| You've made yourself a great web site. Through | | | | are sharing the server with other web sites, the |
| good design and better content, you've been able to | | | | amount of space and bandwidth you can use will be |
| build up a respectable amount of traffic. And then | | | | limited. And because you are sharing our server's |
| your web site is linked from Slashdot. Traffic to your | | | | resources, if one web site starts to slow down under |
| site soars to levels you had only dreamed of. | | | | excessive traffic or server processes, your web |
| However, before you get the chance to benefit | | | | site's performance will also be affected. |
| from your newfound popularity you exceed your | | | | You will also be limited in what types of software |
| bandwidth allocation and your hosting company takes | | | | you want the server to run because you will not |
| your site offline. If you're relying on virtual hosting, it | | | | have any access to the server. If you want to install |
| may be time to switch over to a dedicated hosting | | | | something on the server that is outside of the usual |
| service. | | | | parameters, you will have to ask your server |
| Most people who are new to web hosting use a | | | | administrator to do it for you. And in many cases, it |
| virtual, or shared, hosting service. In a virtual hosting | | | | will not be worth the server administrators time to |
| service you rent space and bandwidth on a common | | | | do it for you. Your web site will also be more |
| server. Your site will be just one of many on a single | | | | vulnerable to security breaches, since a hacker just |
| physical server. More experienced users will often use | | | | has to be able to get into one of the web sites to |
| a dedicated hosting service. While with virtual hosting | | | | be able to access all the web sites on the server. |
| you are pretending that you have your own server, | | | | A dedicated hosting service will avoid all the |
| with dedicated hosting you actually get the whole | | | | disadvantages of using a virtual server. The only |
| server to yourself. | | | | disadvantage to using a dedicated hosting service is |
| Although dedicated hosting can be significantly more | | | | the price, especially if you are not particularly |
| expensive than virtual hosting, it has many benefits. | | | | knowledgeable about server upkeep and have to use |
| Nonetheless, dedicated hosting is not necessary for | | | | a managed service. |
| everyone. It is therefore necessary to understand | | | | It is important to seriously consider what your |
| the advantages and disadvantages of each type of | | | | budget is and what your web site needs to be |
| hosting when deciding what type of hosting service is | | | | effective. If your web site is just a blog or does not |
| best for you. | | | | have a lot of content, than it will probably not use a |
| The main benefit of using a virtual hosting service is | | | | lot of the servers resources and you will likely be fine |
| it is fairly cheap. If you are looking for a relatively | | | | with virtual hosting. For complex e-commerce sites, |
| inexpensive way to get your content onto the | | | | or web sites that receive a large amount of traffic, it |
| Internet, virtual hosting is for you. | | | | may be more economical in the long run to use a |
| However, along with the cheaper price comes many | | | | dedicated hosting service. |
| disadvantages to using virtual hosting. Because you | | | | |