This dedicated server hosting checklist is designed to help you understand what it takes to run a dedicated server. After all, it’s not just about purchasing a box - you need to know how to manage and work with it too. So here’s what it takes, your checklist for running a dedicated server:

• A powerful web hosting platform
• Managed Hosting
• 24/7 technical support - through email is best, so you can document errors and solutions
• State of the art data centers - the more data centers a provider runs, the better chances of redundant uptime for you and your server
• Guaranteed RAM
• Easy upgrades
• Great dedicated hosting deals - amazing coupons to help lower your monthly costs or incentives for staying longer
• Ability to perform website backups

Many webmasters who utilize dedicated server hosting use it for media servers or, more exactly, for streaming video servers. It might be helpful for those of you in the market to run the next YouTube.com to be aware of what you’ll need to accomplish this.

Firstly, you may be wondering what the heck streaming servers or streaming video is! A streaming video server is just a dedicated web server setup to stream videos on demand. Your dedicated server needs to be configured to stream media effectively, by offering a compressed file version that can be easily viewed and listened to by your customers, fans, or regular surfers at the same time that it’s being delivered and processed on the server.

Methods of Streaming Media

You can use a true streaming method, which means your video is almost constantly streamed exactly while it’s being downloaded. Think of YouTube.com for this example. In true media streaming, the dedicated server and streaming video software does all the work, which produces a great end result for the user but which can also be very costly for management! Oftentimes, adding streaming media software to an already existing dedicated server is the most affordable option.

The other option is downloading, which we’re all pretty familiar with. This is far cheaper because the entire video file is downloaded and saved as a temporary file on the computer. However, this method is not suitable for a YouTube.com type dedicated server.

There is a plethora of free streaming media software available on the internet for your perusal and use.

Why Stream Media Live?

If you are running any of the following server types on your dedicated server, your visitors will appreciate live streaming of video or audio for their convenience:

* A YouTube.com clone
* An adult website (make sure you choose an adult web host)
* A video-sharing website
* A podcasting server
* Silverlight media server

What kind of dedicated server do I need?

Go with something BIG because you will need it! I would recommend the following features:

* Dual or Quad Core Xeon Processor
* at least 2 x 1024 MB RAM
* at least 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Drives
* Raid 4 or 5
* at least 3,000GB bandwidth

Please take a look at our dedicated hosting coupons for the best dedicated server deals you can find, which are sure to knock down the primarily steep price for you!

So you’re looking for cheap dedicated servers, huh? Well, you’ve definitely come to the right place. We like to keep you informed with the best web hosting deals and discounts in the world, especially in the dedicated server hosting hemisphere. So without much ado, here’s a rundown of the top dedicated hosting coupons you can find online.

DSHRAM - 1 month FREE DEDICATED HOSTING plus an extra 1GB RAM. The value of this coupon depends upon what you buy, but could save you hundreds of dollars! Great deal!

DSH - $55 off your total purchase of any 3, 6, 12, or 24 month Dedicated Server plan. This’ll take off up to $18/month! Great savings for a game server, media server, or even Silverlight application

FREE WEB EXPRESSIONS SOFTWARE - No coupon necessary! Just hurry over to Lunarpages Dedicated Server Hosting and sign up for any Windows server and you’ll get a 100% free copy of Microsoft Web Expressions, plus a year’s worth of Total Training to help you get started with ASP and Microsoft

Take advantage of 2 deals at once and combine one of the coupon offers with the Free Web Expressions Software to save over $1100!

You really can’t find better dedicated hosting deals.

What are the costs involved in setting up my Dedicated Server?

This all depends on what you’re ordering. It’s like if you go to Subway and get a sandwich – if you’re just ordering turkey on wheat, you can get it for a base price. If you want turkey on wheat with extra cheese and extra meat, plus a second sub of similar value, there’s going to be an additional cost per extra cheese, extra meat, and for the second sub. It’s the same way for dedicated servers – if you want extra RAM, extra bandwidth, or a second server, charges will vary.

Remember, your dedicated web host should work with you to provide the best server experience possible, as well as the most minimal cost. Ask about dedicated hosting coupons and get a quote on the server before you buy. If you get a better offer elsewhere but would like to use the more expensive service, be upfront and tell them you found a better deal. More than likely, they will work with you.

Okay, but really – how much should I be expected to pay per month or year?

Let’s take a real-life example. You are a web designer and you want to host all your clients on a Linux dedicated server. So far, you have 50-100 clients and don’t expect to grow more than 5 clients per month. Each client requires 1GB of storage space and 1GB bandwidth/month. Your clients prefer cPanel as a control panel, so they (and you) can manage their services for them. Here’s your dedicated server quote:

• Dedicated Hosting Charge Per Month = $99
• Dedicated Hosting Setup Fee (including setup for cPanel) = $160**
• cPanel Control Panel Charge Per Month = $35

TOTAL CHARGES***:    $294.00

** This setup fee can be removed if you choose to pay for 3, 6, 12, or even 24 months upfront.
*** This is only the first month’s charge, so don’t let it scare you! Next month, you wouldn’t have to worry about setup fees, which means your monthly charge will only be $134.

How can I get the best discounts available on purchasing my first server?

1) Call the dedicated web host – ask for the best discount for your situation
2) Go with our recommendation for LPDedicated.com and use coupon code DSHRAM for 1 Free Month + 1 Free GB RAM or use coupon code DSH for $55 off
3) Go with a longer billing cycle – if you’re not paying month-to-month or if you commit to 12 or 24 months upfront, you can save quite a bit in the long haul

You’re shopping for a dedicated server. You need not only the best price available but the best dedicated hosting discount, features, and billing cycles. And if you’re not sure where to begin, requesting a dedicated server quote from the provider of your choice is a great first step!

A dedicated server quote needs to contain specifics about what you are purchasing, the reliability of the web host you are choosing, and any terms and conditions that you are required to abide by in order to receive the pricing available. For example, you may only get the best pricing by purchasing a 1-year billing cycle.

So what exactly should be included in a dedicated server hosting quote?

1. Price & Discounts

Price is very, very important. If one provider can get you the server for $500 while another can only offer $1500, that’s a huge difference that needs to be addressed. Oftentimes, the difference will be due to equipment used (i.e. the more expensive company uses more expensive or better-performing servers).

Dedicated hosting discounts are also equally important. Many providers who use top-of-the-line equipment but might be slightly higher priced can get you discounts depending on contract term and length, features, and add-ons. Be sure to ask your dedicated host what discounts they can offer.

2. Technical Specs

How much bandwidth per month do you get? What about storage? Do you get a free domain name or free setup?

Some other features you’ll want to know about ahead of time:

* Type of Processor
* Amount of RAM included
* Managed or UnManaged Hosting
* Linux or Windows Web Hosting

3. Support Options

Does the dedicated webhost provide 24/7 support through telephone, email, and/or ticket help desks, forums, etc? More often than not, dedicated support should be handled via email so that everything is documented.

Overselling occurs when a webhost offers more storage per account than can actually fit on a single server. In shared web hosting, you host your website alongside 300-500 other websites on the same web server, housing all your content, pictures, files, music, as well as the contents of those 300-500 other websites. So if each person hosting on a shared server gets 2500GB, that’s 75,000GB of storage space necessary per server.

About 90% of the web hosts out there cannot support this. As mentioned previously, Lunarpages is one of the few exceptions, as their technology allows them to join servers and cluster them or move webmasters to new servers if they outgrow the space in shared hosting.

Above all, you should not only compare basic features like storage space but think about the technology backing up your choices. If you are really going to require 2500GB of storage space, you need dedicated server hosting.

Also remember that dedicated servers aren’t as expensive as they used to be and you can easily find dedicated hosting coupons everywhere, so if price is another reason you want to start out shared, give dedicated web hosting a try for a price you can afford.

If this is your first time purchasing a dedicated server, you are probably already aware that the industry is very competitive. Every dedicated web host wants to provide you with the best services, the best prices, the best features, and the most compelling uptime statistics.

So how do you find the best dedicated web host? Here are 5 tips you should consider when researching and comparing web hosting providers.

1. Compare, Compare, Compare

If you are looking for media server hosting, you are going to require different features than if you are searching for game server hosting. That’s why you should make a list of the most important features you require for your dedicated server and then call a list of web hosting providers you have compiled to compare features.

2. Contact the Dedicated Server Hosting Company

Do not be fooled by their online presence – every potential customer should call the dedicated hosting provider and talk to them to ask questions. If you are going to be putting your money into their services and products, you should know 100% what you are purchasing and that it is exactly what you want. If it’s not, there are other dedicated hosts out there.

Also, email them, use their ticketing system, use a demo if they provide one, and really make sure you are ready and that the service is perfect for your standards.

3. Research their Reputation

Once you’ve narrowed the dedicated web hosts down by features, research the company itself, both on the Better Business Bureau, through online web hosting review sites, by calling them, or via testing customer testimonial websites. There are many companies that have a beautiful website but horrible reputations. That said, also make sure to balance the good with the bad. For example, someone might complain and give a bad review to a company who didn’t register their domain name. If that’s a huge issue to you, it matters, but for most people, it’s not as big of an issue as the reviewer can make it sound.

4. Check Out Their Support

Is it 24/7? For your dedicated server, you should require 24/7 support, whether that be via email, phone, or ticketing. But you also should see dedicated server tutorials, contact information, FAQs, web hosting articles, and even hosting forums.

5. Get the Lowest Priced Dedicated Hosting Deal

You don’t have to pay full price, and no web host should make you do so! Call them up and ask for the best dedicated hosting coupons available. Odds are the hosting company will be happy to provide you with a dedicated hosting quote based solely off your needs.

When searching for a reliable dedicated hosting provider, you know already that you can often find great dedicated hosting coupons and discounts if you compare companies and give them a call or get a custom quote like what Lunarpages offers on their website. But we have some amazing web hosting news for you, as the folks at Lunarpages are offering some phenomenal dedicated hosting freebies!

If you are in the market for Dedicated Windows Hosting, look no further than Lunarpages! With any new 12 or 24 month Windows Dedicated purchase, you will receive a FREE copy of Microsoft Web Expression, a WYSIWYG HTML and webpage editor, as well as a year’s worth of Microsoft-related training from Total Trainning! The training sessions alone are valued at over $700, making this free offer from Lunarpages worth over $1,000!

For more information, please visit Lunarpages Dedicated Hosting and view their Special Offer.

Wondering what you get with Lunarpages Windows Dedicated Hosting? Check out these awesome features:

* Windows Server 2008
* Microsoft Frontpage, Silverlight, and ASP/ASP.NET 3.5, IIS7 compatible
* MS SQL standard
* Plesk Control Panel
* Managed Hosting options
* 80-250GB (and more) storage space
* at least 1,000GB (1TB) bandwidth/month
* 24×7 Dedicated Technical Support

Please refer to our earlier tutorials on Installing APF on a Dedicated Server and Configuring APF on a Dedicated Server. If you do not wish to setup anti-DOS on your server, you can skip this series in the tutorial and move onto Starting APF.

Please note that this configuration is completely optional when setting up a dedicated web hosting server. While it can help protect your server and website from DOS attacks, there are also other ways to do this.

AntiDOS Configuration

1. Open up /etc/apf/ad/conf.antidos

2. Change LP_KLOG=”0″ to LP_KLOG=”1″

3. CONAME=”Your Company”

Enter your company name within quotes similar to CONAME=”Lunarpages”

4. USR_ALERT=”0″ to USR_ALERT=”1″

Change it to 1 only if you wish to receive email alerts.

5. USR=”you@yourco.com”

Enter your email address here similar to the entry made in step 3 (i.e in quotes).

6. Antidos is intended to operate via cron. This is a critical setup point as if not done, antidos will simply not operate.

Execute the command

crontab -e

*/2 * * * * root /etc/apf/ad/antidos -a >> /dev/null 2>&1

This will run antidos every two minutes.

If this sounds too confusing for you or you are unsure about managing your dedicated server, you should definitely look into Managed Hosting from Lunarpages, as they offer free APF installation with your purchase. Check out our Dedicated Hosting Coupons page for more information on the latest deals from Lunarpages Dedicated Web Hosting.

So you have learned about Advanced Policy Firewall (APF) and how to install it on your dedicated server. However, there are a couple more steps to providing advanced firewall support for your dedicated web hosting account. This will help secure your dedicated server and assure your server’s safety.

Remember, if you purchased Managed Hosting from Lunarpages, they can install APF for you at no additional charge. There’s no coupon necessary for this promotion, but if you’re not yet signed up with our recommended dedicated host, check out our Dedicated Hosting Coupons for information on how you can save a bundle on your dedicated server hosting purchase!

Configuring APF (Advanced Policy Firewall)

/etc/apf is the configuration directory of APF and conf.apf is the main configuration file. So open up conf.apf in your favorite editor.

1. Scroll down till you see

IG_TCP_CPORTS=”22″

Tip: Pico -> Ctrl+W and then keyword –> Invokes search for keyword
Vi –> Esc and then /keyword –> Invokes search for keyword
emacs –> Ctrl+s and then keyword –> Invokes search for keyword

Change it to read

a) For a webmin server:

IG_TCP_CPORTS=”20,21,22,25,53,80,110,143,443,465,993,3306,10000,30000_35000″

b) For a Cpanel server :

IG_TCP_CPORTS=”20,21,22,25,53,80,110,143,443,465,993,995,2082,2083,2084,2086,2087,2095,2096,3306,10000,30000_35000″

2. Change IG_UDP_CPORTS=”" to read

IG_UDP_CPORTS=”21,53,465″

3. EGF=”0″ to EGF=”1″ #

This filters outgoing connections also, though I recommend it even if it may sometimes cause issues.

4. Change EG_TCP_CPORTS=”21,25,80,443,43″ to read:

EG_TCP_CPORTS=”21,22,25,37,53,80,110,113,443,465,43,873,2089,3306″

5. Change EG_UDP_CPORTS=”20,21,53″ to read

EG_UDP_CPORTS=”20,21,53,465″

6. Change USE_DS=”0″ to USE_DS=”1″

APF makes use of dshield (DS), which is a little like spam blocklists such as spews and lists the most commonly abused networks and those most often used in denial of service attacks and similar.

7. USE_AD=”0″ to USE_AD=”1″

The USE_AD=”1″ enables the Antidos Feature which is still in beta at the time of this writing. Readme says “Antidos is a log parsing script made for r-fx.org’s APF (advanced policy firewall). Its purpose is to parse specific log formats for network attacks against a given system; then it takes certain actions. It is designed to be modular so it can be removed from APF and used in other environments.”

You can now save the conf.apf and quit the editor. If you didn’t change the value of USE_AD to 1, you can skip our our web hosting turtorial on Configuring antiDOS and jump to the fourth one on Starting APF Firewall.