When it comes to choosing a dedicated server, it can be rather difficult. When you are looking at hosting services, there are a few things that you should consider.
Service Package Rates
Price is something that you should consider when choosing a dedicated server. Nobody wants to pay more for a product than they should. It is a good idea to shop around and get prices for various hosting services, before you choose one. You should be cautious with companies who require you to sign a long term contract. While you can save money when you sign a contract, it is good to have the freedom to change hosting companies if you feel the need.
Management
The best hosting service to choose are the ones which provide FTP access. This makes it easy to upload files and edit CGI scripts. If you are not very familiar with web programming, you should find a hosting package which gives you the option to administrate your site with dedicated interface. Getting as much management information from hosting services is important. This information can help you make the decision of which service you should use.
Bandwidth Limitations
Before choosing a hosting service, you should make sure that you look into the company’s bandwidth limitations. Some packages would require you to pay for additional traffic if your site has an unusually high amount of visitors. Many companies will say that the traffic is unlimited, however, it can say different in the fine print. Make sure you do your research before choosing a hosting service. Not doing so can end up costing you money in the long run.
How Many Accounts are on the Server?
If you are on a shared server, it is important to know how many other sites share the server. If there are many sites on the server, it can cause your site to load more slowly. For your site to run efficiently, you would want to sign with a company who has up to 100 accounts per server, and no more.
If you are using a dedicated server, you should find out what the conditions are to upgrade memory, hard disk, and CPU. You should also find out what your site’s downtime would be during the upgrades.
Security Regarding Information and Data
If you plan to receive payments for products or services via your website, you must have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support. This ensures that the information on bank cards between the users and the website will be safe. You should find a hosting company which also allows you the option of a daily backup of the server. This will prevent you from losing the content of your website and your database.
Technical Support
It is important to find a hosting service which provides tech support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You also want a rapid response time. To figure out which companies offer this type of service, contact various companies at midnight, and see how long it takes to get a representative on the line. Your rep should also be polite, courteous, and ready and able to answer any questions that you may have.
Reliability
It is important to find a hosting service is reliable. While it is unrealistic to expect a company to have 100 percent uptime, you do not want to use one which suffers from frequent failures, creating a great amount of downtime. There are many companies which have certain procedures to prevent situations which can lead to downtime. You should check the hosting services’ statistics when it comes to downtime, and find out what each company does to prevent it.
Security
In a world where there are daily cyber threats, and hackers lurking behind every keystroke, security is extremely important. Before you choose a hosting service, you should find out what each company is doing to safeguard against spam threats. A good service will also have staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help solve any security problems that you may have.
Choosing the right hosting service can be the difference between a safe, functional site, and a not so safe, not so functional site. It is important that you take the above items into consideration before choosing a company.