People start websites for a number of reasons. Some just want one that serves as a place to capture their daily thoughts, such as in a blog. Some want a way to promote a business or just to offer general information about what they do. No matter the need, websites are good ways to promote you to lots of people around the world.

However, starting your own website will require you to have a web hosting service. Website hosting services will serve as your media in broadcasting your website to the internet. They will also give you disc space for you to save the files that you are going to put on your website. Without their services, you are just wasting your time conceptualizing how you are going to present your website.

With the technology advancements these days, web hosting services are now giving you a number of options to customize their services. Aside from giving you a wide range of disk spaces, they will now give you an option on how they will render their services. You can now choose from either managed hosting or shared hosting.

If you need your website to be up all the time, then you need to choose the managed web hosting service. The good thing about these services is that they will make your site secure and properly managed. What makes this service secured among the rest are the security patches that they are providing. This service will also keep your site updated and properly controlled depending on the load that it can carry. Aside from security, your website will also load faster with this hosting service.

With all these features, you should anticipate that the cost will be more than other more basic level services. Notwithstanding, it will be better for larger businesses who need these kinds of things all the time and also need to be protected from hackers who would threaten to bring the site down.

With shared web hosting, the website will share a server with potentially a lot of other customers and companies. In other words, you will not have your very own server for your stuff; you will be sharing it with others. Most people go with this service because it is a lot less expensive. When you don’t get your own space, you naturally will pay less.

The main issue with hosting services that are shared is that the websites there are not quite as secure as if you had your own space. This is simply because the disk space is shared and hackers will be able to get in with more ease to the many sites on the servers. And also, load time becomes possibly slower because more than one website is hooking into the server.

The preceding were just a few options that web hosting gives you. All that is needed first is knowledge of your site’s purpose so you can purchase the best options that complement your needs. If you do this, you will have a complete service worth the money.

Once you have chosen on obtaining your business dedicated server, you need to decide on the server operating system which can depend on the availability, cost and employee expertise.

Unlike the desktop world Microsoft have overwhelming market share. There is a multiplicity of open source operating systems including Linux and FreeBSD. These are often bundled at no extra charge to the customer. Commercial operating systems such as Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or 2008, can be installed on the server if the dedicated server hoster has a Microsoft SPLA agreement.

Red Hat Enterprise is a commercial version of Linux or RHEL offered to hosting providers on a monthly fee basis. However you can use the a RHEL derivative known as Centos which has free updates. With Red Hat there is a subscription which provides for OS updates through the Red Hat Network using an application called up2date which is rpm based

Other operating systems are available from the open source community at no cost. These include CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and many other Linux distributions or BSD Unixsystems such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.

Typical support for any of the operating systems above depends on the type of supervision offered with a particular dedicated server package. Operating system support may include updates to the core system in order to that the latest patches and security fixes are installed.

It is quite common on non-Microsoft Servers to be provided with a control panel to manage the server, especially if the server is required for web hosting. Cpanel which includes Web Host Manager (WHM) allows for the upgrade of the core operationg system as well as the routine admin tasks.

Both a managed hosting service and dedicated service mean running a server that is not shared with anyone else. Beyond that, the services you get will depend largely on the provider since there is no industry standards set for servers. What this means is that fully managed to one provider may mean the same as self-managed to another provider. It is the term ‘managed’ that causes the confusion.

Many things can be involved in managed hosting including:

• Application monitoring
• System updates
• Intrusion detection
• Server monitoring
• Backups
• Database administration

These are only a few of the many items which can fall under the term of managed hosting. Because there are no industry standards, it is best to check the details before you decide on a dedicated hosting site. Managed hosting is always dedicated but dedicated hosting has different management definitions depending on the provider. Dedicated hosting can further be broken down into different types

- Basic: This is normally is chosen if low RAM, Hard Disc and Operating System on the server – High End: Usually involves Quad Core Configuration – Bandwidth Dedicated – Database Dedicated – Server Mirroring Dedicated

You will notice that ‘managed’ is not mentioned in any of the categories. Management is above and beyond what dedicated servers provide. For those still learning their way around computer terminology, it can get confusing because the words are often interchanged and terms like dedicated hosting and managed hosting are often implied to mean the same thing.

Always read the fine print when choosing a server. Terminology often is misused and you may not end up getting the services you are expecting. Until there are industry standards the confusion will continue. Simply put, dedicated hosting means that you do not have to share a server. Managed hosting means whatever the provider decides it means. Therefore, even though they are used together very often, they do not actually mean the same thing. Colocation services and dedicated services are more closely related than dedicated servers and managed servers.

In summary, there are different types of dedicated servers but they all mean not having to share a server. Managed servers can mean a variety of different services in addition to having a dedicated server. When referring to web hosting; dedicated servers are basically a rented service which includes the server, the internet connection and the software whereas managed hosting refers to the administration of the website. Managed hosting goes above and beyond what dedicated servers provide. Managed hosting is an additional service with varying degrees of options available depending on the provider. While they are often used in the same context, they mean very different things. Again, managed hosting is always on a dedicated server but a dedicated server does not necessarily mean you will get managed hosting. Different providers offer different management hosting on top of the dedicated server they provide. Managed hosting and dedicated servers do not have the same meaning.

As technology becomes more complex and businesses look for ways to streamline processes and improve productivity, managed hosting is rapidly becoming a valuable resource for many companies. Find out what managed hosting is and how your organization can benefit from it.

What is Managed Hosting? Simply put, dedicated hosting services, a dedicated server, or managed hosting is a type of Internet hosting in which the client pays for use of a server that will not be shared with anyone. Unlike shared hosting, organizations enjoy full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. A complete managed hosting solution usually includes server administration provided by the hosting company. Dedicated servers are most often housed in a data centre, which provide redundant power sources and HVAC systems. Managed hosting service providers are typically also responsible for your network, devices, operating system and application infrastructure components.

The Benefits of Managed Hosting
There are several benefits to managed hosting. Below we will examine three of the most valuable benefits of using a managed hosting service.

Greater Value
Managed hosting can in most cases provide greater value by increasing the cost efficiency of the entire process. Service providers have fully trained experts readily available and there is no need for you to invest in education and training as you may have to do with your own staff in order to get them to the level of efficiency that service providers already have. Thus managed hosting allows you to focus on your core business, rather than spending extra time and resources managing your technical infrastructure. Furthermore, there is a cost advantage with managed hosting. Because service providers distribute the cost and amount of available bandwidth among several clients, they are able to offer better prices on bandwidth and services than the client would be able to obtain n their own. The cost savings available to users of managed hosting solutions include not having to invest in.

Better Responsiveness
Managed hosting provides better responsiveness by guaranteeing 24-hour service and building in many layers of support and contingency planning. Because it is the core business of managed hosting service providers to proactively manage and optimize resources, they are in a much better position to conduct effective risk management and provide timely and efficient responsiveness to any unexpected issues. Because they know what they are doing, service providers provide better case management than internal IT staff could hope to achieve. Furthermore, because a large part of their business is customer service, most managed hosting companies pride themselves on quick response times and expedient solutions.

More Features
Investing in managed hosting often buys you even more than you bargained for. Many managed hosting services include an array of features that provide even greater value than the solution itself. Some of these features are invaluable for a company that relies heavily upon technology infrastructure but does not have the time or resources to consider all the ‘extras’ that work towards optimizing the companys network. Some of the features commonly included or at least available with managed hosting are:

• On-going management, optimization and technical support
• Customer portals with user-friendly reporting functionality
• Online trouble-ticketing
• Risk assessment and management services
• Data back-up and disaster recovery services
• Managed firewall, VPN and intrusion detection services
• Content strategies for web optimization
• Content delivery services

For the reasons detailed above and many others, managed hosting is simply the wisest and most comprehensive solution for companies with complex operations and business processes. Though some of the features listed may vary from provider to provider, a good managed hosting service will provide great value.