- Joined
- Jul 7, 2009
- Messages
- 44
Very good article! I can absolutely agree that MDD Hosting is an excellent shared hosting provider in the US. Been with them a couple of years now, never had a problem.
I'd like to add some knowledge to your article though, concerning dedicated servers:
Most webhosts will offer a small selection of dedicated servers they have in stock (physical servers sitting in a rack or on a shelf somewhere). You don't get a choice over the exact hardware and you don't actually own the hardware. The physical server still belongs to the hosting company and when you pay for it you're effectively leasing it. Any decently powerful server hardware will set you back roughly 80 to 150 dollars a month, which comes down to at least 960 dollars a year. That's 960 dollars down the drain for hardware you don't actually own.
Meanwhile, you could also buy your own server directly from a manufacturer like Dell or HP. Their basic models only cost about 600 to 700 dollars and will do a perfectly fine job at hosting a single busy website. With your own hardware you get the freedom of choosing the data center you'd like to place your hardware in (called co-location), instead of depending on the data center the hosting provider has his servers at. You deal directly with the data center of your choosing, get to install your hardware yourself into the data center and overall just cut out the middleman as it were. Honestly, when webhost is selling you an unmanaged dedicated server all they literally do is install the server into a rack, configure it and give you the login information. This is about 30 minutes of work and unless some serious hardware malfunction occurs, they will never deal with your dedicated server again until you cancel the contract.
The fee you pay to a webhost isn't specified (usually), but generally includes the following things:
However keep in mind that all this won't start being profitable (compared to leasing a dedicated server) until after a couple of years. The positive thing is that the cost of the hardware is a one time expense. To drive this home, let's compare leasing vs owning:
Leasing a dedicated server:
So if you're setting up a large project that you are sure is going to be around for a few years, do some calculations to see if co-location is something that can save a couple of bucks. It makes very little difference in terms of technical know-how since it's practically the same the moment the hardware is installed, but the savings can add up to a brand new server (or software licenses) over the years.
I'd like to add some knowledge to your article though, concerning dedicated servers:
Most webhosts will offer a small selection of dedicated servers they have in stock (physical servers sitting in a rack or on a shelf somewhere). You don't get a choice over the exact hardware and you don't actually own the hardware. The physical server still belongs to the hosting company and when you pay for it you're effectively leasing it. Any decently powerful server hardware will set you back roughly 80 to 150 dollars a month, which comes down to at least 960 dollars a year. That's 960 dollars down the drain for hardware you don't actually own.
Meanwhile, you could also buy your own server directly from a manufacturer like Dell or HP. Their basic models only cost about 600 to 700 dollars and will do a perfectly fine job at hosting a single busy website. With your own hardware you get the freedom of choosing the data center you'd like to place your hardware in (called co-location), instead of depending on the data center the hosting provider has his servers at. You deal directly with the data center of your choosing, get to install your hardware yourself into the data center and overall just cut out the middleman as it were. Honestly, when webhost is selling you an unmanaged dedicated server all they literally do is install the server into a rack, configure it and give you the login information. This is about 30 minutes of work and unless some serious hardware malfunction occurs, they will never deal with your dedicated server again until you cancel the contract.
The fee you pay to a webhost isn't specified (usually), but generally includes the following things:
- Electricity cost as determined by the data center.
- Bandwidth cost as determined by the data center.
- Placement and other data center related costs.
- The payback period over the cost of the server unit (the host wants a return on investment on the hardware).
- A profit margin.
However keep in mind that all this won't start being profitable (compared to leasing a dedicated server) until after a couple of years. The positive thing is that the cost of the hardware is a one time expense. To drive this home, let's compare leasing vs owning:
Leasing a dedicated server:
- Fixed price of 90 dollars a month for 5 years: 5400 dollars.
- Server cost: 700 dollars, one time investment.
- Data center cost at 70 dollars a month (all-inclusive) for 5 years: 4200 dollars.
So if you're setting up a large project that you are sure is going to be around for a few years, do some calculations to see if co-location is something that can save a couple of bucks. It makes very little difference in terms of technical know-how since it's practically the same the moment the hardware is installed, but the savings can add up to a brand new server (or software licenses) over the years.
