If you are new to web hosting, and trying to find the best type of hosting for your application/website, you may be overwhelmed by all the options available.
To choose the appropriate hosting, you need to understand the available types and the features offered by each type.
In this article I will try to address such concerns. I will briefly mention some of the available options and their prominent features.
Shared Hosting:
It is the most commonly used one for small personal/business websites. You may use this when you need to host a non-critical site.
Advantages:
– Not very costly and often discounts are available.
– Technical assistance will e available in most cases, you don’t need to learn the back end stuffs!
– Most shared hosts offer a variety of add on programs and tools that will help you optimize your site, make it more efficient and dynamic
Disadvantages:
– You do not expect to run a resource intensive application here, many hosts do not allow that.
– Chances are high that the performance of your website is affected by other sites sharing the same server. This may happen at peak time.
– You will not be allowed to make server wide changes here. Thus if your application require custom configurations, a shared hosting isn’t recommended.
– You will not be allowed to install applications requiring server wide access.
– You may not have shell/backend access.
Virtual Private Server (VPS).
A VPS offers more flexibility and access than shared hosting. If you cannot afford a dediacted sever and still need to have an isolated server, a VPS is the way to go!
Advantages:
– You will have server wide access and can make custom configurations to an extend.
– You can make server wide installations and can have root access to the server.
– Can install your own control panel.
– Can host unlimited websites.
Disadvantages:
– The level of isolation depends on the virtualization technique (Xen, OpenVZ, Virtuazzo etc) used. If the level of isolation is low, other servers on the same node will affect the performance of your node.
– You will need some technical knowledge on the backend stuffs!
Read this article for getting an insight on choosing the VPS configuration : https://www.veeble.org/blog/2013/07/18/choose-vps-configurations/
Dedicated/Physical server:
Dedicated hosting is where your site is housed on a server by itself. The main advantage to this is that you have a lot of autonomy in determining how your resources are allocated and what your server is used for.
Advantages:
– Can run a highly resource intensive application/high traffic website.
– Best when you plan to run a critical application which needs to be in an undisturbed (by other users sharing a node) environment.
– Gives you a complete control (install/configure any OS, need to alter the n/w etc ) on the physical server.
– Will have master control on the server.
Disadvantages:
– You need to have a much higher skill set
– The most expensive option.
Feel free to contact us if you have any queries.
