Web Hosting Server Com­par­i­son

If you want to make in­for­ma­tion or ap­pli­ca­tions available online, you need a solid and tailor-made server foun­da­tion. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a hobby website, a fan forum for your favorite band, or an extensive company database. There are equally as many different hosting pos­si­bil­i­ties with spe­cial­ized providers as there are different website operator projects. This is where a server com­par­i­son comes in handy. It is important to consider how much server per­for­mance is needed for the im­ple­men­ta­tion. While projects like online stores or database servers are thwarted by an in­ef­fi­cient hardware foun­da­tion, the expensive resources of pro­fes­sion­al hosting can clearly surpass the demands of simple websites such as blogs or forums. A hosting server can be booked in different per­for­mance levels. The products range from dedicated servers to virtual machines and cloud-based hosting solutions. 

Every web-based ap­pli­ca­tion relies on a server that supplies the data in the network and can be delivered to the client on request. An example is when a user accesses a web ap­pli­ca­tion with their browser. A dedicated server makes sure that hardware com­po­nents are available to the hosting client. In com­par­i­son to other hosting pos­si­bil­i­ties, it involves a physical device in the data center of the provider, whose resources are ex­clu­sive­ly ac­ces­si­ble to a customer. This ensures the freedom to carry out all con­fig­u­ra­tions exactly to plan, including the choice of operating system. Dedicated servers are suitable for costly web projects that are ac­com­pa­nied with fore­see­able resource re­quire­ments.

This hosting model is found amongst ambitious de­vel­op­ment projects, large online stores, and extensive Software as a Service (SaaS) offers. With the correct ad­min­is­tra­tion no-one else, apart from the hoster and the customer, has access to the server. This means that the dedicated server offers an ad­di­tion­al security benefit. Since the dedicated server involves an in­de­pen­dent physical machine, only a limited extension of the server resources is possible. If the web project outgrows the maximum per­for­mance, the only option is to relocate onto a more powerful server.

While based on a limited hardware foun­da­tion, virtual servers are not available to in­di­vid­ual customers. The resources are instead used by numerous customers si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. With vir­tu­al­iza­tion software, it’s possible to operate several virtual servers (Vservers) on a high-per­for­mance host server. The in­di­vid­ual virtual machines obtain in­de­pen­dence via en­cap­su­la­tion,  and a solidly defined pro­por­tion of hardware resources (fixed-disk storage, RAM and CPU) is available to every Vserver. The renter of one of these Vservers receives their own IP address, and is free to choose their operating system from the default options. The Vserver, in com­par­i­son to the dedicated server, is clearly favorable due to its ability to ac­com­mo­date numerous servers on one host system. The renter receives root access to the virtual machine by request. Main­tain­ing the host server is the job of the hosting business. This type of server hosting is es­pe­cial­ly suitable for beginners and web projects where high peak loads are not expected.

When con­duct­ing a server com­par­i­son, you should check in par­tic­u­lar whether a root or a managed server is involved. While a range of servers with root access are more tailored toward pro­fes­sion­al ad­min­is­tra­tors, managed servers are better for beginners.

• Root server: Dedicated servers (where the renter receives access to the root account) are described as “root servers” in web hosting. With root access, the customer has com­pre­hen­sive access rights and receives extensive con­fig­u­ra­tion options as well as a full control of programs, services, accesses, security settings, and updates. This freedom, however, could lead to applying the wrong settings. Managing the root account therefore requires basic knowledge, otherwise the secure server operation could be com­pro­mised.

• Managed server: If you don’t have the necessary knowledge to in­de­pen­dent­ly manage the root account you are rec­om­mend­ed to rent a managed server. In this case, the server ad­min­is­tra­tion will be taken over by the hosting provider. Ap­pli­ca­tions can still be in­di­vid­u­al­ly con­fig­ured. A managed server, in com­par­i­son to a self-governed server, comes at a cost due to the ad­di­tion­al effort on the host’s part.