Individuals and companies are now resorting to the Internet to expand their marketing campaigns. In order to do this, they need to have their own websites to promote their products and services. It is to this effect that a web hosting company becomes useful.
Different web hosting companies offer various kinds of web hosting services, but the two most common ones are shared servers and dedicated servers. The difference between these types is classified according to the amount of control the website owner wants to maintain his site in an efficient manner.
Shared Server. When different users host their websites on a single server, it can be said that they are using a shared server web hosting service. This particular kind of service is perfect for individuals, small businesses, and novice website owners as they only expect a small amount of traffic directed to their website. A shared server, likewise, provides a small amount of bandwidth and web space at a relatively low price making it a cost-efficient solution for businesses that are just starting out.
Shared servers are cost-efficient solutions for small business owners, individuals, and greenhorn webmasters because it does not come with a steep price to pay. With a small amount of web space and bandwidth, the coverage is just enough for those who arent really expecting a large amount of traffic directed to their site.
A shared server supports both Linux and Windows platform, as long as they meet the necessary requirements. Although not all web hosting services can support the full facilities of Windows web hosting, this can easily be remedied through two methods called as name-based and IP based web hosting. Name-based web hosting allows the use of different website names with a single IP address while IP based web hosting assigns a unique IP to each website.
Dedicated servers, on the other hand, give a website owner the full control over a single server for himself. This gives him the freedom to host more than one of his websites, without having to think of bandwidth competition. A dedicated server is what large companies are after because they expect a large amount of traffic to be directed to their site. Big names like Nike and Wal-Mart are examples of companies needing a dedicated server to make their website secure and working well for all the purchases made by their sites visitors.
Another advantage of availing of a dedicated server is the fact that having total control will allow you to monitor how the website is doing and thus, fix errors in real time. Big companies can make the most out of this fact by hiring a professional to oversee their entire website.
Knowing the differences between the two kinds of web hosting servers can help you a great deal when choosing the right type of service for your website. Dont pay more than what you have to ” think of your business needs and attune it to what web hosting companies have to offer.