A dedicated server is the ultimate hosting solution that gives you the capacity to run powerful websites and, at the same time, to be independent from your hosting provider, By far, it is a better solution than a shared hosting account or a Virtual Private Server, as the only limits that you will have depend on the server hardware.
With a shared hosting account or a VPS, you share a server with a number of people. Whether it will be just a few people with the Virtual Private Server, or a hundred with the shared hosting solution, the resources that you have are limited. There are disk space, memory and/or CPU load quotas, and if you reach the particular quota, you may have your website suspended. That's why a dedicated server would be the best choice for a website that requires a lot of system resources.
With a dedicated server, you rent your own server, so you can utilize all its resources, which depend solely on its hardware. On NTCHosting.com, you can see examples of dedicated server packages. They offer different hard drive, RAM and processor configurations, so the dedicated package that you need depends on the website that you want to have. A video sharing website, for example, may need a dual or a quad-core processor to be able to handle all the requests, while a single-core processor will be more than enough for an e-commerce website that does not need as many resources as a video website does. Some companies also offer the possibility to choose a custom configuration, selecting the hardware for your server.
One of the benefits of having a dedicated plan is that you have full root access. This allows you to install any software that you would like, ranging from a script to a server-side library that may be needed for a website to run properly. This is not possible with a shared account, so the dedicated server can give you the freedom that no other hosting solution can. In a way, you can look at it as an account with unlimited resources, suitable for any kind of website - video portals, social networks, or large corporate websites.
You can manage your dedicated server through a Secure Shell console (SSH), or via a Control Panel. You can choose the Control Panel that your hosting provider is offering, or you can install your own - Hepsia, cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, H-Sphere, etc. This gives you the opportunity to manage your server through the interface that you are familiar with and that you want to use. Some Control Panels also have reseller and user levels, so you are able to create hosting accounts in order to sell them, or you can even have resellers under your master reseller account, and they can sell web hosting for you. If you are not using all the resources of your dedicated server, this is a way to make some money to lower your costs or even to make profit.
Another advantage of the dedicated server is your independence from the hosting provider. If there is a problem, if you need any software to be installed or a backup to be restored, you can take action right away and not wait for assistance from your provider. This saves time and sometimes an unnecessary discussion between you and the provider that may delay the solution of the problem. At the same time, for hardware issues or a software problem that you cannot resolve alone, you can still rely on them, so there is a balance between independence and support.
Without a doubt, the dedicated server hosting solution is superior to any other hosting solution, and it offers high-end performance for your websites. Although it is more expensive than other packages, it is worth the money as it guarantees the stability of your website, and this could be crucial for a business website or an online store.