If you are an online business, and you are charging people for the use of your website, would you use a web host to host your site, or is it better to host the site on your own personal web server? Having a web server isn't as difficult as I thought it would be, so I am wondering if it would be the best step to take?
Hi, If you have high traffic on your website buy a dedicated server else shared hosting is ok too. SoftMantra
I'd say your own server, sahred hosting is a bit risky if you've got a business with lots of customers.
It all depends on what you mean by 'your own personal web server'. If it means a dedicated server at a datacenter then that would certainly be the right direction to go since you would have all the necessary control over the software aspects of the server and you can do the necessary security management and troubleshooting remotely and still get the benefit of high bandwidth, 24x7 network and hardware support from your datacenter. But if you plan to host the server in your own office or home, it probably is not a good idea because most ISP would prohibit you from running a server off their network, besides it may be difficult to be around 24x7 to monitor the hardware or provide the rest of the redundancy which a datacenter can provide.
It varies on the hardware you select, the bandwidth plan, any add-on configuration (backups, KVM and so on) and whether you are opting for a managed (to which level) or unmanaged support. Probably anything from $65 a month to several thousands a month.
You also need to consider bandwidth, depending on the traffic you anticipate, otherwise the traffic could bring the site to its knees. You might want to consider a hosting company and start with one level of bandwidth with a burstable option to which increases the bandwidth as your traffic increases. This is what we do.
I will directly lease a server at the DC. And its more cost effective. And i will use the unmetered premium bandwidth
there is no such thing as "unmetered premium bandwidth" someone down the line someone is going to get charge for so much bw usage...this is just a ploy to get you to signup...if you use past what they decide, you will be cut off... show me a carrier that gives away unmetered bandwidth, then maybe I will buy into it...no such thing...
There is such thing as unmetered bandwidth when it comes to a dedicated server but they are almost always capped and this will help better manage the monthly bills when it comes to paying for it. It is like a direct water pipe to your home, you pay a fixed fee and get as much water as you want. However, it is really not unlimited because the total amount of water you would get is determined by the flow speed and the diameter of the piping. Typically these may be capped at 1mbps, 10mbps or 20mbps. The unmetered bandwidth would be useful if the traffic you are getting is more or less constant throughout the day and week. While those which you pay for fixed bandwidth rate without a cap would be good if your traffic has both peak and off-peak periods.