best web hosting blog

1/23/09

Do you need a dedicated server?

To paraphrase a old saying, "If you have to ask, the answer is probably no."

While every situation is different, the fact is that not many web applications (e-commerce or otherwise) really need their own machine.

If you are just starting out, I would say not to lock yourself into an expensive contract until you know that your application needs all the resources available from a server.

As an example, one of our clients had 15,000 online orders during the 90 days of this past holiday season. Shared web server, shared database server, shared connectivity, and not one single outage.

Furthermore, this particular e-commerce web site has automated order insertion into their in-house A/S 400 that runs their production line, and even with this added functionality the shared servers were more than up to the task.

Now, I will brag that we have the best small business web hosting in the area, and probably the best web hosting in the country. Even so, unless you are a large company planning to web-enable large scale business processes, a dedicated server is probably overkill.

And remember, you can always start with a shared server and move to a dedicated server if you find you need it. The cost of moving your web site and database will likely be less than a single month's fee for a dedicated server.