| By :
Dirik Hameed
Colocation is being lauded as a cheap alternative to standard dedicated server hosting, but practical consumers should consider more than the price differentials in deciding which service to avail of. Co-location is less expensive because it involves shared web hosting, however, this is also why co-location is not 100% reliable. A particular risk is that your website can be affected by bugs in another website on the same server, and this risk is present no matter how well-managed the colo and colocation in is. Other risks involved in colocation are bad scripts and codes from other users or overload from too many applications and components uploaded by users on the same server. A colocation server is limited in several ways compared to a dedicated server. In the latter, you get complete use of all the server's resources, which you can use to raise the number of website hits you get. Colocation also leads to more crowded and messier servers, since they hold all the applications uploaded by the different users. This is unlike a dedicated server, which contains only applications that you need for your website.Dedicated servers provide for a quicker and more efficient method of addressing your customer's needs, because you become less dependent on your web hosting service provider compared with colo and colocation. Your web site not only looks more professional with a dedicated server, you also get to reinforce the belief of your clients in your website's stability. Web designers and programmers are the ones who should make an investment in dedicated servers instead of just getting a colocation server. This is because a dedicated server can serve as a hosting facility as well as an extra source of revenue; web developers and designers can easily tweak and fix bugs in their client's websites without any extra cost if they use a dedicated server. As much as possible, the better course of action would be to get a dedicated server instead of hosting colocation. You could lose clients if your website takes too long to load or is frequently inaccessible, and this can be the effect of using a shared server. Because it allows all your potential clients to reach you immediately, a dedicated server is definitely a good investment. These two traits—reliability and stability—will attract more and more clients. You may find out that even with fewer advertisements your sales will still steadily increase. Dedicated servers give you more control and flexibility in the management and maintenance of your website by granting you root or administrator access to all important aspects of the server. This feature is not offered in colocation. The extra costs of dedicated servers lead to apparent advantages over colocation. For instance, dedicated server companies have immediately accessible technical and customer support, which more than ensures that you're getting your money's worth with the service.
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