Are Shared Servers the Right Choice?

Shared Server or Virtual Server – Which to Choose?

First, about the image… I love Solar power and anything related to Solar power… so this image is definitely entertaining. The advances being made in Solar power are astonishing, awesome and great to see. However, that is not what this post is about… so on to the good stuff.

Are Shared Servers The Right Choice?

If you are choosing web hosting for your business, you will quickly be faced with the question as to whether you want a shared hosting server as opposed to your own server with dedicated resources.

What Is A Shared Server?

Shared Server Hosting describes a situation where a number of websites share the same server resources. Unless you know that your site will generate a large amount of traffic or is host to an application that requires a lot of server resources, a shared server should be sufficient for your needs at the most basic level.

A shared server, by its very nature can be a significantly cheaper way to get your business off the ground in a digital space than purchasing dedicated resources server space. Thankfully, due to the flexibility of hosting packages, upscaling is relatively easy and if you decide that your site needs more server space or other resources, there is always scope to expand your hosting packages.

It is extremely important to take into consideration the utility of your website when considering what hosting packages you require. Shared servers are fantastic for use on sites that act as portals, brochures, or information sites. However, if you want to run a quality e-commerce site, host high quality videos or podcasts, or host complex applications you may want to consider your own hosted server with dedicated resources. This is generally provided via a virtual machine for high availability, also known commonly as VPS hosting. It ultimately comes down to your budget and just how many resources you need to satisfy your needs and keep customers happy.

How Crucial Is Speed?

According to research from Akamai and Gomez.com, almost half of web users expect a website to load within just two seconds, and any site that takes longer than three seconds to load is likely to be abandoned. These vital seconds are crucial and could make the difference for SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). The research also found that 79% of web shoppers who have issues with web site performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again and roughly 44% of them would tell a friend about a poor experience shopping online.

Google has even indicated that site speed (both as a result and page speed) is one of the metrics by which they rank search results. Slow page speeds can also mean that search engines (like Google or Bing) can crawl fewer pages using their allocated crawl budget, which could have a negative effect upon the indexation of your website.

VPS and Dedicated Hosting

The alternative to shared servers is a Virtual Machine (VPS – virtual private server). A virtual machine (vm) at Hostek is setup in a Highly Available configuration. What this means is that your server has dedicated resources and redundant hosts machines (where the vm resides) so that if a physical hosts machine has any problem, your server is automatically moved, with no interruption, to the redundant host machine for awesome uptime.

This configuration also allows you to easily scale your server resources as needed. This gives you the maximum flexibility; you can scale up or out as needed. For additional information on how Hostek can help you scale out (load balancing, geo-failover, etc.) just click the Consultation link below.

Although a VPS (your own server) may seem like the more expensive option, they do provide value to your company in that they can handle far more traffic and have a far larger capacity and scalability.

The benefits of faster load times and fast scalability could be a much more prudent investment in the long-run.

Hostek offers shared hosting as well as virtual servers. Hostek has the experience of providing real life load balanced and geo-failover solutions for many growing businesses.

We would be happy to look at your situation with you, analyze the problem and help implement a solution that you will be excited about. Guaranteed!

Categories: Business Tips, Hosting