Even if you have hosted on a dedicated server before, you may not know all the dedicated server terminology out there. One of the downsides to technology is one of its best features as well – it is ever-changing. This means that what you knew yesterday won’t be the same as what you’ll need to learn tomorrow. So here are some helpful dedicated server terms you should know when choosing a reliable, affordable dedicated web host.
Access – Microsoft-based applicable that helps you create, edit, and maintain databases. If you’re a web developer running in the Windows environment, this is what you use to manage online MS SQL databases.
Apache – The most common Linux web server in the world. Okay, I’m being melodramatic but it’s incredibly popular and very powerful, secure, and best of all free!
Co-Location – If you want to own your own dedicated server but aren’t confident that you can host your site using your own internet connection or power supply, co-location assures you own the hardware (the server) and the web hosting provider supplies the rack to store the server and the internet connection to keep your website up and online.
IIS – IIS stands for Internet Information Server and is Microsoft’s branded server software. Just like Apache is the most popular web server for Linux, IIS is the #1 choice for Windows Dedicated Hosting.
Load-Balancing – If you are running a website like Myspace, Digg, or Facebook, odds are you already know what load balancing is. If you plan to create a website like this, you need load balancing 100%! Load balancing merely means distributing the traffic and resources evenly across two or more dedicated servers to increase and optimize performance.
Managed Hosting – The best idea for new dedicated hosters, managed hosting assures that your web host will take care of technical support, setup, maintenance, and monitoring of your dedicated server.
RAID – Also known as Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and if you say it that way, it sounds more like what it is. Basically, RAIDing your dedicated server will help you store data across a number of hard drives. If one disk fails, the other will restore the site or database so you don’t lose data.
Telnet – Just like SSH, a command line interface that allows you to communicate across your web server.
Upstream Provider – A large ISP (internet service provider) that provides dedicated web hosts with reliable internet access. However, the word ‘upstream’ actually can mean how fast or reliable the data connection is between two ISPs.
Some might say you wouldn’t need a dedicated web hosting company to do your standard forum hosting, and they might be right. Under some circumstances and depending on the scripts you are using to make your digital world go around, dedicated hosting might not be a bad way to go.
Web sites that are overly popular could probably do with the power and performance a dedicated machine could deliver. Look at limits like disk space and bandwidth, sure. Don’t forget though about things such as CPU power and RAM. The more of that you have the smoother your forums will run.
Some server side scripts to run your forums or message boards can be demanding too. One of the most demanding is vBulletin. Now you might be able to get away with running it on a shared machine but you would be much better off on a dedicated one. I can be a big server hog at times, so be sure to feed your hog with the server resources it needs to survive.
When you are involved with Dedicated Server Hosting, there are many considerations that need to be made. There’s the cost, certainly, which needs to be looked at, as well as the operating system you’re going to use, applications you’ll need to install, whether or not to use a control panel (and if so, which one?), and one of the most important for incredibly large websites is the addition of load balancing.
So what is load balancing? Load balancing your dedicated server hosting allows you to evenly distribute your traffic and reduce the load on one single server by serving it up between two (or more) separate servers. You link your multiple servers together using a load balancer, which takes the request from your customers or the user who is accessing your website and forwards it to the appropriate server.
So why is load balancing useful? Think about this – you have an ecommerce web hosting website where it is imperative you are online 24/7 and you must schedule downtime for a software upgrade, you can divert your traffic to your other server(s) so that your traffic never experiences any downtime at all as you do your upgrades. Or, if for some reason your web server crashes, you will have a means of backup so that your website can continue to provide 24/7 support.
Oh boy, your getting a dedicated server to call your own. That means you are no longer limited by the proverbial walls of dedicated hosting. You are finally free and you can do whatever you please, right? Well, like it or not there are still some limitations on dedicated hosting solutions too.
Although you will have many more server resources to work with you should check to see what the actual limitations are on the dedicated plan in question. Also many providers do not allow IRC (eggdrops, clients or daemons). Also be careful of hosting copyrighted material, as if you don’t own the permission or have the permission of the copyright owner you might be in violation of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Adult content and the type of adult site you can host may be regulated too. Spam is usually too prohibited by the provider’s acceptable use policy.
You may be master of your domain but you must also learn to follow the rules. Make sure you review the terms of service and acceptable use policy for your dedicated hosting provider. Learn what you can and can not do before - so you can keep yourself out of hot water later down the road.
