How to Know Which Type of Server Your Business Needs

Servers can change the way businesses operate and choosing the right server for your business can be crucial. Your choice of a server may make or break your business. The market offers many varieties of servers and it may be a daunting task to choose the right server for your needs. For instance, you may be undecided on whether to keep an on-site server or opt for a cloud-based server. The big names in the server business like Oracle, IBM or HP usually have servers targeting small businesses.

How to Choose the Right Server for Your Business:

- One of the first things that you must consider to get the right kind of dedicated server for your business is to understand why you need the server in the first place. You may need a server to share files, for email purposes, for helping workers connect to it remotely, for creating backups etc. When you can answer these questions you will get an idea about the kind of features your server should have. So, creating a list of priorities is the first step to finding the right server.

- You will find that there are different types of servers for you, shared, dedicated and virtual servers. For beginners, shared servers are better as these are cost effective. These are perfect for businesses which are just launching their sites and for individual sites and blogs. But, for ecommerce sites which are likely to get a high volume of traffic, shared servers may not suffice. They will need to sign up for dedicated servers which can offer then higher reliability, uptime, stability and security.

- Before you sign up for a server, you must assess your business needs; so, you have to decide how much storage you will need, what kind of processing power you require for running the applications seamlessly, nature of applications you will run etc. It is a good idea to discuss all your business needs with the prospective hosting service provider to get their advice on the right server for you.

- Besides analyzing your existing business needs, you should also analyze your future business needs. If you cannot anticipate these correctly, you may end up with a server which is insufficient and you will have to upgrade it soon enough. You must evaluate the business growth patterns and the amount of traffic which comes to the site to get an idea of what your future needs will be. This will help you decide on the amount of CPU, RAM, bandwidth and space you will need.

- When you choose a server, it is equally important to choose a quality in web hosting provider. You should shop around; compare the features and prices of plans offered by multiple web hosts. You must check for their configurations and hardware quality before you buy from these. It is imperative to choose a provider which can give you specialized solutions. So, if you run small businesses you need a web host which has small business owners as its clients.

- It is necessary to prepare a budget for your server before you buy one. The server market comes with many vendors and you will always find good deals. When you have chosen the type of server, you need to look for a vendor which specializes in those kinds of servers. This way you can future supports from them.

- Finally, choosing a server is not enough; you must choose the correct operating system too. Servers will need OS which is robust so that it can handle the huge volumes of requests which come to it in a single session.

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