Managed vs. Unmanaged Dedicated Servers

Making the choice to run your website from a dedicated server is one that you won’t regret, but the decision-making isn’t over yet. You’ll still need to decide whether you want to run it from an unmanaged dedicated server, or a managed server. The choice could be a big one your decision will need to be based on how much technical manpower you have, and how much maintenance you want to perform on your site.

When you get a managed server from a web host, all you will need to provide is the data, or rather the information that you want up on your website. While the client can still have access to the administrative resources to their server, they will never need them because the web host will perform all technical maintenance and will take care of problems and issues should any come up. All of the support, along with the storage space and all the server’s resources, will be included within the web hosting package.

An unmanaged dedicated server on the other hand, is completely operated and maintained by the client. Should an issue or problem arise, it will be the client’s responsibility to take care of it. The web host in this case will still provide things such as storage space, physical security, and bandwidth, but there will be no technical assistance. Often times, web hosts will provide a technical consultant session, but this will be charged in addition to the server package. Even business owners that have a lot of technical know-how will still probably need to hire a team to manage and maintain the servers, as it can take a lot of time away from running the business.

Managed dedicated servers are a popular choice, because they remove the burden of requiring so much of the business owner’s time. However, because unmanaged dedicated servers require less of the web host, they are also generally the cheaper option and so, the choice for business owners that have a smaller budget for their web hosting needs. When the choice is being made strictly on budget constraints, the cost of the technical team that will need to maintain them should also be considered, as this will be a large factor in the ultimate cost of the server.

Even with the popularity of managed dedicated servers, unmanaged servers still seems to be the most popular. This is not only because of the cost saving benefits they offer, but also because they give business owners complete control and total access to anything and everything, and allows them to have the final say on what goes up.

Whether you choose an unmanaged or managed dedicated server will depend on what you need out of your server and how much, or how little, you want to actually operate it and deal with it. Either way, choosing a dedicated server is a great choice for your business and will result in a website that’s much bigger, much faster, and performs much better.