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Virtual
or Dedicated?
At nearly all webhosting companies websites now a days,
you will see the two terms "Virtual Hosting"
and "Dedicated Hosting". What is the difference
between these? Well its fairly simple.
On a Virtual Server you have your website placed on
a computer (The webserver), that has other websites
on it - anywhere up to 350 or more. This has a number
of down sides, such as being slower, less secure, as
well as giving you less access to edit things on the
server, such as installing & updating the system
software. One the plus side however, it is much cheaper
then going for a dedicated server, as well as being
easier to administer.
On
a Dedicated Server, you have the entire machine to yourself.
This is fast, secure and you have full control. You
can install any program your heart desires and update
programs as often as you wish. This is a good choice
for sites that get a lot of visitors, use a lot of system
resources (through the use of CGI scripts), if you are
holding very important data, or if you need special
software that is not available on virtual servers. Unfortunatly,
for a decent dedicated server, prices start at about
$300 a month - you can get them cheaper if you shop
around.
To
sum it up, you need a dedicated server if
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Your site gets so many hits your Virtual Server account
cannot handle it.
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You want to host many sites on the one server.
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You need a feature that is not offered on a Virtual
Server.
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You require a high level of security.
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