If you have a business and want to have a presence on the Internet through it, nothing like hiring the services of a server. In fact, buying or renting a dedicated server means not only buying or renting higher or lower performance hardware. But also knowing how to choose which one is the most appropriate both from the “service” and from the administration.

What is a dedicated server?

A server, as you probably already know, is nothing more than a computer that has been entrusted with the task of providing some service that other computers (called clients) connected to the same network can use. When we talk about web servers, we generally refer to a computer constantly connected to the Internet and within which programs are installed. It allows you to provide services such as, for example, web hosting through which one or more websites can be visible to all the world.

When we buy a shared hosting service, in fact, we do nothing more than rent a “small piece” of a server that contains hundreds of other websites with which we share all system resources. We then have more professional solutions, among which the option to switch to a dedicated server. To buy or rent hardware for our site, without having to share it with anyone, offers us the guarantee that all system resources will be Fully available for our project.

Steps to correctly choose a dedicated server for your business

Now how to choose the best-dedicated server? Let’s see what steps guide us to be able to find the right one. The dedicated server cost is not so much.

Dedicated server: buy or rent hardware?

• The first option you have to face, when you are looking to choose a dedicated server price correctly, is to decide whether to buy the hardware or opt for the rental. The choice depends on two types of factors:

From a technical point of view, you will have to know exactly what to buy: buying a server is not as simple as going to the mall to replace the old laptop with a new one. A server is a particular computer, which must perform a specific task. It must be equipped with specific features.

• Second, the choice between rent and purchase is influenced (and not a little) also by evaluations of an economic nature. The decision to buy your own hardware requires an immediate disbursement.

The choice of buying your hardware, therefore, should be properly weighted

• If you have the right technical skills and good initial economic availability, then the purchase can be a viable way, given a reduction in the costs. You will have to long term since you will own the hardware, and that will result in a significant reduction in the monthly rent of the hosting provider.

Anyway, if you are starting your business and still do not have many resources, it is preferable to opt for rent. Now that you must choose the service provider that guarantees you the technical interventions necessary to solve any failure or implement new components within the system.

Choose dedicated server hardware

Although we have decided to opt for rent, we will also be called to make other choices. All dedicated service providers offer different types of rental servers, and, therefore, you will have to recognize the one that works best for our needs.

The processor: The processor (or CPU ) is the hardware component that determines the capacity and speed of a computer. When choosing the processor of a rental server, there are different factors, such as brand and model, frequency, number of cores, etc. Some servers also have more than one processor (the so-called multiprocessor server). The power and quantity of processors are relevant, especially when necessary to support web applications that perform complex operations or if you want to perform virtualization operations or vice versa.

The RAM memory: Memory is another crucial aspect in the process of selecting the right dedicated server. The amount of memory required varies depending on our needs. Be careful not to underestimate this aspect: somehow, in fact, the amount and type of memory may be more important than the CPU. Having a powerful CPU and little RAM available could result in data (in continuous transit from RAM to CPU) not being stored well and causing slowdowns, or even system crashes. Also, if you use extensive database applications (such as MySQL, for example), it is important not to skimp on RAM. In this case, it is not advisable to go below 8 GB.

Storage: The third aspect to consider in choosing our new dedicated server is, of course, its ability to store data, in other words, you have to carefully choose the size of the hard drive and its characteristics. From this last point of view, offers of servers equipped with SSD (Solid State Drive) discs are preferable. They guarantee much shorter data access times than classical magnetic discs. SATA and SAS, on the other hand, are preferable to the latter, being SATA, in fact, the standard for mid-range servers and SAS the standard for high-end servers.