Forum Moderators: phranque
I currently have about 8 sites all on different hosting packages on Virtual Shared Servers.
My hosting company has phoned me today and want to sell me a Dedicated server to host all sites on blah blah.....
I have two questions so far for you great people.
1) There Linux servers is £100 cheaper a month than their Windows server....same hardware spec etc.... so whats the general difference between what you can do on one that you can't do on the other...is it only things like Front Page extensions...
2) If I change all my sites to the new server dedicated I will have to change DNS due to IP Address changes .....so will this effect search engine rankings etc.... which are very good at the mo...
Thanks guys
Webdev
2) The IP change of your domain name will not effect your rankings, because your domains will remain. Just make sure to have everything over on the new servers before moving it. Also if it is with the same provider, the outside IP could remain the same.
Personally, dedicated is the way to go.
BZ
With a hosting package, it's all well-controlled for you and if you do happen to mess up one account, the rest can still keep going.
With a dedicated server if you're not up to speed with your Linux commands then you could knock your entire online business off line with noone to help you. (Even if you use the control panels, one fateful day you will be tempted to log in with Telnet or SSH and have a look at what goes on under the hood... in the quest for more optimisation...)
I have a dedicated server, and every now and then I do wonder whether it would be so much easier just to have individual hosting accounts and not worry the server... :-) But then there are many benefits of the dedicated server too.
As Linux looks better how come they seem to charge double for a Windows Server
Because they have to buy a Windows Server licence from MS.
Linux on the other hand is free.
Linux is much better for any kind of network server.
MYSQL was designed for Linux.
I think isorg makes some very good points worth considering about dedicated and DIY. You're obviously not a linux expert, and you maybe better off doing a deal with the ISP and have them maintain it for you.
Personally, I think dedicated and Linux is the only way to go. There are some occasions when you have to go Windows, but they're usually related to obscure software (I'm porting an app from Windows to Linux myself to avoid that one).
For general Web serving, there is nothing that can't be done with a Linux box.
TJ
just to let you know the server will be fully managed by themselves not me....
What I meant also was see if they will install software or modules for you at reasonable cost as and when you need them.
It's quite easy to break linux if you're not familiar with it.
I would say good opportunity to learn though - it would be invaluable to you if you have some linux experience especially with a dedicated server. It's quite easy to take an old unused PC at home and shove a copy of Red Hat and Apache on it as a local webserver. Play with that offline without worrying about causing any damage. You can also test out any modules you may want on it, before deciding whether or not to ask your ISP to install them for you on the live server.
You won't regret going dedicated though.
TJ
