Software Composition
In order to host more than one website in a single dedicated shared server hosting, the software must provide an implementation that isolates each site’s code and user privileges to ensure appropriate security, although each takes a slightly different approach. Each of the sites hosted must have its own unique IP address to avoid conflicts arising from the servers’ interpretation of the communication. The two most common web server solution soft wares are Apache for Linux, and IIS for Windows. Dedicated shared server hosting typically uses a web-based control panel system, such as c panel, direct admin, or one of many other control panel products. Many of the large hosting companies use their own custom developed control panel.
The hosting service must include system administration since it is shared by many users; although this is a benefit for users who do not want to deal with the administration of the dedicated shared server, it might prove to be a problem for individuals with massive usage who want more control. In general dedicated shared server hosting will be inappropriate for users who require extensive software development outside what the hosting provider supports. Most dedicated shared servers are based on the Linux operating system and lamp software bundle, which is driven by the lower cost of open source software. But some providers offer Microsoft windows-based or free solutions.
Hardware Requirements
After taking into consideration the software aspect of the dedicated shared server hosting, the other most important thing to look out for is good steady hardware features to support whatever applications you want to run on the server. If you are targeting to host several heavy websites you should ensure that the server has adequate storage capacity, i.e. large enough hard disk to hold all the data sufficiently. The drives you choose should also be fast enough to enhance good download as well as upload speeds when accessing any of the hosted websites.
If you are operating on a minimal budget that can only accommodate ten thousand revolutions per minute disk, just go for it and buy a larger cache size to enhance its performance. Although the 10,000 Revolutions Per Minute disk or higher should give you better performance. Stay away from the older slow disks; you will have very high disk I/O levels, as well as the bottle necks on your server due to their slow speeds.
The dedicated shared server must also have sufficient memory speeds. The least recommended memory size for any server should be at least 512 megabits. Having good memory will improve your server’s performance under heavy loads. Changing levels are mainly influenced by the system memory. It is thus advisable to get proper system memory to avoid slow response from the server. When you think about the central processing unit it will be up to you to consider which one works best for you or which one you prefer between Intel and AMD but no matter which setup you choose, Dual Central Processing units would be the best solution for a dedicated server environment. If you do not have the budget for a dual setup, consider at least a single 2.4 GHz Central Processing Unit.
Uses of Dedicated Shared Server Hosting
Dedicated shared server hosting is very useful especially for small companies that want a website but cannot afford the costs o purchasing and maintaining one server. The server space required for one website at times may be too small that it would not be a viable idea to buy one dedicated server and spend all you energy configuring ad maintaining it. Under such circumstances, dedicated shared server hosting would be the best option as it would be very affordable and you would not need to employ extra personnel to administer the server. It is however important to note that shared dedicated server hosting can be implemented in two main ways thus using the name-based or Internet Protocol-based virtual hosting.
In name-based virtual hosting, also called shared Internet Protocol hosting, the virtual host serves multiple host names on a single machine using a single Internet Protocol address. In this setup, when a web browser requests a resource from a web server using http://1.1 it includes the requested hostname as part of the request. The server determines which site to upload basing on the information provided by the information. On the other hand, in an Internet Protocol-based virtual hosting, also called dedicated Internet Protocol hosting, each virtual host has a different Internet Protocol address. The configuration of the server consists of numerous virtual as well as physical interfaces for network linking. The server application links to a particular site by the use of the codes received from the Internet Protocol address provided by the client at signing in. The main reason behind the dedicated Internet Protocol is to differentiate between the share and certificates. This means the Internet Protocol-based setup is much better than the name based in terms of internet security on a dedicated shared server hosting is concerned.
Shortfalls of Dedicated Shared Server Hosting
The main disadvantage in using a dedicated shared server hosting is in the fact that you do not have the direct access to the system in case you want to make frequent changes, you therefore must rely on the server administrators to give support whenever the need arises. All name-based virtual hosts using the same Internet Protocol address must share the same digital certificates. This categorically signifies that the server cannot determine which encryption key to use to establish a connection hence the compromise in the particular website’s security.
