Cloud servers have stirred a buzz in the internet technology world. Naturally, a debate about the benefits of dedicated servers versus cloud servers has arisen. Forums and discussion boards have been flooded with questions about which platform is the best. Likewise there are many answers; with cloud hosting at the forefront because of the advantages. We’re going to breakdown the pros and cons of both from a neutral standpoint. We’ll start with an overview of both platforms.
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Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing has emerged as a perfect technical solution for the IT industry, mainly in the arena of data storage and hosting. With a cloud server, the software is virtualized, much like a VPS. With a virtualized environment, 1 server can house multiple servers. Each virtualized server compartment packs a powerful punch much like a dedicated server.
Dedicated Servers
Dedicated hosting is the solution for website owners with very large websites and millions of visitors daily. With a dedicated server, you rent the entire server from a hosting provider and all of its resources belong to you. You can tailor the server to suit your needs by adding specialized software or converting it to something more, like a gaming server or data storage server, due to their versatility.
Advantages of a Dedicated Server
1. Exclusive Server Resources
Since a dedicated server means the whole server belongs to your website there is no need to share resources with any other website. All the server resources belong to you wholly that means the disk space, bandwidth, RAM, processor speed, is at your website’s disposal.
With the server resources working for your website you will always experience optimum performance and lightning speeds. Additionally, with a dedicated server, you have full root access that translates to full control. If your website requires any particular software you have free reign to install and configure settings to suit your needs.
Your server is yours to customize therefore you can run applications, convert it to a gaming server, database, or implement special server security measures.
Since the server belongs to you can choose to change the default operating system to suit your technical preferences. A dedicated server ensures that your website and business is managed in a flexible, responsive and scalable way.
2. Scalability
A dedicated server will grow with your business and provide the power it needs as your website expands. Because the server is yours completely you have the ability to add upgrades and specialized software to furnish the expanding needs of your business.
If you need more resources like bandwidth, processing speeds, storage, etc. your server can be upgraded by your hosting provider. There is no end to the scalability of a dedicated server or its versatility.
3. Enhanced Reliability and Performance
One of the greatest server advantages of a dedicated hosting environment is the high percentage of reliability coupled with peak performance. Because you own the entirety of your server, server downtown is less likely to occur. In fact, a superb dedicated host will boost 99.99% of uptime guaranteed. With all the resources of the server at your website’s beck and call you are promised high levels of performance. Which translates to faster loading speeds, high power, more storage, and so much more.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
1. Customization and High Performance
Cloud hosting affords you excellent options for customization. Because it behaves like a virtualized server you can be sure to have a high level of performance and versatility. However, configuring and tailoring your cloud server to your specifications requires technical skills.
2. Scalability
When it comes to a high propensity to scale, cloud hosting shines brightly. Cloud computing gives you the ability to have a full network of servers at your disposal and you can use them for additional cloud storage, and meet your website’s traffic demands. In the event of server damage or failure, the website can be switched to another server.
3. Security
A cloud hosting environment comes with built-in security as it is a virtualized server separated from the other virtualized servers within the same physical server. However, additional security is needed to mitigate cyber-attacks.
Cloud vs Dedicated: The Low Down
Performance
When it comes to performance both cloud and dedicated servers come up to scratch. Dedicated servers perform on a high-speed like cloud servers, however, there is a small caveat with dedicated servers. Dedicated servers require a higher level of maintenance and upkeep in order to stand the test of time, but eventually, like any computer, they can slow down due to a myriad of things. While cloud servers can experience the same, switching to a new server is much easier while you clean up the server that’s being sluggish.
Reliability
Here’s where things begin to diverge a bit. Data is stored and retrieved from multiple servers on the cloud, and in the event of one of the servers crashing suddenly, your website won’t crash. While you might experience a snag in performance and a slowdown in execution your uptime will not be affected.
On the other hand, with a dedicated server, if there is a server crash there is no automatic backup server to kick in and keep your website online. As a result, your website would crash as well and wouldn’t be recoverable until the server was repaired. Virtual private servers offer a bridge solution between the two server environments. It offers the benefits of a dedicated server in a virtual environment at a significantly lower price.
Cost Differences
Cost differences between the two differ. Dedicated servers are known for having a high-end price tag and rightly so as customers are purchasing the use of an entire server. With cloud computing depending on the purpose of your cloud use the prices will vary. Cloud data storage is priced adequately for the resources available to you. With cloud computer users are charged based on what they use as opposed to dedicated server packages that have a fixed monthly cost.
Conclusion
Both dedicated and cloud servers are jam-packed with powerful resources and excellent advantages. What it all boils down to is your budget, the purpose of your hosting needs and what works better for your business. Either way, both hosting environments are excellent choices to facilitate whatever your needs are, from hosting a website to data storage.
