How to Choose a Dedicated Hosting Provider
What type of service should I be looking for?
One of the most important factors in choosing the right company is knowing whether you need a managed or unmanaged server. The difference is in how much control versus automation you have. With a managed server, you will need to do much less to keep the server working, but you will have to call in any changes that need to be made as opposed to making them yourself. Unmanaged servers are usually cheaper, but you will have to spend time maintaining the server, and it's likely that you will cause major problems if you're not absolutely sure of what you're doing.
To maintain the server, it's necessary to do backups, monitor the resources, change the settings, update software, and a multitude of other things. If you don't already know how to do that (or if your IT staff does not know or have the time to do it), then you would be better off with a managed server. Otherwise, you will be allocating more financial and time resources than necessary to do something you could pay less to have highly trained professionals do for you.
What about the guts?
Depending on your software needs, you will also need to examine the technical specifications of the operating system and hardware of the server. Linux is usually preferable due to its flexibility, compatibility, and low requirements. However, there are case-specific instances where you will need to use a Windows server instead. If you are not sure, you should contact the customer service of a prospective hosting provider to determine which you need.
The hardware required for your server is also case-specific. It depends on the compatibility with your operating system as well as the requirements of the programs running. If you or your staff are unsure about the requirements, then customer service can often help you. One thing to keep in mind is that it's better to overshoot your needs if the network is crucial to your operation. As a website or network matures, it needs more resources to keep up with the growing user base, so leaving some room to grow won't hurt. However, you don't want to pay more than is necessary by over-inflating the system specifications too much—that's just wasting money without any benefit.
What about my non-technical needs?
If you're leasing a managed server, your control panel will be light and contain few settings which could mess it up. For unmanaged servers, you want to make sure that there are as many settings as possible on your control panel. If you choose to go the unmanaged route, you need as much power over the system as you can get so the server will be run the way you need it to be.
The quality of customer service and technical support are also crucial to operation. When you're first shopping for a provider, it's a good time to test their customer support teams to see if they will give you an honest answer or if they want to sell you more than you need. Get a few different opinions to see if the price seems honest. In addition, it's good to investigate the technical support services of your provider so you can be sure that help will be available if your server goes offline or you need to make a change to the hardware.
You shouldn't pay for more than you need, but you should definitely get what you pay for. The provider's support teams are part of the price of leasing a dedicated server, so you should inspect them as closely as you would inspect the hardware specifications if not more.
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