Dedicated vs Semi-Dedicated- People often have a hard time deciding between dedicated servers or semi dedicated servers. This Best Dedicated Web Host article will look at dedicated servers vs semi dedicated servers. Dedicated vs Semi-dedicated servers!

There are several different names for different configurations of web hosting, and the choices can be difficult to make. This article help explain the differences in dedicated vs semi-dedicated web hosting.

Dedicated hosting takes place on a dedicated server. A dedicated server is a server that is set aside for use only by one account. In a dedicated environment, all of the memory, bandwidth, and storage space is open for one accounts use. Additionally, these resources are separated in a way that they cannot be impeded or limited by the actions of any other account. With the separate server also comes a separate IP address, allowing for an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate and the ability to accept online credit card payments through a payment gateway. With a dedicated server, the software choices are also freed up. That is, software that could negatively affect other accounts in a shared server situation is not of concern, since there are no other accounts to be impacted.

Semi-dedicated web hosting combines some facets of shared hosting and has some facets of dedicated hosting. It may be referred to as VPS, which stands for Virtual Private Server, meaning "a server that has the appearance of being private," or VDS, which stands for Virtual Dedicated Server. The set-up for this type of hosting, whichever name is used, divides a single server into blocks or containers for separate accounts, as shared hosting does. However, unlike shared hosting and similar to dedicated hosting, resources of memory, disk space, and bandwidth are dedicated to individual accounts, not shared across the server. In this respect, semi-dedicated hosting has the "feel" of dedicated hosting. It avoids the problem of low resources that is sometimes associated with shared hosting. There may, however, still be software restrictions.

When one is choosing dedicated vs. semi-dedicated web hosting, one may have several choices to make. First, one is likely to find a price difference: generally, semi-dedicated hosting costs at least a bit less than dedicated hosting. However, one is also likely to find a difference between the cost of hosting, whether dedicated or semi-dedicated on servers with Windows software vs servers with Linux software. Windows hosting is more expensive that Linux hosting, apparently because of the licensing of the proprietary software used, in contrast to the open source software that makes up a Linux distribution. Because of the different types of server available and differing costs, if you are comparing dedicated vs semi-dedicated web hosting, it is important to make sure you are comparing hosting options with the same server type.

Another consideration when choosing dedicated vs. semi-dedicated web hosting, is the choice of unmanaged or managed hosting. Managed refers to a service one purchases from the web host in which they take more or less responsibility for the administration of the server itself. Unmanaged hosting refers not to hosting on a server that nobody administers but to one that the account owner administers or has administered, perhaps by an IT department. It is cheaper because one is not paying the web host for the services involved in administration, such as trouble-shooting problems, applying security patches, and taking care of software updates. While some web hosts distinguish only between unmanaged and managed accounts, others have lesser and greater degrees in services offered in several levels of managed accounts. Because of these different possibilities, and the fact that unmanaged hosting packages are not always labeled as such, it is important to make sure you are comparing unmanaged web hosting packages to other unmanaged web hosting packages and managed web hosting packages that have a similar array of services.

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