Complete Guide (2of4): Internet Servers and How to Choose a Dedicated Server
Posted on March 24th, 2009
1. Server Management: First things first. Are you, or is someone within your organization, capable of handling the required tasks of doing server system administration?
Most dedicated server hosting providers will provide you with what’s known as ‘root’ access. This means you can SSH into the server and perform maintenance at the command line. People that are comfortable with performing these tasks would probably be best of with an unmanaged dedicated server. If you’re not sure what root access is or means then you need to go with what’s called Managed Hosting or a Managed Dedicated Internet Server. NOTE: Not all managed hosting servers are the same! Read that again because it’s important and needs to be understood. Many hosting providers that offer managed hosting simply mean that they’ll monitor the server for you. If you don’t want to do any system administration on your server you need a fully managed dedicated server. To get a better idea of what that means, visit SevenL’s managed hosting section ‘here’. There are 3 services listed. A fully managed server would encompass all of those service offerings.
- Dedicated Server OS – Linux
2. Operating System: Assuming your organization has no restrictions on which operating systems it uses (and some companies do), here’s how to figure this out.
To begin, I will assume that you will be hosting a website on your dedicated website server. Do you know which programming languages your developers will be using to create the website? If, for example, it is ASP, you will need to stick with a Microsoft platform, such as Windows Server. That’s because asp is meant to be run on Windows Internet servers. If your site will be designed in php or most other languages, you will probably want a Unix/Linux server, such as CentOS, Ubunut, Debian, Fedora etc.
One of the main benefits of a Linux dedicated hosting server is that you are not required to pay licensing fees on the operating system. Whereas the license for Windows alone can raise your hosting service fees by as much as $200/month, Linux is free to use and you can choose from a variety of versions.
When it comes to maintaining the server, you should confer with the person that will be administering it to be sure that they either know Windows or Linux before making a final decision on which to choose for your dedicated website host.
3. The Web Server: Here, when I say web server, I’m referring to the application that powers your websites, not the actual physical dedicated server. With that said, there’s a great number of web servers available to use. For Windows, the primary options are IIS by Microsoft or Apache, a freely available open source web server application. Microsoft offers support for IIS, but like Windows you’re paying extra in licensing fees.
For Linux, Apache is available as are many others. If you’re using the dedicated webserver for business, I would recommend sticking with Apache simply because finding documentation and help with is is quite easily found on the Internet.
4. Database Application: If your dedicated website host will be using a database, there are 3 common options. MySQL, which is primarily for Linux, is free and is pretty much the industry standard. Postgres is also available for Linux. Microsoft has it’s MSSQL database server. As to be expected, licensing fees will apply.
5. Speed and Performance: Internet users can be quite impatient and will often abandon a website if it takes more than just a few seconds to load. Knowing this is important because your dedicated webserver will need to respond to visitor page requests in the fastest available way in order to maximize visitor traffic and visitor returns.
The primary performance enhancing factors for your internet servers are processor speed, server memory and network speeds. Disk drives can also play a roll for servers using large databases or extremely high traffic volumes. Server programs, such as Apache or MySQL, rely on processor speeds and server memory, whereas the network speeds are mostly dependent on the size of the webpages being sent to visitors. If they’re graphic-heavy or have audio or video, that effects your network speeds so the fast the better.
It’s all really a balancing act and it’s usually better to be safe than sorry.
6. Bandwidth & Data Transfer: Most dedicated Internet server providers give you a pre-specified amount of monthly traffic that you can use. For example, 750GB. This is the amount of traffic received by your dedicated server and sent to your server over a one-month period. Most providers will allow you to exceed that amount and bill you a price per-GB thereafter. This is good because it means that if you exceed your monthly amount your dedicated web server won’t drop off the Internet. On the other hand, bandwidth overages are charged at a premium so it can get a bit expensive.
If you find that you’re consistently exceeding the monthly allotment and you prefer to pay a consistent monthly rate for your dedicated hosting, there’s the option for unmetered bandwidth. You receive a set bandwidth speed for data transfers to and from your dedicated host as apposed to a limited number of gigabytes you can transfer. The amount of data you can transfer is ‘unlimited’. That’s in quotes because it is still limited to what the speed of the connection allows you. But with unmetered bandwidth you’ll never receive an unexpected charge on your bill for bandwidth usages. Unmetered plans are typically 5Mbps, 10Mbps or 100Mbps.
Dedicated Internet Server Data Center
7. Data Center: Depending on your business requirements, you may be limited to which data centers your dedicated webserver can be leased from. If your business requires that you stay within your country, you’ll need to look locally. If most of your business is in North America and you’re located in Europe, you should consider leasing your Internet server from a North American data center as they can transmit data more quickly to your customers.
Not all data centers are equal. Again, depending on what your business requirements are, you may be limited in which data centers you can use to host your dedicated server. If you need your server available 100% of the time because it’s a mission-critical business service, you can expect to pay a premium for it. (And there truly is no such thing as a 100% uptime data center I might add) If 99.9% is ok for your business, you can realize significant savings on your dedicated hosting. That’s because going from 99.9% to 99.99%, for example, requires a doubling of all data center infrastructure, which of course is passed down to the customer – you.
When choosing a dedicated internet hosting provider, you should always look for a company that owns their data center instead of leasing space. They’re more likely to have technicians on site and available to physically log into your server if you ever need them to.
8. Scalability and Future-Proofing: Most of us expect our business to increase over time. Your dedicated webserver host should allow for enough upgrading and be scalable enough to support your existing business. As for future business, I find that having a server that can scale and support your business up to 18 months from now is a good practice. Any longer and you’ll be overpaying. Any shorter and your visitors may get annoyed by the downtime caused by upgrading.