Choosing a server is a task that is relevant always and for any modern-day business.
It’s an extremely responsible task, as it affects how well your website will perform, the user’s experience, the security of your data, and the SEO rankings of your website.
Things that are most relevant for making a particular choice may vary over time, so let’s review what to keep in mind when looking for a server in 2023.
1.) Figure Out What Your Needs Are
There are many dozens of possible types of servers, server configurations, server hardware, and software, and additional services related to hosting, location, and other aspects.
That’s why to figure out what kind of server you need, you need to exactly figure out, what you need the server for.
Ask yourself, for what purpose do you need a server, whether is a dedicated servers UK for a website, a gaming server, a mail server, a server for creating a Virtual Private Network, a server for working remotely on different projects, or a server for storing your data?
Every of these or other usage cases has specific requirements in terms of hardware and the form of your hosting.
If you want to create a small personal blog, you will need neither too much computing power or to strive for the highest level of security.
An e-commerce website will, on the contrary, require stable performance and high standards of security.
A gaming server needs to correspond to the technical requirements of the games you want to play.
A startup may need the ability to scale the resources quickly, as it may evolve at a rapid pace.
Overall, finding the right hosting solution suggests a lot of variables that in many ways depending on what kind of projects you want to create.
Thus, before you start looking for a hosting plan, figure out what kind of project you have, what requirements it has, and which kind of hosting can provide you with the necessary resources.
2.) Learn More About Server Types
Since there are different needs for hosting, many different types of hosting have been developed: dedicated servers shared hosting, virtual private servers as well as cloud hosting.
Dedicated servers are technically the simplest and the most powerful solution as they consist in just renting out a whole physical server with all its capacities and maximum control, independence from other users, and security.
However, the resources it can give are often redundant, while the prices for such a solution aren’t affordable for everyone. For this reason, other solutions have been developed.
Shared hosting consists in sharing one physical server between several users.
This hosting type is much more affordable, but at the same time, it cannot provide the stability of resource allocation and the optimal level of security.
VPS hosting is a good intermediate solution, combining stable performance and security with an affordable price.
This is made possible by virtualization technology which allows for the creation of virtual machines each having its own fixed set of resources on the basis of the physical machine.
It isn’t as powerful as a dedicated server, but it’s more than enough for the majority of projects,
Cloud hosting can be considered a trickier solution which is also built on virtualization technology, but unlike VPS, there is not “a server”.
Rather, you opt for a certain fixed amount of capacities that you can very flexibly rescale.
The cloud is charged on a pay-as-you-go basis, so you can increase your capacities for a couple of hours, and then return it to the previous condition. Naturally, this solution is also the most expensive one.
Different types of hosting are good for different types of projects with different requirements
3.) Learn More About Current Server Hardware Trends
Hardware is the basis for the operation of your server. Therefore it’s important to know, which components make up the server solution you are opting for, and on which CPU, storage, and memory it is running.
Nowadays CPUs are presented by a broad variety of models offered by various brands, in particular, Intel, AMD, and Arm.
The quality of the server is defined by the clock speed and by the number of cores, and processors by different producers have different strong and weak sides regarding various elements of the CPU.
The differences between servers can make each one better for some tasks and worse for others.
Also, in cases where there is a need for processing extensive arrays of data, GPUs are instead of CPUs.
As for storage, we can deal with HDD, SSD, and NVMe storage. HDD is an older solution based on rotating magnetic disks.
This solution can provide you with big amounts of storage for cheap prices, so it is good for storing large arrays of data without the need for fast reading and writing.
SSD drives are based on electronic circuits and are thus capable of faster performance while being also more durable, but also more expensive.
NVMe drives are SSD drives with more advanced interface that makes them work even faster. They are by far the most expensive option.
So, it’s always a good idea to study the hardware market to figure out what solutions can best cope with the task posed by your project.
4.) Consider Your Budget And The Payment Model That Would Suit You
You should always coordinate your ambitions with the budget you have at your disposal.
Dedicated servers are great, but you won’t need one for a small website. NVMe storage is great, but it makes sense in case you are running memory-intensive applications.
So, don’t overpay for the things you don’t really need. Choose a plan that gives you more or less the number of resources you need, but with the possibility to rescale as you grow.
5.) Don’t Hesitate To Ask Professionals
If you are unsure about what hosting solution you need exactly, you can always go and ask the support team of a particular provider to help you to figure everything out.
By the way, it’s a good idea to look for a provider that offers quality 24/7 support so that in case of any trouble they are here to help.
Conclusion
Finding a good server solution can be a daunting task as there are many aspects to keep in mind.
However, we hope that we have made some of these aspects clear for you in the article above and now it will be much easier for you to find the optimal server in 2023. Thank you for reading!
Ella Marcotte
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