Last updated on January 24, 2023
What Is a Dedicated Server? Understanding the Fundamentals
Understanding the FundamentalsMuch like many organizations, you probably opted for cloud computing when you first launched your web application, database, or mail server. After all, cloud computing services seem convenient, agile, and cost-efficient. But cloud services are not the only ones in the industry. Many realize that dedicated servers can be low cost, have higher throughput, and be just as reliable as cloud computing. You may be thinking, “What is a dedicated server – and why should I opt for one?”. Learn more in this post.
What Is a Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server is precisely what its name suggests: a server dedicated entirely to your organization’s tasks and performance. Unlike a typical PC, a dedicated server consists of enterprise-grade hardware resources that organizations can leverage to power their business-critical applications.
With dedicated servers, you do not share CPU, RAM or disk resources with other organizations. Sometimes, the phrase “bare metal servers” is used to describe dedicated servers because the user is close to the physical hardware, unlike cloud servers that use hypervisors to abstract the physical hardware.
Organizations can achieve the highest possible task speeds with a dedicated server because you don’t share the computing power or connectivity with another organization. Also, IT administrators have full control over the server. As such, there are limitless use cases that you can achieve with dedicated servers. For example, you can use them for web hosting, database operations, email hosting, and reseller hosting.
Why Would you need a Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server can be said to be one of the highest-performance hosting options. You can think of having a dedicated server like owning your own house – you can do with it as you please, and no one will bother you.
Dedicated Servers give you:
- Faster Connection Speeds
- 24/7 uptime
- Maintenance on the fly
- Reduces the risk of any viruses
A few key reasons for having a dedicated server could be:
- Security is a concern for your website. With a dedicated server, you’re completely in charge of your site’s security. This means you can optimize the features you need for the specific requirements of your website and store files
- Server Control. Dedicated hosting gives you complete responsibility for how you choose to use your server.
- Your website is growing and needs to handle more traffic. If you anticipate that your website is going to grow quickly, it might be a good idea to opt for a dedicated server now.
- You want faster loading times for your website. On a shared server, you won’t have any insight into when the server’s resources are being used elsewhere, which could make your site run slowly. Opting for a dedicated server will guarantee you have the bandwidth you need to enhance your page loading times.
Dedicated Server Components
Dedicated servers consist of enterprise-grade CPU and RAM that are much more powerful, more reliable, and less prone to failures than cloud services.
Dedicated Server-Grade CPUs
Unlike typical CPUs in consumer-grade PCs, server-grade CPUs go through more rigorous testing, leading to a more reliable and dependable component. Server-grade CPUs also incorporate more features like higher frequencies (to process more data) and Error Code Correction (ECC).
Dedicated Server-Grade RAM
Dedicated servers use ECC RAM, which is more reliable than consumer-grade RAM. The ECC RAM can detect and make corrections on data when errors occur, making it more dependable and reliable for business-critical applications. They can also accommodate more memory than typical RAM. Since they are built from high-quality components, ECC RAM is more expensive than standard RAM.
Server OS
In addition to enterprise-grade CPUs and RAM, dedicated servers require a specialized OS. There are dozens of different server OSs that you can choose from, but it boils down to basically two options: Windows Server OSs and Linux. While Linux remains the most popular server OS, Windows Server OSs are gaining ground.
Use Cases for Dedicated Servers
Organizations can use dedicated servers in a variety of ways, including:
Running Mission-Critical Applications
Companies with business-critical applications should consider dedicated servers to improve uptime and reliability. Such applications, which may range from customer-facing applications to employee data, are crucial to the seamless operation of an organization. Besides reliability, dedicated servers improve workload control.
Running High-Traffic Websites
Hosting resource-intensive websites such as e-commerce stores is by far the most popular use of dedicated servers. Such websites receive thousands of concurrent requests and millions of hits per day. Rather than scaling out across many less powerful servers, an organization can scale up via a single dedicated server.
Hosting Multiple Websites
Most web-hosting service providers base their products on dedicated servers. This is because a high-end dedicated server can support unlimited websites, provided you ensure that its resource usage is within the resource constraints.
Running a Dedicated Firewall
Firewalls are necessary as the first line of defense against attacks in an organization. Yet commercial hardware and software can be costly. An organization can leverage a dedicated server as the first line of defense against cyber-attacks.
Hosting Private Clouds
An organization can use a dedicated server to run its own private cloud computing and Virtual Machines (VMs). In addition, companies can implement public cloud hosting services and still run high availability services using high-end dedicated servers.
5 Benefits of a Dedicated Server
A dedicated server has many advantages ranging from improved performance, security, flexibility, and customization to 24/7 on-premises support.
1. Enhanced Performance
Organizations that opt for dedicated servers do not share computing resources with others. This boosts the performance across many applications, such as websites and databases.
2. Higher Security
Opting for a dedicated server means that no one else has access to the server, potentially boosting business security. You can also enforce firewall controls to further enhance the security of your assets without impacting performance.
3. Improved Flexibility
Unlike a cloud server, you can use a dedicated server for virtually anything ranging from web hosting and e-commerce to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and email servers.
4. Easy Customization
Unlike a shared server, your IT administrators have full control of the dedicated server. As such, they can easily customize the CPU, RAM, disk space and software based on the organization’s needs.
5. Constant On-Premises Support
Organizations that use dedicated servers can rest easy knowing that their servers are backed with 24/7 support from an on-site professional.
Factors to Consider when Evaluating Service Providers
Choosing a dedicated server provider is perhaps the most complex part of comparing different hosting packages. From performance stability to 24/7 on-premises support, many factors impact the choice of a dedicated server provider. Some of these factors include:
Performance
The performance of a dedicated server depends largely on the server’s hardware specifications. As such, you should consider the following:
- How many gigahertz does the CPU have?
- How many threads and cores does the CPU have?
- How many GBs does the RAM have?
- Is the RAM a Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4) or Double Data Rate 3 (DDR3) type?
- How much storage space does the service provider offer?
- What are the storage device’s read/write speeds?
- Is the storage device a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD)?
- Datacenter setup
The service provider should have multiple data centers at different geolocation sites. Under normal circumstances, an organization should select only a data center located close to its customers. This ensures the least-latency network (the fastest connections for end-users). In case of a calamity, such as an earthquake or hurricane, other datacenters provide continuity of business operations.
Security
A reliable service provider offers the best security and scalability possible. When selecting the service provider, you should consider the following:
- Does the service provider support multi-factor authentication (MFA)?
- Does the service provider support intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS & IPS)?
- What data encryption protocols does the organization support?
- Does the organization have an enterprise-grade firewall?
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
An SLA defines and documents all the agreements that the service provider compensates for in case there is a server failure. As such, organizations must evaluate SLAs thoroughly before deciding to opt for a dedicated server provider.
Pricing
Eventually, every decision you make comes down to price. While a low-cost dedicated server provider may seem tempting, it may not provide you the best performance. But this does not mean that you should go for the most expensive service provider. The best option is to compare all the service providers and bargain for the best offer.
Support
Some service providers provide limited support during normal working hours and for a certain number of instances. If your employees or clients work on holidays or weekends, then you should opt for a service provider that provides 24/7 support.
Choosing between Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting
If stability and security are your cups of tea, dedicated hosting is the way to go. However, if you are looking for something cheap and quick, choose shared hosting. There are significant differences between shared and dedicated hosting, some of which are mentioned below:
Hosted Sites
As the name suggests, multiple companies host their sites on a shared hosting server. In dedicated hosting, your organization’s site is the only dedicated site hosted on the server.
Disk Space and Bandwidth
Shared hosting gives your organization limited disk space and bandwidth since other organizations share the same space. If you go over your allocated limit, you will be charged extra. On the other hand, in dedicated hosting, the available disk space and bandwidth are dedicated entirely to your organization, thus reducing the limitations brought forward by restricted disk space and bandwidth.
Technical Skills
Since management, maintenance, and administration of shared hosting are done by the shared hosting provider itself, there is little to no requirement of technical skills on the part of the organization. Hence, shared hosting does make installation, administration, and upgrades easier.
Dedicated hosting, however, requires IT experts’ technical skills since everything from installation, upgrades, administration, and management needs to be done in-house.
Costs
Shared hosting costs are significantly lesser than that of dedicated hosting since the costs are shared equally between several users.
Security
Dedicated hosting offers better security in comparison to shared hosting. This is because, with dedicated hosting, you can select the security measures that you want to install, and since your space is not shared with other organizations, there is little risk of acquiring malware from poorly configured neighbors.
Performance and Response Time
Dedicated hosting is the clear winner in performance and response time, too, as shared hosting is prone to an unexpected burst of web traffic, which drains the server’s bandwidth resources. Dedicated hosting servers are highly responsive and have excellent performance and response time.
Website and IP Blacklisting
If someone on your shared hosting network does something illegal, then the entire server can become blacklisted. This problem does not persist with dedicated servers.
Control
The level of control you can exert over your infrastructure is more pronounced in dedicated hosting than in shared hosting.
In conclusion, the kind of hosting you choose depends on your own organizational needs. Shared hosting is the way to go if you have a small organization where performance or security is not a big deal. If you have the costs needed to get a high-performing, highly secure setup, then choose dedicated hosting.
What is a Dedicated Server – Types of Dedicated Web Hosting Plans
Managed vs. unmanaged dedicated servers are options when purchasing a dedicated web hosting package:
- Managed Web Hosting. Dedicated web hosting companies handle server duties, such as assigning engineers to oversee, manage, and protect your dedicated server. Plans for managed dedicated server hosting include completely managed, core-managed, and self-managed options.
- Unmanaged Web Hosting. Your dedicated server’s software is completely within your or your sysadmin’s control, and hosting companies look after the hardware infrastructure. In order to deploy scripts, handle updates and compatibility concerns, and set security standards, unmanaged dedicated web hosting often calls for inside knowledge.
Flexible Parallels RAS Deployments
Dedicated servers enable organizations to realize the full benefits of centralization. But centralization alone is not enough. Business agility and scalability are some of the factors that organizations are looking for in a complex, fast-paced, and ever-evolving environment. On-premises dedicated servers, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud are no longer just futuristic technologies—they are already here.
Centralized management over the entire IT infrastructure is the most efficient way of minimizing complexity. Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is a highly centralized virtual desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution that you can install in private, public, and hybrid cloud environments.
With Parallels RAS, IT administrators can publish applications and desktops, and users can access them from any location and on any device. Users can access the published applications and desktops on their PCs, thin clients, tablets, smartphones, and any HTML5-compliant browser. There is minimal end-point management since the applications, and virtual desktops are hosted centrally.
Parallels RAS stands out because it is designed around on-premises, hybrid, and public clouds, including Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Azure. You can also deploy Parallels RAS in hyper-converged environments, including Scale Computing HC3 and Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV).
Experience simplified management of your dedicated server firsthand!
