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What
Are Managed Dedicated Servers? |
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A
new trend, appearing in the Web Hosting industry,
is the concept of Managed Web Hosting.
Web hosts have been offering dedicated servers for
a while now, however, because dedicated servers can
be difficult to operate technically, there has been
a demand for web hosts to provide extra services such
as: reporting and monitoring; managed load balancing;
managed security; managed storage; and, managed databases.
These extra services are referred to as ‘managed
hosting’.
Do you need it?
Before you think about managed hosting you will first
need to decide whether or not you need a dedicated
server. You will need a dedicated server if you have
a high-traffic web site. If you only have a small
web site with low traffic levels then a shared hosting
arrangement should be fine. A dedicated server is
more expensive to rent and more difficult to operate
than a shared hosting solution but if your business
depends on a steady service then you should seriously
consider renting a dedicated server.
The only disadvantage with dedicated web hosting is
that you will have to do a lot of the server administration
yourself, and to do this you will need to possess
some technical skills; hence the demand for managed
hosting. If you fall into this category of needing
a dedicated server but you need your host to provide
system administration services such as security, firewalls,
monitoring and reporting services, and data backup
then most likely you will need managed hosting.
How do you find Managed hosting packages?
Many web hosts who once provided only shared and dedicated
web hosting are now beginning to offer managed services
too. A good place to start looking for managed hosting
is through web hosting directories and search engines,
by doing a search for managed hosting you should receive
a good list of managed hosting providers. Another
key place to start is by contacting hosts who are
offering dedicated hosting and ask them if they can
provide a managed hosting arrangement as well.
Companies providing managed hosting will either offer
managed hosting per item or in a pre-configured plan.
Per-item managed hosting gives you the freedom to
pick and choose what services you need or do not need;
on the other hand, a pre-configured plan will include
the dedicated server and the managed hosting services
at a monthly fee.
What should I look for in a managed hosting
provider?
When choosing a managed hosting provider it is a good
idea that your host provides the following qualities:
Reliable and fast support –
a good way to find out the response rate and the quality
of the services offered by a web host is to send them
an email before you sign up with them. If you receive
a good response from your web host then this should
give you a good indication of the services they are
offering.
Freedom – its important to
have as much freedom as possible and having the ability
to choose from a wide range of services is essential.
With managed hosting you might decide that you don’t
require firewall support, its important that your
web host will provide you with the option of selecting
exactly what you need and what you don’t need.
Also having the ability to pay monthly is a huge advantage.
It will be less of a drain on your budget and you
can avoid any expensive yearly contracts.
Fast and reliable connection –
You should find out exactly what sort of connection
the web host has to the Internet. By asking the web
host they should be able to send you their network
and connectivity details, you might even be able to
find this out on their web site.
Also find out where the web hosts Network Operations
Center (NOC) is located, it is an advantage for the
web host to have its NOC located in the USA as the
USA has the fastest and most reliable internet connection
in the world.
Competitiveness – When searching
for a managed hosting provider it is important to
do your research.
Each web host will be offering different managed hosting
services all at different rates, you might find that
one web host may offer one attractive managed hosting
service while another doesn’t.
However, as many more web hosts are beginning to offer
managed hosting, a new competitive market is developing
and the prices for managed hosting are becoming much
more affordable with many more services being offered
Managed hosting is ideal for the new online businesses
person, looking to build a large online business,
and wanting to avoid the extra time and resources
spent in-house on managing their dedicated servers.
In-turn, managed web hosting has provided a profitable
outcome to many online businesses by preventing a
waste of valuable resources spent on high skilled
employees; months of staff training; and, costs of
hardware and software
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