Do you need Dedicated IP when hosting your site ?

Many of us who is still beginner in web hosting industry didn't really know what is Dedicated IP/Static IP and does it really important to have dedicated IP for your site ?. And is there any difference between having dedicated IP and shared IP. In this article, I will try to explain and elaborate as much as possible so you can have better understanding and decide whether you really need them.

As the IP Address is getting harder and harder to get, most web hosting company doesn't offer dedicated IP to their hosting account. So basically when you host your site with them, you are sharing your IP Address with other web site and one IPaddress is normally shared by hundreds or even milion sites.

Then, the question is , how does it work, how did it knows how to load my site and is there any performance issue when your site IPAddress is shared between other web site?

The answer is that all the web request is handled by Web Server,and the webserver will load the your site based on the host header or virtual host name that your site is configured.

For example if the web server has 5 website and all sharing one IP, then the Network Admin has to configure host header or virtual host that is unique to your site such as www.yourdomain.com to your site.

And there is no performance benefit on using dedicated IP over shared IP. It all depends on your hosting provider bandwidth.

So what is the reason why people want dedicated IP?. The main reason is if you planning to use SSL on your site, then you need dedicated IP.If not then either static IP or shared IP doesn't make any difference.

Source:crazyblogger.net

What is a cheap dedicated server?

First a cheap dedicated server is a true Dedicated server. Some web hosts are trying to sell Virtual private servers ( What is a VPS ?) as cheap Dedicated servers, this is unfair! A cheap dedicated server is a low cost dedicated server but a true dedicated server.

Some dedicated hosting providers are specialised in this business, they are able to maintain very low prices because they are owning and operating their own colocation facility, they are buying harware and purchasing bandwidth in large blocks. Generally, they are offering the technical support via a user friendly email ticket system, the telephone support is optional.

Other dedicated hosting providers offers some great discounts or special deals on their dedicated servers , in this case they need to increase their client base or need to sell unsold or used dedicated servers.

Just what is a dedicated server?

Shared hosting is probably the most commonly-used form of web hosting. In a shared hosting environment, many customers share the resources of a single machine. But while this is more affordable because the cost of that machine is spread across many users, this doesn't mean they're the best choice for all hosting scenarios.

First, let us define what is meant by "dedicated server." dedicated servers are the opposite of a shared server - only one user controls them. Meaning that 100% of the server's resources "belong" to that customer. This gives dedicated hosting some important advantages over shared hosting.

Dedicated servers have better reliability than shared hosting. This is because there is just one client on the server. Often in a shared hosting environment, the errors of one client can require the operator to reboot the machine - affecting the websites of everyone else hosted on that machine this doesn't happen on a dedicated server.

Shared hosting is less secure than dedicated servers. This is because a shared server is nearly always used by multiple independent users at once. Shared servers often are plagued with security breaches that come from one user, but affect all the users on that particular machine.

Dedicated hosting provides better performance than shared hosting. This is because all of the dedicated server's resources can be used to service the website(s) hosted on it. But on a shared server the server's resources must be spread among the users using it, and some resources are wasted.

On a shared server, the server has to be configured for the lowest common denominator. Dedicated servers, however, can be tailored to the needs of just one client. With greater flexibility, dedicated servers can be set for specific situations, leading to greater security, reliability and performance

Although shared hosting may be cheaper there are lots of other factors to consider when deciding on web hosting.