There may well come a time in your business when it is starting to look as if you will want to invest in your own server, or to examine another option in that vein, and that is to employ a managed dedicated hosting solution. The reasons for this need could be many, but the usual ones are a need for more space or the ability to handle a significant increase in traffic. Let’s look at the major differences between using your own server and managed dedicated hosting
Both of these options give you a wealth of greater flexibility and control over your hosting environment. No longer are you shackled to a shared account, or even a virtual private server. You can configure your server to your heart’s content, and not be constrained by others rules or limits.
Obviously using your own server gives you the greater freedom of the two, but only in a sense. While you are definitely free to configure and use whatever software and scripts you desire, there are definitely some disadvantages, particularly when it come to the areas of support and maintenance. These are items where you will need to either have the necessary expertise, or have staff on call that does.
Assuming you aren’t the technical wizard in your company, the staff you do have will have to be up to date on how to install and maintain all the latest software updates for your server, manage security patches and fixes, operating systems and keeping them current, maintaining the physical location of the servers themselves, obtaining and maintaining current licensing and more. This can add up to a significant expense on a monthly basis, sometimes outweighing any cost savings managing your own dedicated server could conceivably bring. Something to think about…
The other option — using a managed dedicated server, takes the technical aspects out of the question to a large degree. While you’ll still have control over the content and configuration of your server, you won’t have to deal with the day to day maintenance issues, as well as server integrity and security. These will be handled for you, saving a lot of hours you or your staff would be spending on this.
Moreover, since your server will be housed in a rack with other dedicated servers, you will save on power costs, which can alone save you more than $600 a year.
Using a managed server will virtually ensure that your server will have a better performance. These companies are set up to deal with problems 24/7 365. Are you? Will you or your staff arise in the wee hours of the morning while on holiday to deal with the issues that sometimes come up?
It’s our opinion that the best way to go is to use a managed dedicated server solution, unless you or your staff is extremely proficient. Most of us aren’t, and the time and expense to run your own server when you’re not quite up to it is enormous. Outsource this to the experts, and free yourself up to do other tasks in your business that will be more profitable.
