Managed Web Hosting

Managed web hosting is designed for businesses and individuals who need an enterprise level web hosting package that will suit their needs, but are not sure of whether or not they have the capabilities to manage such a web hosting packages. Managed web hosting providers normally go to the trouble of providing full support to their managed web hosting clients since it enables their clients to het on with what they have to do whilst the support team can manage the web hosting package, which in most cases is a server, on behalf of the client. Managed web hosting normally costs more than a standard unmanaged web hosting service because web hosting provider’s have to pay for an experienced support team to make sure that you receive the right level of customer service that you deserve. Managed web hosting is only normally sold to individuals who need it because they are running large and important websites, or to businesses that want to host mission critical websites with their chosen web hosting provider. The type of managed web hosting that you purchase depends on your requirements, but in most cases you will purchase a fully managed dedicated server which will allow you to upload all the website files you need but at the same time leave your server to run without having to worry.

Managed web hosting normally comes with the features that you would expect from any web hosting package, but alongside full support meaning that you don’t have to rely on such features to allow you to manage your web hosting account. Web hosting providers like to make life as easy as possible for their managed web hosting customers and as such normally actively monitor managed web hosting accounts to ensure the highest amount of uptime available and also offer customers access to a 24×7 professional web hosting support team. Examples of such features may include:

• control panel - any professional web hosting provider should be able to provide you with access to a control panel such as cPanel or Plesk to manage the different aspects of your web hosting account - although you may not need this feature with managed web hosting, you will find it helpful from time to time
• support desk - it is very important that your web hosting provider allows you access to a support desk so that you are able to submit a ticket if you are having a specific issue with your web hositng package - this will be your main access point to the support team that your web hosting provider employs to offer you managed web hosting
• webmail - although a majority of web hosting providers now allow access to a webmail application of some sorts, many users still use classic desktop email applications, it is because of this that webmail isn’t really a feature of your web hosting package that you will use, but can sometimes be helpful with managed web hosting.

Although a majority of web hosting packages will come with the above mentioned features, some may be more useful than others when it comes to using a managed web hosting package. For example, access to a support desk is incredibly important with managed web hosting since it is the one way in which you will be able to contact your web hosting provider’s support team.

Managed web hosting normally means that you can contact a 24×7 web hosting support team using a certain contact method to sort out any issues that you may be having with your managed web hosting package; the support team can then solve any problem that you may have at any time of the day without any questions asked - something which can’t be done with a standard web hosting package. Web hosting support teams are normally very experienced meaning that they can normally deal with a majority of issues that you may ask them to fix, although some more advance issues may only be repairable if you have your server reloaded, in the case of managed server hosting.

If you want to host an advanced website but feel that you will be unable to manage your web hosting package because of one reason or another then managed web hosting will ensure that your web hosting package is managed on your behalf, although it can take away some of the freedom that you would have on an unmanaged web hosting package of any sort. Managed web hosting will normally cost more than unmanaged or semi-managed web hosting for the simple reason that support teams cost a lot to employ, and the experience of a web hosting support team and the help that they are able to provide you has to be reflected in the overall price that you are paying for your web hosting solution. In the case that you are an experienced user then you should be consider another form of web hosting.

In order to make the most of managed web hosting you need to choose a method of web hosting that is going to benefit you or your business the most. All the different kinds of hosting there are available can be bought with full support, making them managed. However, you don’t want to purchase a high end web hosting package and find its not for you. If you feel that you don’t have the knowledge to manage a dedicated server for example, you can make use of your right to full support. Examples of the different types of web hosting available include:

• shared web hosting - seen as the most basic form of web hosting, web hosting providers normally provide these as managed since it is also their responsibility to take care of and to maintain the web hosting server, and so meaning that they might as well provide full support for shared web hosting customers at the same time
• reseller web hosting - this is a form of shared web hosting, meaning that full support is normally provided for reseller web hosting customers and in some cases for their clients as well, meaning that large web hosting providers have support teams that are able to cope with two different tiers of support
• VPS server hosting - VPS servers are hosted together on a physical hosting node, and although it is the responsibility of the web hosting provider to manage the physical hosting node a majority of web hosting providers don’t provide any form of support for their VPS server hosting customers unless it is paid for
• dedicated server hosting - dedicated server hosting is the most expensive form of web hosting around, and as much it is more than appropriate for a majority of web hosting providers to offer full support for their dedicated customers so that they can get on with the more important tasks that they have to do such as the running of their businesses.

Ensuring that you choose the right form of managed web hosting is important, since your website may not be able to function correctly if you are unable to host it in the proper environment. If managing a server isn’t your thing, then you can take advantage of the full support that you have paid for, allowing you to have your web hosting provider’s support team manage your server on your behalf whilst you go around on your day to day business.

Some of the best web hosting providers around offer managed web hosting since it is more or less impossible for smaller web hosting companies to offer such a service since they don’t have the human resources available to deal with large demand. Professional web hosting providers on the other hand have large and organised support teams that are able to deal with a high support demand which allows them to manage clients web hosting packages on their behalf. If you do find a smaller web hosting company offering managed web hosting services then the likelihood is that they will be providing their clients with the free end user support that is featured as part of their reseller, VPS or dedicated server web hosting package. Managed web hosting normally comes in the form of managed server hosting since more or less anyone can manage a shared or reseller web hosting account, although advance knowledge is needed to allow you to manage a VPS server or a dedicated server professionally. If you are completely new to managed web hosting then it would probably be better for you to start off with a managed shared web hosting account.

In conclusion, managed web hosting allows you to purchase a website hosting package but then have it managed on your behalf by your web hosting provider’s support team. If you are new to web hosting or feel that you don’t have the necessary knowledge or confidence to manage a web hosting package then managed web hosting is one thign that will allow you to upload your website and leave it to run without a second thought. More or less any form of web hosting is available managed, meaning that you may just need to upgrade your existing web hosting package to a managed alternative.