Capital Hosting

If you are thinking about setting up a website but you are new to the internet then chances are you don't know about the different types of web servers there are out there. Before you can set up your website, you must obtain a web server, whose job is to host all the files of your website on the internet so that internet users will be able to access it. They are connected to the internet via industrial internet connections that are not the same as the residential internet connections we have at home.

There are three general types of web servers out there:
• Shared Servers
• Virtual Private Servers
• Dedicated Servers

They differ in specification, performance and price. Which you should choose depends on the type of website you want to build and the performance you will require.

Shared Servers

These are single computers that have been partitioned to host multiple accounts and websites hence the name 'Shared'. Hosting service providers who offer this usually host over 50 - 200 websites on each machine. As the hardware resources is shared between all the websites, if a few websites suddenly get very busy, they can slow the whole server down causing all websites on it to become slow and even non-responsive.

This type of server can cost as little as $1 per month. It is very cheap so is ideal for non-critical websites or hobby websites like a personal blog. It can also be used for a small business's website as long as the website consists of only a few pages of static information and they do not attract much web traffic to be considered mission-critical.

Virtual Private Servers

These are similar to Shared Servers except they usually host no more than 10 - 20 websites per machine thus more resources will be available to each website. Some advanced VPS are configured in a way that if a few websites max out the resources allocated to them, it will not affect the speed and performance of the other websites hosted on the same machine. This type of server offers more performance and stability than Shared Servers. They can cost anywhere between $10 - $50 per month so is ideal for small websites that get more traffic or for running small web applications that will not require too much resources.

Dedicated Servers

If you have an ecommerce website with a large searchable database, you will need more resources to keep your website running smoothly. Database operations can eat up a lot of hardware resources so shared servers will not be sufficient. You will have many options from entry level machines with dual core processors to high end quad and hexa core machines with 8GB and more physical memory. As you 'own' the entire server, you can install/remove software as you wish, which you can't do on a shared machine. Security is also better as the server is only accessible to you. Dedicated servers normally cost between $60 - $300 per month, while state of the art machines can cost even more.

Dawson is an active user of Lacartes.com - an online marketplace where people can interact with their favourite local businesses from restaurants, hotels to professional photographers, party planners and more.

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