Are Dedicated Servers Worth It?

Are Dedicated Servers Worth It?

April 25, 2017
3:16 pm

 

Dedicated servers are expensive, no doubt. So, before business owners make a decision, they would naturally want to know whether these servers are worth the money they spend on them.

First off, money may be the prime consideration when you consider dedicated servers. But, it should not be the only consideration. There are many other factors to consider.

The most important factor to consider is performance. As web statistics clearly reveal, a casual visitor to a website will not wait more than 7 seconds for the page to load. If loading time exceeds this, most visitors click away from the site and probably go to a competitor. Although several factors affect loading time, one of the most important factors is the server. If the resources are being shared by too many clients, heavy inflow of traffic will cause lengthening download times. In the worst case scenario, the server could crash taking the website offline for a number of precious hours!

Security is the next major concern for business owners. When a number of websites share the same server, security is severely compromised. Viruses attacking one of the clients may spread to other clients on the server. Thus, clients residing on the same server are always under threat.

Some business websites indulge in illegal behavior on the web. Spamming is an example. If a business is found guilty of such behavior, all the sites sharing the IP address of that site will be blacklisted. So, even if a business has not indulged in such activity, its account will be suspended.

When a server is shared with other clients, the business owner has no control over the programs that run on the server although these programs have access to all the clients. Having a thorough knowledge of the programs installed on the server is definitely beneficial. For many growing business, the ability to install their own scripts or customize existing scripts is a major bonus. This is possible only with a dedicated server hosting.

Thus, any business that considers the prospect of paying for dedicated servers has to evaluate their own needs against what their web host is currently offering. If their needs are better met with dedicated servers and if the P&L statement shows that the company has the resources to afford dedicated servers, then, the investment is definitely worth it.

Dedicated servers have several benefits for growing businesses. The following list contains a few:

1. Scalable
2. More powerful
3. Dedicated resources
4. Faster
5. More secure
6. More flexibility
7. More control over resources

If your business can benefit from the above features, you must opt for dedicated serves.