Dedicated Servers bring several obvious strengths to the table. Since your Web sites are the only ones located on the server, your Web sites will not have to fight for bandwidth with competing Web sites. On average, a Dedicated Server can have over a million hits a day, whereas your average virtual Web site processes about a tenth of that. Additionally, many Dedicated Server Hosting Providers provide multiple IP addresses without any extra costs. This is ideal for those who specialize in virtual hosting.
Another bonus is that you have full use of all of the hard drive space on the Dedicated Server. Instead of sharing space with other developers, a Dedicated Server not only lets you use all drive space located on the server, but you may add or upgrade hard drive space as needed. Dedicated Servers also have the option of adding RAM upgrades as well. Both give the user a healthy boost as far as increasing the scalability and overall performance of their Web site.
Dedicated Server Weaknesses
Along with the obvious strengths, Dedicated Servers have some obvious weaknesses. Not every developer can jump right in with a Dedicated Server. The user must have a solid working knowledge of the server, the chosen operating system, and networking techniques. This can take many years to learn. One option is to hire an experienced and sometimes high-priced, network wizard. Dedicated Servers may require much more upkeep and maintenance time by the developer. Many of the chores normally performed by the Web Hosting company may have to be performed by the Webmaster. Check your server provider about this before you purchase.
Purchasing a Dedicated Server comes with a high price tag. You are renting/leasing or purchasing a full-time computer for your server needs instead of just buying space and transferring from a standard Web Hosting plan. With a Dedicated Server, you are not able to leverage the economies associated with sharing hardware, software, bandwidth, and maintenance costs that are found on a virtual server.
In Conclusion
Although a Dedicated Server is more versatile in use than a virtual server and has inherent strengths, the use of a Dedicated Server is very specialized. Dedicated Servers, on the whole, should only be used when large amounts of hard drive space will be used, or large quantities of bandwidth are required. There are a few exceptions, such as running intensive applications on the server that require root access, or those who wish their site to have complete autonomy such as high-security websites.
Dedicated Servers are not cheap, but do provide certain benefits for those users whose requirements exceed the capabilities of virtual servers. When weighing the viability of a Dedicated Server, the price of the server is one of the main concerns. As with all things, shop around and never forget to check the prices for upgrading the server, the price of the initial setup, and also what periodic maintenance costs are involved
