Why and When should I switch to dedicated servers?

CodCom · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 06-18-2011, 06:05 PM

I'm like a total newbie when it comes to dedicated servers and I'm not very sure why I even should bother switching to dedicated servers.

Right now I got a shared hosting account at HostGator and I think they do a pretty good job with the hosting. I'm having the occasional problem but that's not really a big deal to me.

So I was wondering why and when I should switch to dedicated servers.

**Bob Barr** · #2 (**permalink**) 06-18-2011, 06:45 PM

Moving up from shared hosting to VPS or dedicated hosting is usually based on a few factors:

How many sites do you have? What type of sites are they? How much traffic do they get?

If you have a small number of static HTML sites that aren't getting a huge amounts of traffic, shared hosting should work fine for you for quite some time. I have a dozen sites, mostly static HTML ones, with reasonable traffic running on shared hosting with no problems at all.

Once you have multiple sites (especially sites run by scripts such as Wordpress, forum software, or a content management system) and are getting a lot of traffic, a move up could be needed. In fact, most shared hosts will insist on it.

enam · #3 (**permalink**) 06-19-2011, 02:15 AM

As long as your shared server can take loads of your websites you may continue to use it.
When you are getting a lot of visitors and your sites crush or become slow due to insufficient server resource you should consider switching to a VPS or complete dedicated server.

ldcdc · #4 (**permalink**) 06-19-2011, 03:05 AM

Quote:

So I was wondering why and when I should switch to dedicated servers.

When your traffic/computing power usage levels demand it, or when the site(s) nature demands it.

In your shared hosting account at Hostgator you can see your momentary CPU/memory/processes and other usage levels, and the limits they have in place. Check them at different times of the day, and you'll get a sense of how much of a burden your usage is for the server. You want to avoid account suspension for "server resources abuse" if at all possible.

Like it's been said, servers today are pretty powerful, so chances are that shared hosting will do a fine job for quite a while.

troyfawkes · #5 (**permalink**) 06-19-2011, 08:09 AM

If you're making a lot of money off of your websites, switch to dedicated hosting. Downtime can kill your rankings and certainly your pockets.

If your revenue (not your expected revenue, your ACTUAL revenue) isn't regularly 10x what the server will cost, then don't bother. It's a waste of money.

Also, get a free pingdom account. It'll let you know how much downtime your site has. Sometimes shared hosting has abysmal downtime and you won't even know it.

Also, if you've never worked with servers before you have to look for MANAGED servers, which are significantly more expensive than unmanaged ones.

Also also, progress step-by-step up the ladder. It goes Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server, Dedicated Server. Alternately if you have a lot of small websites it's a good idea to get a reseller shared hosting account.

CodCom · #6 (**permalink**) 06-19-2011, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troyfawkes

Also also, progress step-by-step up the ladder. It goes Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server, Dedicated Server.

Thank you everyone for your answers. Reading through your posts I understand that I'm far from switching to dedicated servers.

As for that quote troyfawkes, could you explain the biggest difference between a VPS and dedicated servers?

troyfawkes · #7 (**permalink**) 06-19-2011, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CodCom

Thank you everyone for your answers. Reading through your posts I understand that I'm far from switching to dedicated servers.

As for that quote troyfawkes, could you explain the biggest difference between a VPS and dedicated servers?

A VPS is a virtualized server environment where two or more can share a single dedicated box. A dedicated server is not virtualized and is its own box.

Think of a dedicated server as a computer somewhere. It has a motherboard, RAM, a CPU, a hard-drive, its own internet connection, everything that makes a computer a computer. You can tell the people you're renting it from to shut it down for you, add more RAM, and do whatever it is you could want done to a real computer.

To make more money, a hosting company can segment a dedicated server. One way to do that is as a VPS. Virtualization software lets you have your own operating system and basically an entire server environment (e.g. if you have a windows VPS its file structure would be nearly identical to the file structure on your computer). You can even (virtually) reboot a VPS. There generally aren't a large amount of VPSes on a single box. They segment bandwidth so that you're never actually sharing bandwidth: you have your own allotted amount that you can't go over. Therefore, no lag/downtime.

Shared hosting goes back to the dedicated server, except instead of virtualizing server environments the hosting company gives you a folder to put your stuff in, a web root, and a pre-configured VirtualHost (not to be confused with OS virtualization). You share the server's bandwidth with often close to 2,000 other people. You don't have access to configuration files, which often means that when you purchase shared hosting you can only host one or two domains, whereas a VPS or dedi can host as many as its bandwidth and disk space can handle.

You won't notice a big difference between a VPS and a dedi unless you're actually driving it into the ground. There's no big learning curve between the two. Between shared hosting and a VPS you'll learn a thing or two (understatement).

Cheers,
T

CodCom · #8 (**permalink**) 06-20-2011, 05:33 AM

Thanks a lot for your quick and thorough reply troyfawkes. At least I know where to go from here on.

SiberForum · #9 (**permalink**) 06-22-2011, 09:16 AM

Such companies as HG often suspend accounts for resource overusage. as soon as it happens - the time to upgrade has come.

**Bob Barr** · #10 (**permalink**) 06-22-2011, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiberForum

Such companies as HG often suspend accounts for resource overusage. as soon as it happens - the time to upgrade has come.

Other companies such as Bluehost (and presumably its sister companies, Hostmonster and Fastdomain) have implemented a CPU throttling algorithm at the kernel level to "share the wealth" among the accounts on their servers. A graphic display shows you when your account has been getting throttled back for excessive CPU usage. When your usage graph shows a great deal of throttling, it's time to move up to VPS or dedicated hosting.

One of their restrictions on storage is that your files need to be related to your hosted sites. They are, after all, selling hosting space, not offsite backup capability.

Bluehost also has a file count limit in place. If your account has more than 200,000 files on it, the account is skipped over when server backups are done. (You can store more files but backing them up is your responsibility.) For most people, that's a large enough number that they'd never approach it, let alone exceed it.

CodCom · #11 (**permalink**) 06-22-2011, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiberForum

Such companies as HG often suspend accounts for resource overusage. as soon as it happens - the time to upgrade has come.

Do you happen to know whether HG gives you a warning before they suspend the account? I'd rather prevent ending up in this situation then to fix things after the account has been suspended.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Barr

A graphic display shows you when your account has been getting throttled back for excessive CPU usage. When your usage graph shows a great deal of throttling, it's time to move up to VPS or dedicated hosting.

I see, so a good indicator would be to check the usage graph every so often to see how things are going.

Thanks for the tips/info SiberForum and Bob!

ldcdc · #12 (**permalink**) 06-23-2011, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Do you happen to know whether HG gives you a warning before they suspend the account? I'd rather prevent ending up in this situation then to fix things after the account has been suspended.

It usually depends on the situation. In a lot of cases, either a sudden jump in your site's traffic, or a heavy/poorly written mod/plugin lead to a high CPU usage, resulting in every customer's site sharing the server with you, to perform poorly. In this type of scenario the host has to shoot first, and ask questions later.

If your usage gradually increases though, you'll be able to notice this yourself (as I described earlier), or the host will, and ask you do deal with the situation before they have to. It's best to keep a close watch yourself though, because the host may not be able to micromanage like this.

There is a 3rd scenario, where a customer's heavy usage tips the server into the slow territory, and the host takes a close look at all heavy users on the machine who are likely to cause issues in the future. When 3 customers out of 300 use 50% of the server's capacity, it's probably best from a business point of view, to not host them anymore.

Now, whether the host will choose to suspend or warn you first, depends on their policies and the severity of the problem.

mariancarpan · #13 (**permalink**) 06-24-2011, 01:30 AM

I also have a hostgator hosting package and I'm planning upgrading to a dedicated one.

Update: I just bought one dedicated from them and I'm really happy until now.

PepperAdmi · #14 (**permalink**) 08-18-2011, 08:23 AM

When your sites have heavy traffic, you should move to a dedi. And if you have some server wide setting requirement to make your website working then also you should move to VPS/Dedi. And another most important thing is sending mails.

wallsinn · #15 (**permalink**) 09-03-2011, 05:09 AM

It all depends on your requirements. If you are about to launch a website which includes lots graphics, HD videos. And you are expecting tons of traffic then you should go for dedicated servers. Otherwise shared hosting will serve your purpose easily.

mattdoerr · #16 (**permalink**) 09-06-2011, 11:14 PM

Even third party applications are not supported on Shared and Reseller packages. So, if your application is quite huge that couldn't be hosted on a VPS, you should opt for Dedicated Server only.

kenbiz · #17 (**permalink**) 07-20-2012, 11:35 AM

when your host told you that your total sites have been exceeding their allocated resources on cpu and memory, then you will most probably need to upgrade.

Zita · #18 (**permalink**) 07-27-2012, 12:25 AM

Hi,

One of the Main advantage from a Dedicated server or Dedicated IP is that you get a high level of security with Dedicated server, and wont get such level of security with shared Hosting,

Secondly, You can run your own programs and scrips with Dedicated server. Quite often, businesses and experienced programmers need to run their own programs. In such cases, they have the option of renting a server for Dedicated Server for themselves. However, this type of service generally costs high amount of money that is over US$100 per month.

For more Information visit: http://webhostingsguide.blogspot.in/...-benefits.html

hirelogo · #19 (**permalink**) 08-21-2012, 06:51 PM

The only thing that I don't like about shared hosting which I am using is that normally you'll be reigned in or the throttle will be controlled for your site so that others aren't affected. This for the most part shouldn't be a worry to most, but if you start getting big you'll need to think about it. I am not at that point by any means, but I do know that it becomes an issue.

freeadstime · #20 (**permalink**) 08-21-2012, 08:22 PM

It totally depends, but one thing you can monitor is your site speed. Once you feel it is taking longer than normal to load up, that's a big sign for needing a new dedicated server. Keep in mind that at this time, you should easily be able to afford a dedicated server from the income you are gaining through the site.