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This is a guest post by Tavis J. Hampton. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If you have a successful website, at some point, you may decide that it is time to upgrade.  Most web hosting providers will happily bump you up to a higher hosting plan that provides more space and bandwidth, but if your site or collection of sites generate a good deal of traffic, space may not be your only problem.  A site that taxes the server’s CPU and RAM may not be good for you or your web host.

In such situations, you might want to consider moving your sites to your own dedicated server.  As the name implies, all system resources are dedicated to your sites alone, unlike shared hosting.  In the long run, it may also save money if you plan to expand the number of sites you host on the server, or even as a large single site grows.

Hosting companies such as 34sp.com offer several dedicated server packages, from basic servers with Dual Core Xeon processors and 2GB of RAM, to higher-end servers with Quad Core CPUs and 8GB of RAM.  When choosing the right server for your hosting needs, you should consider long-term scalability, as well as short-term affordability.

Managed vs. Unmanaged

A dedicated server will usually come in one of two flavors: managed or unmanaged.  A managed server is more expensive because someone will act as the system administrator on your behalf.  This is convenient if you do not have the expertise to manage your own server and do not want to hire someone as your employee.  Unmanaged servers are mostly under your control, although your hosting company will still manually reboot and troubleshoot hardware issues, when needed.

Many hosting companies do not even offer managed services, but you can lease an unmanaged server and then contract a freelance system administrator.  This method gives you the ability to take over the server yourself, if you decide you no longer need managed services.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Before you make up your mind and decide you want a dedicated server, you should consider other options.  One popular option is a virtual private server (VPS).  A VPS will still share a server with other hosting customers, but it will usually be a lower number of accounts per server.  Furthermore, each VPS will have a certain amount of system resources dedicated to it.  When logged into the server, you will not be able to tell that it is sharing the machine because you will have full access to the operating system, including the ability to become root (administrator).

The advantage of a VPS is that you can get some degree of server management without having to pay the hefty price of having a managed dedicated server.  It is also cheaper than an unmanaged server and may be a better option when you are just getting started.

Making a Decision

Before rushing out to get a dedicated server, you should ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is my goal for my dedicated server? (a large single site, multiple sites, starting a web hosting company, dedicated game server, etc.)

2. What is my budget, and is a dedicated server affordable for me?

3. Do I have the time to manage an entire server or the money to pay someone to do it for me?

Making an informed decision requires you to know what to look for in a server.  For example, a web host that offers servers with desktop-quality CPUs, like an Intel Celeron processor, is selling you an inferior product when compared with Xeon processors, which are designed for servers.  Similarly, you should expect a sizable hard drive, particularly if you plan to host multiple sites yourself.  An 80GB drive should be cause for concern if you are paying premium money for a full server.

Operating System

Another factor to consider is the operating system.  When using a shared hosting account, you probably had little or no direct contact with the server’s operating system.  Choosing a dedicated server includes choosing the OS, and possibly paying for it.  You will need to decide if your prefer Linux, Windows, BSD, Solaris, or some other OS, and then you must decide on a version of the OS you choose.

A Linux server OS, for example, could be commercial or free.  Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) requires you to purchase a support license, whereas CentOS, built on the same open source RHEL code, does not.  All Microsoft Windows server editions will require licensing.

The server OS will generally affect the software you use.  For example, PHP and MySQL are cross-platform, but they will run best in a Linux or Unix environment.  ASP.NET, on the other hand, is a Microsoft-exclusive product and will require a Windows Server.  If you already have specific web applications with software needs, it will affect your OS decision.

Control Panel

Finally, after you have decided on an operating system, you should select a control panel.  You could theoretically get a server without any control panel software and configure all of your settings from a remote secure shell (SSH), but that would be time-consuming and not nearly as easy as using a control panel.

Like operating systems, most control panel software requires a license.  For some it is a one-time license for the software, while others will charge an annual fee.  Popular commercial control panels are cPanel and Plesk.  Alternatively, you can decide to use a free and open source control panel, such as Webmin and its hosting companion, Virtualmin.

Control panels will give you access to operating system tasks, such as database and web server controls, as well as network settings, like DNS and domain management.  Each control panel has its own set of features and addons, so you will need to evaluate them according to your needs.

Final Decision

Although there are many factors to consider, that should not discourage you from deciding to go ahead with leasing or purchasing a dedicated server.  The final decision will depend on your budget, your level of expertise, your available time, and the expected growth of your websites.  Do what is best for you or your business, and try to learn as much as you can before making the change.  The final decision is yours.

Tavis J. Hampton is a librarian and writer with a decade of experience in information technology, web hosting, and Linux system administration.  He currently works for LanternTorch.Net, which offers writing, editing, tech training, and information architecture services.

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• 7 Tips for Choosing Your Web Host
• Shame on You Register.com!

This is a guest post by Veronica Davis. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Choosing a web hosting company can be a challenge, especially if it’s for your first site. Every company claims they’re the best. So how do you choose? Except for tech wizards, web jargon can quickly give you a headache. Here are ways to cut through the web hosting speak and make the right decision for your new venture.

1. How much will this cost? Price is naturally a factor in any major decision. Choosing the cheapest is not always the best decision in terms of internet hosting, especially for business owners looking to expose their business and make a profit. Take a close look at what each web hosting site has to offer. Explore the features and the monthly charges before making a financially sound decision.

2. What is the focus of this new website? Not all web hosting companies are suitable for certain ventures. Some have solutions for growing businesses, while others may be perfect for a blogger. Before purchasing, you should look at other sites, determine the strengths of each company, and go with one what meets the needs of your venture.

3. For the less than technically inclined individual, tech support is a must. Keep in mind that lower price packages may not offer easily accessible technical support. In addition, is technical support around the clock? Is support outsourced? Do they have a good track record in customer service? How are they available–toll free phone, chat, email? Do you get to speak to a real live person? Can they fix problems–do they have a history of success? New website owners are likely going to want technical support that can help and make life as a web master easy.

4. What makes this company one-of-a-kind? It is important to find a company that stands out from the rest. Are there add-ons, features, multiple data center, energy-saving practices, data back up, or free domain privacy? A company that offers features that are necessary to keep this new website up, running, and successful is going to be the company to go with.

5. Hardware can affect the performance of websites and servers. As the consumer, find out what type of hardware a particular domain hosting website has. Then, research it. Is it top of the line, new, old, and what type of machines does the company use?

6. Rely on other’s opinions. Customer reviews, satisfaction, and reputation are all very important factors in making an informed decision. Google this company, check them out on Twitter, do whatever is necessary to get the facts. Find out what current and past customers have to say. Are they easy to contact? How quickly do they respond to support inquiries? What happens when a problem arises? How do they fix problems? Be an investigative reporter and find any dirt if applicable.

7. YOURNAME@YOURWEBSITE.COM, has a great ring to it, doesn’t it? Many companies provide individuals with one or multiple e-mail accounts to go with the site. This is great for businesses and looking professional. Ask about spam problems, solutions, and general e-mail practices.

Veronica Davis is a freelance writer and internet business columnist for Examiner. She recommends looking into Fatcow coupons to see if there’s a plan to fit your needs.

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• Shame on You Register.com!

Register.com is a large domain registrar as well as a web hosting company.  The offer many packages for web hosting, site development, ecommerce development, and more.  We do not use this company, but were asked about them from a visitor that has used them.  The visitor has had some problems with Register.com and their services and asked us what to do about it.  Now we will not be getting into what can be done about it, but we will air what we found out when looking around.

While Register.com does offer web site hosting, we are looking at the do-it-yourself make a website feature.  This is a basic plan for people that want to get into websites.  The funny thing is that the quality of the software that they provide is no where close to the amount they charge and it is not even SEO friendly.  This is our biggest issue because with all the competition out there and so many companies offering SEO ready website templates for their customers, Register.com does not, unless you want to pay an extra $20 a month for meta tag help and search engine submission.  If you are a novice to the online world, this may look like a great deal.  It is not, pretty much a large rip off that will provide you nothing but a thinning wallet.  In this day and age, webmasters do not need to submit their sites to search engines, but rather need to get good quality links directed to their website.  This is a more effective method.  No matter what plan you get from Register.com, they should be providing software that has good quality url strings, alt tags in images, good image names, and better information for the new webmaster to gather when making their own website.

Another issue that we had has to deal with a specific situation that caught us off guard as we did not know that any reputable company would even do this any longer.  The visitor that contacted us said that they purchased another domain through Register and then wanted it forwarded to the original domain.  This is a simple request to say the least, but Register.com screwed it up.  Instead of just doing a server-side redirect or simple domain forward, they inserted an iframe tag into the new domain so that the original website will show up.  So now, this person has their original website on the original domain as well as the new domain, but just in an iframe.  When we saw an iframe, we gasped for air.  We do not see these used much anymore, but for the company to set it up for the customer was aggravating.  A company as the size of Register.com should know that putting an iFrame on a website is a no-no, especially if you are supposed to be doing a domain forward.  All we want to say is: Shame on you Register.com!  You should know better than to provide these lackluster services and have people pay monthly for them.  Unacceptable in our view!

Related Posts:

• Are You Ready for Your Own Server?
• 7 Tips for Choosing Your Web Host