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Managed web hosting gives the webmaster the freedom to focus on their online business instead of worrying about the various headaches involved with managing and administrating a dedicated server. Normal dedicated hosting plans usually involve some sort of general server knowledge, especially if you are trying to use a cheaper plan which does not include support. Thus, dedicated hosting plans are usually abandoned in favor of VPS hosting plans by those that do not have the technical capabilities or patience to operate a dedicated server. Managed web hosting solves all of this by placing the administrative burden on the web hosting company rather than the webmaster. But how does a managed web hosting plan compare to VPS hosting?

Support

The support for VPS hosting and managed web hosting are very similar, however the support is more personalized in managed web hosting. This is because the needs of the webmaster are usually more specific if they require a dedicated server. The support needed to maintain a dedicated server is also somewhat more complex than that needed to administrate a VPS server, which means the staff needs to be more diligent in performing updates and monitoring server performance.

Performance

While a VPS server does provide optimal performance, and is suitable for most online businesses, it is simply not as powerful as a dedicated server. Dedicated servers are capable of operating up to 100 medium-sized websites or more without any problems. However, it is important to realize that the amount of sites that can be contained a single server depend entirely upon the size of the sites and the particular server. Some dedicated servers are more powerful than other, but in general all dedicated servers are more powerful than a VPS server.

Reliability

Along with the enhanced performance comes superb reliability. By having a dedicated server and a dedicated support staff to help you manage that server, you’re ensuring the uptime of your site and the overall reliability of your online business. While VPS servers are also known for being reliable, there are no comparisons in the web hosting world when it comes to fully managed dedicated hosting. Dedicated servers are only reliable if they are managed properly, so it is important to note that the reliability of a fully managed solution may not be the same as the reliability of a partially managed or unmanaged solution.

Cost

VPS server plans cost less than fully managed dedicated server plans, however you’ll be receiving a much more powerful dedicated server for the money, so many see it as a fair trade off. If there is one aspect that VPS hosting wins in, it is cost. A good VPS server is affordable for just about any small business, whereas a fully managed dedicated plan may be just outside of the budget boundaries of a newly established online business.

Conclusion

In the end, both plans have their advantages and disadvantages, and the final decision should depend upon your needs as a webmaster, rather than the specific features of each plan.

Most people start out online with a basic shared hosting plan that lets them build a small website and become acquainted with the web hosting world. However, it is not often that someone remains content with this kind of hosting setup, especially when operating an online business. Sooner or later, the urge and need to upgrade will be unavoidable, and at this point the webmaster begins considering more robust hosting plans such as VPS and Dedicated hosting plans. The problem is, it is not always clear when the best time to upgrade is. In fact, in many cases you can get by with a basic hosting plan for years. However, “getting by” is simply not enough if you are trying to strive, and slow-loading pages or site downtime is just one of the many hurdles you’ll encounter if your site is running on inadequate server resources. So how do you know when it is time to upgrade?

How Many Daily Visitors Does Your Site Get?

If your site is receiving more than a few hundred visitors on a daily basis, then you may want to consider upgrading from a basic hosting plan. This is especially true if you host a lot of multimedia content. If there are many people browsing your site and watching videos at the same time, the bandwidth will quickly dwindle and the browsing experience will become less enjoyable for your visitors. In many cases your site could lag to a complete standstill, causing your visitors to leave your site altogether. Upgrading to a dedicated server will give you the resources needed to accommodate thousands of site visitors on a daily basis.

How Many Sites Do You Have?

If you have more than five sites that receive a decent amount of traffic on daily basis, then it may be time to upgrade. Likewise, if you have one large website that is receiving a lot of traffic you will still need more server resources. Keeping all of your sites on a shared hosting plan is not wise when you consider the limitations of your current hosting setup. With a dedicated server you can host up to 50 high traffic sites without any problems in most cases, especially if you are renting a powerful server.

How are Your Sites Performing?

Ultimately the true test is the actual performance of the websites you own. If you are still able surf the sites without any slow loading pages, and you aren’t experiencing any down time, then it may be okay to stick with the plan you have. However if your sites are down more than once a week and it takes longer than 10 seconds for a page to load on a broadband connection, then you should definitely consider upgrading. A site’s performance will greatly affect it’s bounce rate and how many repeat visitors/page views per visit are received. Shared hosting can only take you so far before an upgrade is absolutely necessary.

The needs of modern servers are constantly changing. E-commerce and social media sites are adding so much resource-intensive content; servers need to constantly be upgraded with the newest, most efficient technology. Speed and reliability are some of the most vital features, especially for large internet corporations. Consequently, the brain of the server (the processor) must be fast and effective at transferring data.

Selecting the right processor can be intimidating and confusing with technology growing exponentially and the number of choices available. There are a few methods to choosing the right process for your dedicated server. By creating a checklist of your needs, you can ask the right questions to the technicians that can help you find the perfect fit. These questions for choosing the right process include:

• Business size
• Number of employees
• Number of customers
• Page views per year, week and on a peak day
• Price range
• Speed

The size of the business will help the data center technicians learn what processor you require. The larger the business, generally the greater number of employees. Consequently that will increase the amount of resources needed to support them all. Paying for more services than needed is a huge and costly mistake. These two pieces of information help to tailor the server configuration to support your organization.

The amount of customers you have also links directly to the server performance that’s required to run your site. It also greatly affects future server expansion. This relates directly to the number of page views per year, week and on a peak day. This is indicative of the bandwidth and data transfer requirements.

As with everything your price range will make a large difference in the server configuration. The more money you have to spend, the better the equipment, faster the speed and more reliable the configuration will be. Finally speed is a vital factor of overall performance. Make sure to forecast and anticipate random spikes in traffic so as to not lose customers due to a slow website.

With so many different options now available, it’s difficult to know the correct server configuration for your business needs. The more money you have, the better your configuration will be. The size of the business, number of employees and customers, page views and speed are all contributing factors to selecting the right configuration for your dedicated server.

Hosting plans come in many different flavors, from dedicated hosting to shared hosting, there is a plan for just about everyone. One type of hosting plan that is becoming increasingly popular is the VPS hosting solution, which stands for Virtual Private Server. This is a very good alternative to the standard shared hosting plans that give you an IP address that you must share with man other webmasters.

Sharing an IP address with other webmasters can be detrimental to the success of your website because if the other websites on your IP address get banned or deindexed from the search engine then you run the risk of having the same happen to you.

Many times the search engines view your website as being owned by the same entity if it hosted on an IP address with another site, especially if just two of those sites happen to link to each other. To prevent this from happening, many people have resorted to leasing dedicated and virtual private servers though dedicated and VPS hosting plans. Although these are definitely suitable solutions, there are still tremendous differences between various dedicated and VPS hosting accounts. The following information should help you decide which one is right for you and  how you can find one that will accommodate your hosting needs.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated Hosting accounts let you lease a dedicated server that will only be used by you, meaning you’ll have access to more server resources. With a dedicated hosting account you are also given a dedicated IP address which you can host your site on and not have to worry about sharing your site’s IP address with negative websites that could impact your search engine rankings. Dedicated hosting accounts are the most popular solution for business owners.

VPS Hosting

A VPS hosting account is very similar to a dedicated hosting account, however instead of having a server that is simply dedicated to your website’s needs, you’ll also be bale to configure the server as if it was your own. Many dedicated hosting accounts come with management options that let the user relax while the web host deals with server administration. Since VPS hosting does not include this kind of maintenance service, the cost of VPS hosting is usually much cheaper.

How To Find a Good VPS or Dedicated Plan

Finding a good hosting plan within either one of these hosting types is usually fairly simple, in fact you may be able to acquire one with your current web host. The best way to find a good VPS or Dedicated hosting account would be to search web hosting forums. There are web hosting forums where experienced members share hosting plans with each other and cheap web hosting companies come to place special offers. Often times you can find special discount coupons at these forums and you can find in depth reviews form real people. Using this method you can find a good hosting account of any kind without having to take the risk of using an unreliable service.

Although dedicated hosting plans are one of the most expensive web hosting options, many people still prefer it over other solutions due to it’s high reliability and flexibility. With dedicated hosting you’ll have access to a dedicated server that provides all of the resources needed to operate a massive website with immense daily traffic. Dedicated hosting plans offer superior bandwidth, disk space, and data transfer speed, as your server’s resources are dedicated solely to your website. This ultimately results in improved website performance and overall customer satisfaction.

Managed and Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting

While the benefits of a dedicated web hosting account are clear, many people are not aware of the various types of dedicated hosting. The two types of dedicated hosting plans are managed, and unmanaged, and the main difference between these two hosting types is the amount of responsibility the user has over server administration. To give you a better understanding of your choices, we’ll do a brief review of both kinds, so that you can make an informed decision as to which service would be most suitable for your website(s).

Managed Hosting

With managed web hosting you’ll be able to relax with complete assurance that your web server is going to be maintained by professionals on a regular basis. This means you won’t have to worry about server downtime as much, and you’ll have access to a more reliable server. This is especially true if you’re a novice in server management, as you’ll most likely be unable to manage the server with equal competence to that of your web hosting provider. Since your server will be managed by your hosting provider, you’ll have instant access to automatic server updates, which will keep your server performing optimally at all times. Managed web hosting is an optimal solution for novice and intermediate users.

Unmanaged Hosting

With all of the aforementioned benefits of managed hosting, it would seem as if there is absolutely no reason to choose unmanaged web hosting, however there are some noted benefits, and your final decision should be based on your experience level and overall site needs. Although most of the server administrative tasks will be left up to you, you will have ample help and support to facilitate the management at all times.

You will also receive hardware and technical support, so it’s not as if you’re managing the server completely by yourself. If you run a large business, and you have access o a team of technicians, then you may want to choose unmanaged hosting, you’ll be able to create a more customized server environment. Although unmanaged hosting would not be a suitable solution for a novice user, an owner of a corporation or many websites may want to consider he added benefit of complete server control.

Cost

Perhaps the most obvious difference between the two is the price. Since unmanaged web hosting gives you more responsibility over your server, you’ll be able to pay less. Managed web hosting will always be a more costly solution since you’ll essentially be paying for the technical expertise of your web hosting company on a continual basis.