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!

We have already gone over the importance of using cronjobs to manage your Dedicated Server, as these scheduled tasks assist you in self-managing. This will save you time, staff, and money in the long run, especially because they are so incredibly easy to setup! Crontab will allow you to automatically run scheduled tasks on the server, and if selected, receive automatic emails showing the results. These email updates can really save you hassle, as you will know that each task has been completed and what the results were immediately.

Using Plesk on Linux or Windows dedicated servers, you can manage your crontabs effeciently by simply following these easy steps:

Click on Crontab and then select the name of user who you want to manage the crontab. There should be a dropdown box of all the users listed on your dedicated server. You can also choose as an optional step to have emails sent to whatever address you provide. If you don’t want emails, don’t enter an address in this box:

Next, click on Add New Task which is the small Clock Icon you see in the upper left.

From there, you’ll need to enter the specific paramaters to set the frequency of the task. Enter * to select all. For example, you can set options to run crontabs every minute, every 2 hours, every Monday of each week, and every month of the year. Then simply enter the path to the file that will execute the crontab: i.e. /usr/bin/python-s/var/mailman/cron/checkdbs and click OK:

Afterwards, you’ll be able to assure the task has been successfully setup. If you ever need to modify an existing task, simply click on the name of the cronjob listed under “Command”. To delete existing tasks, check the box next to the command and click on “Remove selected”:

Switching from a shared web host to a dedicated server hosting provider is not always a step webmasters are willing to take, but it is more often than not a required step in the growth of your website. While you are thinking of making the switch, look over the following 3 advantages to dedicated server hosting, and they should help ease your worries about this large step.

1. Optimal, Enhanced Server Performance.
   Imagine trying to carry 500 pounds in a box that only holds 10 pounds. Not only are you likely not able to lift this weight but the bottom of the box is likely going to give out from under the enhanced weight. Applying that same logic to the server that hosts your website, imagine the strain on the server when 400 websites are accessed 100x/day. And then think about the relief on that machine when you’re hosting on a dedicated server, where you are the only website there!
2. SSH/Shell/Root Access.
   This can be especially helpful if you need to install applications on your dedicated server or need to access the shell for command prompts, Ruby on Rails programming, or even to run your dedicated machine.
3. Customization!
   With dedicated server hosting, you do not have to worry about not having enough RAM, bandwidth, disk space, processor speed, or really anything you’d like to add to it. This is your machine, so create it how you need it! The best dedicated hosts like Lunarpages Dedicated Server Hosting will offer to help you get a customized quote going and to set up your server in less than 48 hours, an amazing feat for any web host.

So how does a server get the job done? The process is far from easy to understand but let me break it down into the basics.

The basic of any hosting account are that you need two parts to make the whole. For an example you need a client, which would be the person or thing requesting the information. You also need the server at which the information is stored. This is where the simplicity dies off though.

Here are your basic steps for any exchange between a person and a server. First the client’s browser (like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera) take apart the address from the protocol. Then a domain name server translates the domain name you typed in into an IP address. The browser then looks at the protocol (In this case would be HTTP) and decides how you wish to access the data. After that the signal gets sent to retrieve the information from that server. Then it comes back to you as a web page in your browser.

Other than handling the the requests from users to get data the server also is in charge of telling apart different file types, storing data and information in ways that can be accessed at a moment’s notice and a slew of other important jobs. All of these different jobs and how quickly the server can act through all of these tasks should weigh in heavily when looking for your next dedicated hosting account.

Having a large amount of RAM is important to any web hosting server but especially to any Dedicated Server Hosting plan.  RAM (or Random Access Memory) is basically computer data storage that allows a user to access any “memory” on the server.  The more RAM, the faster your server is going to run and the quicker your website will load.

So how much RAM do you need?  That depends what you’re planning to host.  If you require a Dedicated server to resell space like a Reseller and the sites under you are small or don’t require much CPU or bandwidth, you’ll likely be find with the default amount, while if you’re planning to become the next Myspace or will be on the front page of Digg often, you’ll want to look into adding more – remember, you can never have too much RAM!

If you’re looking into Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Lunarpages offers 512MB RAM guaranteed, which means your site is going to experience optimized performance from a Shared Server.

If you’re planning to go Dedicated, you should take the following things into consideration in choosing the amount of RAM you add to your server:

* How popular is your website bandwidth-wise?  High bandwidth sites require more RAM.
* Are you running a large database?
* Are you running CPU-intensive scripts?