| As a freelance Linux System Administrator, my | | | | gateway which will not be shared with other |
| clients sometimes ask me, “what is better- | | | | websites. In addition to this, your server will also |
| dedicated or shared hosting?”. The answer to | | | | have only the workload that you give it- if you use |
| this question depends on many factors, most of | | | | only a few CGI or PHP scripts, your server will run |
| which are client specific. Simply put, what is best for | | | | perfectly fast. |
| one client may not be best for another client. In this | | | | The main advantage to running your own server is |
| short article, I will compare and contrast these two | | | | that you are responsible for security and |
| popular hosting types, and show the benefits and | | | | maintenance updates, as well as backups. I cannot |
| disadvantages of both hosting types. | | | | remember how many times a hosting provider has |
| Shared hosting is widely used today by many | | | | deployed an update (which went horribly wrong), and |
| websites- and for a few good reasons. A shared | | | | restored the server without even contacting the |
| hosting provider is a provider that hosts your | | | | client. In many cases, the client had to contact the |
| website along with several other websites, all on the | | | | hosting provider to ask what happened before the |
| same IP address. This IP address is shared among all | | | | hosting provider even admitted to any error. Placing |
| of the websites in the server- which can be a major | | | | this responsibility in your hands allows you to ensure |
| problem. Most search engines today blacklist, or ban, | | | | that all updates are installed, and that system |
| IP addresses of malicious or misbehaving servers- not | | | | backups are religiously followed. |
| the domain names. What this means is that if another | | | | In addition, with a dedicated hosting account, you can |
| website that is hosted on the same server, and is | | | | also easily install extra server software if needed. If |
| malicious or distributes spam, that your website could | | | | you want to try out a new Apache module, you |
| potentially be blacklisted as well. With dedicated | | | | have the freedom to install that software to try it |
| hosting, you don't have to worry about this same | | | | out. Try doing that with a shared hosting provider! |
| issue. Often, you can assign several IP addresses to | | | | Simply put, shared hosting providers typically do not |
| your dedicated server, which will appear to search | | | | install extra software on their server without an act |
| engines such as Google as separate servers. | | | | of congress! |
| In addition to security issues, shared hosting servers | | | | Which ever hosting plan you decide to go with is |
| tend to be the slowest form of hosting. This is a | | | | your choice to make. However, the general |
| matter of logistics- if you split the same connection | | | | recommendation that I make is this: if you plan on |
| among several hundred websites, there is going to | | | | making money with your website, the only logical |
| be a performance impact. In addition, if a CGI or PHP | | | | choice is a dedicated server. Given the reliability and |
| script is written incorrectly by another website owner | | | | speed differences, you simply cannot risk the |
| on the same server, it can slow down the | | | | profitability of a website with shared hosting. Simply |
| performance of your website as well. However, with | | | | put, the extra money saved per month will be lost if |
| a dedicated server, your server will have a direct | | | | you lose a client or customer! |
| connection to the hosting provider's Internet | | | | |