Shared Hosting Services – What You Need to Know
Posted by in VPS Web HostingShared Hosting Services – What You Need to Know
Article by Amy Minz
You can often get a substantial discount off website hosting fees by utilizing a shared server. Or, you may have numerous sites of your own on the same system. But, just as sharing a house can have benefits and drawbacks, so too with a host.
One consideration is availability. Shared servers get re-booted more frequently than dedicated servers. That can occur due to numerous reasons. Another site’s applications could cause an issue or make a change that necessitates a re-boot. While that’s less common on Unix-based systems than on Windows, it still happens. Be prepared for more scheduled and unplanned downtime when you share a server.
Load is the next, and more substantial, consideration. A single pickup truck can only haul so much weight. If the truck is already filled with someone else’s cargo, it can not haul yours as effectively.
Most websites are fairly static. A reader hits a page, then spends some time skimming it before loading another. During that time, the server has the capacity to satisfy additional requests without impacting you. All the shared resources – CPU, RAM, disks, network and other components – can easily support several users (up to a point).
But all servers have finite capacity limits. The component that processes software instructions (the CPU) can only do so much. Most large servers will have several (some as many as 16), but there are still limits to what they can do. The more requests they receive, the busier they are. At some point, your software request (such as accessing a website page) has to wait a bit.
Memory on a server functions in a similar way. It’s a shared resource on the web server and there is a limited amount. As it gets used up, the system lets one process use some, then another, in turn. But sharing that resource causes delays. The more requests there are, the longer the delays. You may encounter that as waiting for a page to load in your browser or a file to download.
Bottlenecks can appear in other places outside, but connected to, the web server itself. Network components get shared with many users as does everything else. And, as with those others, the more requests there are (and the longer they tie them up) the longer the delays you encounter.
The only way to get an accurate look at whether a web server and the connected network have enough capacity is to measure and test. All systems are capable of reporting how much of what is being used.
Most can compile that information into some form of statistical report. Reviewing that data allows for a rational determination of how much capacity is being utilized and how much is still available. It also allows a knowledgeable person to make judgments of how much more sharing is possible with what level of impact.
With that data you can make a cost-benefit decision based on facts.
About the Author
If you’re not making the impact you want online, visit one of the top web design companies, Wildfire Marketing Group! And if you’re looking for a solid web host, see the Hostgator reviews, at Ace Web Hosting Reviews.
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