A web-server is a computer (or a share of a computer) connected to the internet and capable of sending content of a web page to a browser in a format understood by that browser.
This computer can be located at your home or office. However, frequently you will not have a static or fixed IP address at you home or office AND often the UPLOAD speed from your home or office computer is much slower than your download speed. Since you computer must “upload” any reply to web page requests to the internet – it is that slow part of your connection that makes for slow web pages even if we can overcome that IP address problem (we can!). This is the “A” in ADSL which also applies to most cable vision (coaxial) internet connections. IF you have a fibre optic connection you “may” have synchronous (i.e. “same”) upload and download speeds. In either case you still need to check with you ISP if running a server is even permitted under their terms of service. Lastly your ISP may block some of the ports needed for some services and it may be cumbersome or impossible to circumvent these restrictions.
The most common solution is a rented computer or “share” thereof on the internet. We designate different options for this (in ascending order of quality and at the same time descending order of economy):
a shared hosting service @ $1.99 to $6.99 per month, as it is offered by most registrars and companies like hostgator.com, bluehost.com, webhostingbuzz.com and others. While this is often the cheapest way of launching your website it has significant restrictions on resources and ability to implement certain services for your web site. While relatively simple to maintain the basic features, the advanced features are often not implemented and underlying software my be outdated or a least absent of the newest features and best practices. The biggest drawback is the fact that you share a computer with dozens or hundreds of neighbours and all of them may slow down each other AND your site too. In addition these shared services often have only a single IP which you share and any “bad conduct” by your neighbours may reflect on your site as well. This may be suitable for private sites, testing and during start-up for learning other functions. Please be aware that their apparently low prices often come only with 1 year or multi-year agreements …
- a virtual private server or VPS @ $50 – 600 per year – is your slice of a computer on the internet. Whilst you get “fixed resources” assigned to you these are not always entirely your own and you are not always allowed to use 100%. You are almost always given at least one IP address to be used only by you. For “reasonable performance” you may need at least:
- 2-3 GB of RAM,
- 1-2 virtual CPUs and preferably
- SSD (NVME) storage and a
- 1GB network connection with sufficient bandwidth.
- The older technology of openVZ is most often available at the lower price range and may be sufficient for your needs. However, many VPS sellers are ‘stuck’ with versions that restrict you to operating systems that are reaching end of service – not a deal breaker per se – but also not very desirable. Looking at other offers based on the KVM system, we find that for a slightly higher price we are offered current versions of operating systems. KVM also accommodates software packages provided through docker or flat-pack. Keep in mind that you are still sharing most resources with your neighbours and some service providers are overselling their resources by a larger margin and their VPS may become almost unusable. Your ‘basic’ VPS can be used to host multiple websites/domains without problems!
- a hybrid VPS @ $400 – $6,000 per year – is in essence a version of the above in which the provider promises to have (much) fewer neighbours on you hardware. All the other pitfalls and advantages of the VPS are essentially the same. The hybrid “may” have sufficient resources to run your own hyper-visor and accommodate more than one virtual machine similar to the dedicated server which follows below.
- a dedicated server or bare bones system @ $300 – 10,000+ per year – here you rent the entire hardware and have control over how almost all resources are used and allocated. This makes sense if you have large web-sites, many users/visitors and/or need for different servers or complicated databases. It will also work well if you are, like me, provisioning web-servers for a number of customers and do not want to see their sites slowed down by the unruly neighbours. Keep in mind that even here bottlenecks may exist in the internet connection due to the use of the data-centre and their available internet bandwidth. You will need to administer an additional layer of software for the administration and distribution of your resources to multiple VPS (which are all your own in this setup).
- co-location @ various pricing options – here you provide (or purchase) the hardware and only use the space, power and internet connection at the data-centre. NOT the best idea since hardware failure will require you to repair and/or provide new hardware (downtime of your sites). Some contract may include service repairs done by the data centre (“remote hands” which in essence moves you back to something similar to the above dedicated server. This may also include loss of data unless you have comprehensive backups of all operating layers. Instead of co-location it may be better to have a suitable leased line to your office and take care of the hardware aspects in a locations accessible to you.
In conclusion chose:
– shared hosting if you are planning a private site or one with low visitor numbers and your business is not dependent on your site.
– VPS if you need a good quality site with good response time and freedom to run your own administration.
– use a hybrid VPS if your site(s) need more resources and to avoid neighbours who slow you down (keep in mind that your neighbours likely also came to use this system because they require more resources!).
– use a dedicated server or co-location if you want to to run multiple or heavy load sites and need to have FULL control of all resources. In this scenario you likely have your own IT department and THEY will know when and why you would like to have a dedicated server or co-location arrangements.