Why Dedicated Server is better than Shared Web Hosting?

Dedicated and Shared, two opposite words that are the most important in the Web Hosting industry. You might be familiar with these words. Many of us always look at Shared Hosting packages to host the websites. Has anyone of us ever tried to know the disadvantage of being hosted on Shared Hosting package? In other words, why is having a Dedicated Server better than a Shared Hosting plan? If not, let us discuss the differences. Beforehanf though, let me define these two words quickly. In layman’s term, shared hosting is type of hosting where the resources of the main or physical server are shared between all the websites hosted on it, whereas, the dedicated server is fully owned by you, i.e., there is no other user sharing the resources with you. You have full access to all the resources available on your server. Now, let’s get back to the topic. So, why is the Dedicated Server better than Shared Hosting? Here is the answer.

A question to readers: Have you ever experienced or seen anyone sharing a room with any other roommates? Yes, you have! What do you think about their comfort? The answer would be, they live an uncomfortable life. They have to adjust in every part of their life. Similarly, it is with shared hosting. There are many issues that a shared hosting user might face, such as reliability, uptime, performance, use of shared IP address, unavailability of root/remote access, no capability of installing applications etc.

So what exactly are you sharing?

Reliability, Uptime, Performance: Your website uses the resources of same server that other websites use. If the any website on main server uses more resources, then this might slow down your website. If the resource usage of other websites are too much, then the server might not respond to requests for your website in a timely manner, thus you potentially losing a visitor or increasing your bounce rate. You might not get the promised uptime for your website. This might take the reliability of the hosting services in question. The recommendation here is to search for a reliable hosting provider that can handle such issues.

Shared IP address Usage: Unlike VPS or Dedicated Server, your website shares the same IP address as the other users on the server. For example if any of the users sharing your hosting are blacklisted by some search engines due to spam or phishing or any unwanted activity, then your website might also get included in the blacklist as it was hosted on the same IP address.

Unavailability of root/remote access: It is one more disadvantage of shared hosting that you do not get the root or remote access to your hosting account. You have to be dependent on the hosting provider for any changes that you on the account like rebooting the server etc.

No capability of installing applications: You cannot install any third party applications on your shared hosting account. Even if you ask the support of your hosting provider to get an application installed for you, they won’t assist you. Hence, if the website needs an application to be run then shared hosting is not for you.

Regular Server Crash: You may find server getting crashed frequently if any loading script like CGI is run on the server from any of the shared hosting user’s account. So, even if your hosting account or website is running without any loads on the server, it might be affected due to the performance of any other user on the server.

So to conclude, if you want better uptime, performance, reliability and want to feel a dedicated environment on the server without any lack of service on the network, select a Dedicated Server.

1&1.CO.UK – Best web hosting company in UK?

1&1.co.uk

Brief Introduction

This company claims to be one of the fastest growing companies in the field of web hosting and that is evidenced by their customer base of over 9million and the fact that they are adding almost 2500 clients every day. These figures have been corroborated by independent studies conducted by Netcraft and are sure to give customers the confidence that this company is going to be in existence for a long time and are financially very stable.

They were one of the early starters more than a decade back to offer customers online state of art technological and telecommunication solutions. Customers even then could chat online and enjoy other interactive services.

The company went public in 1998 and has been rewarding its shareholders with decent returns.

Services offered

a) Web hosting

The company has categorised its offering into 5 categories such as Beginners, Home, Business, Business Pro and Professional. They are currently running a very attractive scheme across all categories wherein you can signup and not pay anything for the first three months.

The features offered include web space, domain registration, external domains, usage of the internet and online account management facilities. The extent of bandwidth, space and domains offered obviously differ depending upon the package chosen. It is least for the Beginner package and maximum for the Professional one.

b) Email

IMAP/POP3 accounts with a 2GB capacity and email aliases are provided with this service with the Business, Business 1 and Professional packages getting unlimited email aliases facilities.

c) Website building

Building your own website is now easy without the need for any programming. Moreover you can also blog, get access to RSS feed and even share your photos online when you choose any of the packages barring the Beginner one.

d) Ecommerce

The Easy Setup option allows you to launch your online shop very quickly and you will find it convenient to sell your products or services thanks to the integration with eBay. Moreover, you can also get access to Marketing tools and eShop Management facilities to help you control and review your business in a much better fashion.

e) Marketing tools

Customers keen to receive quick marketing feedback can choose this feature which will enable them to chat live with customers, send them email based marketing material and even get website statistics. This is available for those choosing the Home, Business, Business Pro and Professional packages.

Strengths

* Strong track record
* Customised packages for different categories of customers
* Robust data center and choice of servers to meet any customer requirement

Support Provided

* Email assistance
* Access to technical support 24×7
* Access to product information on phone
* Online account management with single log in

What customers have to say?

Customers feel that this company offers them good value for money and has an attitude that is customer focused. They also feel that they can present them selves very professionally to their clients using the packages provided by 1&1.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

One choice of web hosting that has gained a lot of ground in recent times is the Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting.  That is because it presents you with the flexibility, versatility and speeds of devoted and committed servers at a cost that is very much comparable to that of shared servers.  This kind of web hosting is ideal for those who cannot afford the cost of a wholly committed server and are into the reseller hosting activity.  They are also ideal for those who are owners of many websites and desire to provide each one with sufficient bandwidth so that they can be accessed speedily and without any of the problems associated with that of shared servers, notorious for slow speeds.  VPS, all said and done is a very attractive option for most website owners.

But what exactly is a VPS?

This is a standalone server or mega computer, which is hosted on something called the VPS Node or another name for a physical server.  The advantage with these VPS nodes is that they possess huge RAM and hard disk space which makes it possible to divide them into many VPS systems.  As a consequence, every VPS has its own RAM along with sufficient hard disk space and can therefore function like an independent server, though it is deriving its resources from the mother VPS Node.  The drive responses are quicker and there is no danger of any data loss.  This method of operation enables you to load software that you require, including any operating system, without compromising on the performance of any of the other VPS systems on that particular mother Node.

The customer thus partakes of the hardware, power supply, network facilities of that Node and shares the same with other customers linked to that Node.  This however, in no way compromises on the benefits of a VPS hosting system such as:

·    Dedicated RAM and disk space
·    Flexibility to load own operating system or other files
·    Control of administrative jobs like modifying server settings, freedom to load software
·    Running and maintaining the VPS like your own system, including booting and rebooting of the system

A VPS system is one which allows you the flexibility of something in between a shared and a dedicated kind of web hosting.  This is therefore ideal for those who are at the moment enjoying services of a shared host, but wish to upgrade to an environment which gives them a dedicated facility without having to pay a great deal extra.

The security system of a VPS is another advantage.  Since your VPS will have its own file system that is unique, there is no danger of anybody else getting access to your data and that provides for adequate peace of mind. Setting up a VPS is easy as well, thanks to the excellent start up support and tutorials presented by most service providers.

To summarize, hosting on a VPS is highly advocated for anybody wishing control, efficiency, speed and affordability.  It is easy to avail of and many hosting companies include VPS in their service offering.

Unmanaged dedicated servers – basic security to make it secure

Once you outgrow shared hosting or you want to move from your reseller hosting account to having your own dedicated server, you have two options, you can get a managed dedicated server (the server company or a third party manages security, applying patches, updates and the general wellbeing of your server) or you can get unmanaged dedicated server which you have to manage yourself. The going rate for third party managing a dedicated server seem to to start from about £100 per month.
If you prefer to save money and manage the server by yourself, you can certainly do this, all you have to do is apply some tried and tested setup to update and secure your dedicated server. The list below gives some of the most important things you need to do on your unmanaged server to ensure its secure.
Disable direct root login – By default you can login directly to the root of Linux/Unix servers, add an extra layer of security by disabling this so that you need to login as admin first before you can login as root. Naturally you should set two different passwords for root and admin users.

Difficult complex password - Set hard password that includes alphanumeric numbers, upper and lowercase letters for both root and admin account.
Install a firewall
Spam protection – Setup rule import rfxn.com, spamhause.org and dshield.org
Setup the spam assassin
Set up “logwatch” to monitor logs and send email to you should a security related even take place.
Install automatically root kit scanner - This scans your server every day to see if root kit is installed on your server. (Set cron to run this and send report to you).
Set minimum password strength for accounts on your server to 10
Enable brute force protection
Enable open base dir protection for PHP to prevents users from opening files outside of their home directory with PHP
Create a custom/changed sendmail script to log spammers whose want to use form found on your server to send spam.
Enable secure FTP (anonymous ftp should be disabled.
To reduced server resources use change your mail server to Dovecot if it comes with Courier, have very high memory usage.
Setup the log rotation to delete or store old log files
Recompile Apache and PHP with the options SuPHP, and all security related modules.
Install GD for image manipulation, openSSL, mod auth, mod bandwidth
Install Ion Cube and Zend.
Setup Hardened PHP (Suhosin). Is the same PHP version 5.2.8 just with enhanced security (http://www.hardened-php.net/)
Setup and enable automatic updates for the server.
Update the server and system software.

Please not that the above should not necessarily be done in the order listed above and you may not even need to all especially if you are not reselleing hosting space on the server.