website.

In some cases you are able to host multiple domains under your shared website hosting account, meaning that if you are new to website hosting then you can easily expand your use of your website hosting account by gradually building up the amount of domains that you host within it; this means that if you do want to host more websites under your account, then you can with the only limit being the amount of disk space that you have available and the amount of bandwidth that you have available to assign to each new website or domain that you are adding - in some cases web hosts only allow you to host one domain per shared website hosting account, meaning that if you want to host more than one website within your account you will have to purchase another shared website hosting account or upgrade your existing account to a reseller one. Shared website hosting allows you to easily expand your possibilities, allowing you to start at the bottom of the web hosting ‘ladder’ and work your way up to a dedicated server, in the case that your website becomes too resourceful for reseller or VPS hosting; this means that if you are wanting to start a new website and anticipate that over time the visitor numbers will increase, then you can easily start off with a shared website hosting package to get your new website based on, then as your website expands and your visitor numbers increase you can easily upgrade to a VPS server and then onto a dedicated server with ease and ensuring that your website will be fast and available at all times.

Compared to other types of web hosting, shared hosting can be particularly slow at some times, which could effect your website in a negative way meaning that if you receive a lot of visitors, shared web hosting is not something that you want; this is because shared web hosting servers are shared amongst many users meaning that it can take only one user on the same server as you to slow it down or to even make it shut down completely.

Advantages of Shared Website Hosting

Shared website hosting is something that is perfect for people who are new to website hosting, since the support provided is more than enough to get most people started, and the reliability is normally high enough to satisfy most people. One main factor that attracts most to it is the fact that you don’t have to worry about the administration of the hosting server, since that is taken care of by the web host from which you have purchased your website hosting plan; this allows you to effectively run your website without the need to worry about any type of server upkeep or administration.

Support and Maintenance

The good thing with shared website hosting when compared to other types of hosting is that you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of the server on which you are hosted; the money that you pay your web hosting company pays the support staff that they employ to look after the servers which people like yourself are hosted on, and to make sure that they have the latest updates and are as secure as possible to ensure that no hackers or other malicious attackers are able to gain unauthorized access to the shared web hosting server.

Another factor related to the maintenance and general up keep of the server is the support that is provided to you as the customer, in the event that you need help with a certain aspect of your shared website hosting account; support staff are able to provide you with more assistance when on a shared website hosting package rather than on an upper level one, since the your account is normally fully managed enabling you to request support for almost any issue. Most support staff will be able to help you out with issues ranging from a slow server, to installing a new program under your web hosting account which you might not be able to if you don’t have the necessary knowledge; support with upper level packages such as VPS and dedicated server hosting is normally limited, for example most web hosts only provide reboots and rebuilds of VPS and dedicated servers leaving customers to sort out their own issues if they happen to have a problem with their VPS or dedicated server - something which turns many people who don’t have much knowledge regarding the subject away from VPS and dedicated servers.

Support staff are also there to help you configure your website once you have uploaded it into your new shared website hosting space, meaning that if you have had a technical website designed on your behalf, you can easily have it uploaded and configured with the help of the support staff at your web host; this also means that the most technical of websites can be uploaded and configured without the need for any prior knowledge about the environment in which you are hosted.

It is important that the server on which you are hosted has the latest updates and is kept secure from hackers since if malicious attackers do manage to gain access to the server on which you are hosted, not only the data that is hosted under your hosting account but all the data that is hosted on the server is then vulnerable meaning that a hacker can easily steal the contents of a database and sell it on if the information fits the right category - it is for this reason that it is important to encrypt any data that you store either in your web space or databases that you have hosted within your shared website hosting account, because at the end of the day if a malicious attacker does happen to gain access to any of your website’s information, the consequences could prove to be very serious

Reliability and Security

Depending on the specifications of the server that your shared web hosting account resides on, shared website hosting can be more reliable than both VPS and dedicated server hosting in some cases; however, the reliability of a shared web hosting server is dependent on the hardware specifications of it as well as the other users who are hosted on the same server as you.

Most shared web hosting servers these days are of high specification, for example most now have quad core processors meaning that the odds of the hosting server crashing because of a CPU overload are incredibly low; most are also stacked up with RAM, again meaning that the odds of a shared web hosting server crashing because there is no memory left are incredibly low. However, the reliability of a shared web hosting server can depend on the other people who are hosted on the same server as you; for example, someone might be hosting a rather resource intensive PHP application which is regularly accessing a database to get the required information - this type of application is something which is bound to have an effect on the server’s performance, meaning that if it carries on to be resource intensive then the hosting account in which it resides might end up being suspended or terminated.

Since shared web hosting server contain many users, most web hosts try their hardest to ensure that their shared web hosting servers are as secure as possible to ensure that no malicious attackers are able to gain entry to the server in any way; for example, most web hosts have RootKit Hunter installed on their Linux shared hosting servers to ensure that no hackers are able to gain entry to the server and install malicious programs without being detected. You will also find that nearly every web host employs some sort of anti-virus on their shared website hosting server to ensure that the server itself contains no viruses, and to scan incoming and outgoing email to ensure that your email accounts don’t receive any virus emails and to ensure that no emails that contain viruses are sent from the server; this itself will ensure that the server and your data are secure to an extent.

At the end of the day, you want to make sure that you choose a web host who uses shared hosting servers with high specification hardware, since this increases the chances of your website and the services related to it being more stable, which is one that that you want to achieve. You also want to make sure that the shared web hosting provider that you choose to utilizes some type of anti-virus and firewall softwares within their shared website hosting servers, since you want to ensure that the data contained in your website hosting account is secure in the event that a malicious attacker manages to gain access to the server.

Disadvantages of Shared Website Hosting

Although shared website hosting provides many advantages for people who are new to the world of website hosting, for those who have websites which expect more of a web hosting server, shared website hosting does prove to have some disadvantages which can affect how some websites work and how some people are able to utilize their shared website hosting account. The following are disadvantages which might prove that shared hosting is not for you or your website, meaning that upper level packages such as VPS servers and dedicated servers are what you might need to ensure that you are able to provide your website visitors with a stable level of service and so that they are able to access your website with ease and when they need to.

The Sharing of the Server

One factor which many people don’t take into consideration when searching for shared hosting for their important website is the fact that the server on which they will be hosting their website will be shared with other people, meaning that the actions and usage of the other websites that are hosted on the same server as you have the ability to impact on the performance of your own website, which in some cases is something that can effect your website in a negative way. If resource intensive websites are hosted on the same server as you, then they can easily impact on the other sites that are hosted on the same server if they happen to be using up too much CPU or physical memory (RAM) of the server; in this case you would notice the impact of the other website on yours since you will experience slower response times to certain requests, such as those which include your website or web page having to access a database to gather the required data - you would probably see your website timing out when loading in this case.

If your web host happens to setup a ‘spam‘ user on the same server as you by accident, then you might also find that the server will crash because the user is using up too many server resources; for example, most spammers exploit shared website hosting accounts so that they can send out their spam, in most cases by the gigbyte (GB). If a spammer is exploiting your server then you might find that your website is slow to load either because it is timing out because their is not enough CPU left to process the request, or because the actual internet uplink on the server has been jammed up with all the spam which is being sent out. By sharing a server with other people, you’re website is still prone to attack through the means of another website or hosting account on the same web hosting server as you; this is because another website on the same server as you, or hosting account might be compromised meaning that a hacker or other sort of malicious attacker can easily gain access to the entire server due to that one compromised website hosting account.

Limitations

Although with VPS and dedicated server hosting packages you are limited by the amount of bandwidth and disk space that you have assigned to your server, with shared hosting you are limited by a larger amount of factors including the number of email accounts that you are able to create as well as the number of databases, amongst other things; this means that if you are wanting to only be limited by disk space and bandwidth, you will have to think again since in some cases you will only be able to create a certain amount of email accounts and databases under your website hosting account.

In most cases you are also limited as to what you are able to do with your web hosting account technically, meaning that you can be limited as to how your website can run, for example you might not be allowed to set file permissions under your web hosting account which means that certain scripts and programs won’t be able to run within your shared website hosting environment; in this case you would have to find a web host who provided a shared website hosting package that did allow you to set file permissions otherwise you are limiting yourself to only being able to use certain scripts and programs under your web hosting account.

Conclusion

In conclusion, shared website hosting is a type of web hosting which is perfect for those who are new to the world of web hosting, and don’t have much knowledge when it comes to the management and administration of a web hosting account; it is also fine for those who just wish to host a couple of small websites, since the features provided will allow for you to effectively manage small websites without the need for any intervention from your web host, although they will probably be more than happy to help you out if you happen to run into any problems regarding your shared hosting account. For those who are wanting to host resource intensive websites, or dynamic websites which will be using databases and will wanting to be accessing them often, shared website hosting may not be for them; this is because your website might end up using too many server resources, which in the eyes of most web hosts will lead to the suspension of your hosting account, especially if your website or account is impacting on the performance of other websites and domains hosted on the same server as you.

If your website handles important data, such as credit card numbers and other personal information, then you might want to consider a VPS or dedicated server solution since shared website hosting might be a little insecure for hosting such important information; with a more higher level solution, you are able to configure the server security the way you want it to be meaning that if you have a certain security infrastructure to ensure that the information you host isn’t compromised, you can easily deploy it giving your customer ultimate assurance when it comes to data security.

Every now and then you might experience a period of slowness with your shared website hosting account, which might be being caused by a ‘rogue’ user who was accidentally setup on the server by your web host and is actually a spammer using the server to send out all their spam; in this case your account’s information is not compromised, but spammers do have the ability to slow down servers by using up a lot of the available CPU and RAM meaning that the server is more vulnerable to crashing. So basically, if you are hosting a website which isn’t mission critical and you are able to deal with the occasional occurence of downtime, then shared website hosting is for you; if you are wanting to host an important website which is handling important information then you might want to consider a more higher level web hosting solution.

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 servers 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 Hosting are 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.