Availability, price and employee familiarity often determines which operating systems are offered on dedicated servers. Variations of Linux (open source operating systems) are often included at no charge to the customer. Commercial operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server, provided through a special program called Microsoft SPLA. Red Hat Enterprise is a commercial version of Linux offered to hosting providers on a monthly fee basis... what is dedicated hosting?

 

Dedicated hosting is more desirable for users with more sophisticated needs... permits the deployment of more complex applications, ... databases, streaming media.... Dedicated hosting solutions also have the ability to host multiple sites on one machine. Such solutions are usually provided on a world-class network connection, and include 24x7 monitoring of the server and network availability. Dedicated servers

 

Dedicated Server Webhosting


Definition: Dedicated hosting permits hosting customers to lease pre-configured equipment (server) and connectivity from a web hosting service provider for the customer's exclusive use unlike most other hosting packages where several customers share a hosting company's server. 

 

dedicated hosting
 


The server hardware, routing equipment, network connectivity etc is monitored and maintained by the hosting company and the server software + applications are maintained by the customer.

But why have a dedicated server? Why not share a webserver with other customers?

A dedicated server is more secure, more private and, other things being equal, it will be faster and better suited to complex applications.

The options the host provides generally includes a fully manager dedicated server or a dedicated server that is self-managed. And there may be several options in-between. Some of the services that the host may manage are a firewall, spam protection etc.

Generally the server is provided by the hosting company themselves though in some cases (colocation) the customer may be able to provide their own server. The advantage in having a dedicated server provided by the hosting company is of course that they do the maintenance and repairs. 

Payment for a dedicated server is usually done on a monthly plan rather than an outright purchase of the server. But various hosts operate differently and discounts for paying a year in advance and/or financing the purchase of the server are quite common.

More definition for dedicated hosting.