Managed servers mean that the time involved and tasks necessary to keeping a server up and running are taken away from you and placed with an outside company. This is the preferred choice of hosting for many webmasters who are looking for security and a cost effective solution to having their websites hosted. It is very important that you choose the right type of hosting package for your needs when you are branching into the online world. Choosing shared hosting may not provide the right kind of security for you, or choosing to look after your own servers may just take up too much time or place you short on resources. Before choosing a hosting package, take five minutes to read this article if you are new to the world of websites and hosting.

Security, reliability and costs are the most important factors. First and foremost you don't have to buy your own servers, the company you choose will provide them. As well as saving money on the hardware costs, you also avoid having to carry out tasks such as network monitoring or maintenance work.

For example, it can be quite time consuming and expensive for a small business to obtain, or develop, their staff to the required level of technical knowledge. Then those staff must carry out operating system updates and install security patches. They must also carry out regular file maintenance to ensure that there is plenty of free disk space and memory. They must monitor cpu usage too. They would need to troubleshoot any problems that arise, plan for disasters and implement disaster recovery planning or DRP. By the way, DRP is a complete subject in itself.

When you have a website, there are a number of technical reasons that the site could go offline. If you are not careful, your site could be down and you have no clue about it. Websites can lose custom and visitors can be driven away. The reality is that the online world is quite a fickle place - by that I mean that you only really have one chance to impress. If your site is slow to load or is down completely then the visitor is unlikely to return.

It is not worth taking any risks when it comes to networks and servers. By looking after this yourself you are placing a lot of responsibility on your own shoulders, so it is often more sensible to use the services of an outside company who are perfectly set up and equipped to provide this service well. They can monitor the network, carry out routine checks, ensure the hardware is working at its optimum performance and make any necessary changes as and when it is necessary. The result is a better performance from your website and minimal if any downtime. If you have more than one site or the website is critical to the health of your business or income in general then it is just not worth taking any chances.

Colocation is also a possibility and many large companies choose this kind of hosting package because of the ownership they have of the hardware. There are hardware costs involved however and regular checks need to be made to the data centre where the server is located. If you are a small company then the chances are high that you don't have the resources for this. Constant network monitoring is another activity that involves time and money and again, this may not be readily available unless you are running a very large company. Managed servers are a much more suitable option for the vast majority of website owners and administrators and for this reason it is a popular option.

Managed dedicated hosting is very cost effective. Although the costs are slightly higher than those associated with shared hosting, the security more than makes up for this. Colocation goes even further in terms of security but there are much higher costs and more time is needed from you in order to have this type of hosting.

Managed servers are the perfect compromise between shared server hosting and hosting via a colocation data center. If you find a professional and experienced company then you can rest assured that your server management is second to none and your websites are in safe hands.