UK Dedicated Server Guide: Guide To Server Hardware And Other Options
Choosing the configuration for a new dedicated server can be a confusing journey and today we are going to break down the options you have here at UK2. I’ll do my best to keep the tech lingo out of the explanations and give real world examples. Ever wondered how much memory your server should have? Or whether you should get a Linux or Windows server? Today we will answer all your questions!
Dedicated Server Hardware Options
The first thing you are presented with on our dedicated serverpage is a listing of three types of dedicated servers, bronze, silver, and gold. The difference between these is how powerful the server is from a hardware level. Our sales team can help you figure out which your site needs but first let’s tackle the different hardware options!
CPU / Processor – The CPU, or Processor, is the brain of the server and determines how fast it can execute different commands and how many at once. Our bronze server comes with a Dual Core Intel Pentium CPU while our Gold server has two Xeon Quad Core Processors. What does all that lingo mean? Basically that the Gold can handle a lot more commands than the Intel Pentium and if you had a lot of busy sites or were running intensive forums it is the better choice. As always contact our sales team for help on picking a server out as this is a broad overview.
Memory / RAM – Memory plays a vital role for websites and the more the better. The more memory your server has the more web and database queries it can store without accessing the hard drive which takes longer. Our bronze server comes with 1GB while our gold server comes with 4GB and we can go even higher if you need it!
Hard Disk / Drive – This is an easy one! A hard drive is how much storage you have for data on your server. If you were going to offer a lot of downloads you would need a lot of storage. Our bronze server comes with 80GB of storage while our gold server comes with 500GB. The gold server is also running something called “RAID 1” which means it has two drives that are exact copies of each other in case one drive breaks.
Bandwidth / Traffic – Bandwidth is how much data is sent between your visitors and your server. All our servers come with 10,000 GB which is a lot! If you want even more all our servers can be upgraded to have unmetered (unlimited) connections. You can get a 10 Mbit unmetered, 100 Mbit unmetered, or 1 Gbit unmetered port. That basically means get a huge straw to the internet and can suck down as much as you want. Great option for online gamers!
Dedicated Server Software And Management Options
Level Of Server Management – You can choose between two levels of server management at UK2. Our unmanaged services include hardware support and reboots. Our full management services handle every aspect of your server from upgrading the software, to support, to monitoring, and more!
Operating System – UK2 offers Windows and Linux servers. Generally most websites are going to want Linux unless you have a special need for Windows due to an online game that doesn’t have a Linux client or ASP.Net. With Linux our customers have access to CentOS, Debian, RedHat, or Ubuntu. CentOS is the most popular choice out of those. We offer Windows 2003 and if you need something special just let us know.
Control Panel – A key part of web hosting is the control panel. It allows you to manage your dedicated server from a web page. For Linux servers you can choose between no control panel, Webmin, cPanel, and DirectAdmin. The most popular choice is cPanel.
IP Addresses – Think of IPs as address numbers for the internet. They tell everyone who you are and how to find you. Our servers come with up to three IPs free of charge. You can host as many sites as you want on one IP but there might be reasons you need more. For example if you have multiple sites needing SSL certificate which require 1 IP each.
Remote Reboot – We offer a remote reboot service which means that if you want to reboot your server all you need to do is login and click a button instead of filing a support ticket.
If you have any other terms you would like an explanation of just leave a comment and I will help. Be sure to check out our dedicated server offerings as well as the special two for one deal we are offering!