Shared Or Dedicated Web Hosting

The first question to ask yourself is whether your need shared or dedicated hosting. Most websites only need shared hosting. You will need dedicated hosting if you:
  • Need to run a very custom application in which you will need to install software at the operating system level
  • Need to stream a live audio and/or video broadcast.  Don't confuse streaming media with live streaming media.
  • Have the expectation of immediately huge amounts of traffic; not the hope, but qualified expectation
  • Send a newsletter to a large list of subscribers

If none of the above apply to you, then you only need shared hosting, which is about 1/10th the cost.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is usually around $100 per year, which is about 1/10th the cost of a single dedicated server. Your site will be located on a server that you share with others, but it will also be managed and backed up by IT professionals. Don't mistakenly think that your hosting provider will retrieve documents if you accidentally delete them though; they back it up in case their server dies. You are not even likely to know when a server dies because quality hosting companies have people and systems in place to retrieve the most recent data and have your website back online within an hour.  If you already know shared hosting is what you need, proceed to Shared Hosting.  Otherwise, continue reading.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting costs more, but offers more features and benefits. When you buy a dedicated server, it is your machine.

  • Run as many websites as you want
  • Set up a VPN or Virtual Private Network to share files with others in your organization
  • Achieve lightning-fast response time within your website because you are not sharing it with a few hundred other sites and potentially thousands of email accounts
  • Virtually unlimited storage space by adding more hard drives to your server
  • Create your own backup strategy.
  • Install any software application that you need, including Back Office software to manage your organization and communications.

Because you have the server to yourself, dedicating hosting is more expensive, but if you migrate many of your organization's software applications and other "Office Server" functions to your dedicated server hosting, you will save much more than you probably thought was possible

Those are great benefits, but they usually don't justify the extra cost for smaller sites. Evaluate your needs and your financial resources before you sign up for hosting. If you're not certain what you need, contact us immediately for a free consultation.

Dedicated Server Cluster, Farm, Cloud or Grid

Many organizations need a dedicated server cluster, VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network), farm, cloud or grid.  If this is the case, contact us and we will provide free consutling and get you a deal on this through CariNet.

If you already know what you need, proceed to Shared Hosting or Dedicated Servers.