Dedicated servers are computer systems leased entirely by one organisation rather than shared between many. Typically dedicated servers are rented from specialised service providers and are located at the premises of the hosting company. Technically one such server is just a single computer that is connected to the Internet and this computer caters solely to the needs of this one specific client. This is in sharp contrast to shared servers, where the machine is divided among several clients and their websites, each demanding its own share of the server's resources.

By not sharing your web server resources with other clients the server benefits gained (such as security) are quite varied. For example, one UK based firm decided to host its website on a shared server managed by a local service provider. However, they were not aware that they were sharing their server space with a file transfer site. Within a year, the firm found itself in a legal tussle for violating copyright laws. On a shared server all the clients have the same IP address, so further investigation was requested. It was discovered that the sharing site was the actual culprit. However, the firm never recovered from the shame of the incident due to all the negative publicity the event had garnered.

Choosing One or More Dedicated Servers for Website Hosting

The type of server required will depend on the business budget and the server's workload.

• Economy Servers: You may have a website that gets low to moderate hits each day and/or a smaller budget, in which case a heavy duty server is not appropriate. An economy level dedicated server may be perfect for you, as it is both robust and cost effective for your limited bandwidth needs.

• Enterprise Servers: For a website under heavy load and with a larger budget available, a high performance enterprise-level server may fit the bill. (A slow and unresponsive website under load will severely hamper your business and, in time, your reputation, so it doesn't pay to skimp in this area). With a high performance enterprise server you can expect fast processing and fast delivery of data.

If you need even more server power, then you may need multiple core CPUs in operation, with increased redundancy in terms of disks, power and networking.

Providing Your Own Dedicated Servers

Colocation is another method of gaining some of the benefits normally provided by a dedicated server service. Here, the client places its own servers at a server hosting site, rather than locally at the office. The data centers, having been built specifically for the purpose of server hosting, have a long list of benefits that a small business just could not afford. For example: air conditioning & security systems, redundant power, multiple and large communications links and qualified engineers.

Outsourcing systems to a hosting organisation allows the client to focus on core competencies while the IT is well taken care of. With a server management service bolted on, the client doesn't even have to worry about upgrades or repairs. This reduces IT headaches considerably for a small organisation with minimal resources.

So regardless of whether the client purchases dedicated server hosting or simply colocation rack space, they can still gain from at least some of the benefits provided by a large data centre.

Economy servers are also known as cheap dedicated servers. The name is misleading, as the performance of the servers is in no way weak. Some of the options available include:

• Dual or quad core processors

• Internet connectivity from 100Mbps

• Large data transfer allowances

• RAID option, to ensure protection against hard drive failure

• A choice of operating system

• Monthly billing

These services are adequate to effectively serve any small-medium sized websites, and can be combined by managed hosting providers to support much larger websites.