In today’s hypercompetitive business climate, your online presence must meet your customers’ needs. If your online business needs should not extensive, a wide selection of hosting options can be found. But what if you’ve got different, more specific needs? What if basic webhosting just isn’t enough for your online business, employees, and customers?
In some cases, the cloud is a superb solution. In other cases, a single dedicated server is sufficient to get the job done. But for web sites and applications that require more resources and customization, a multi-dedicated setup is the precise alternative.
This post examines multi-dedicated setups and the perfect use cases for them. You’ll learn details on migrating your website to a multi-dedicated server setup, pitfalls to avoid, and optimization suggestions. Ultimately, you’ll understand the perfect solution to leverage a multi-dedicated server setup on your organization.
What Is a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup?
A multi-dedicated server setup is a hosting environment with a couple of dedicated server networked to enhance uptime and performance for hosting applications or storing data. An example of a multi-dedicated server setup could be an e-commerce website with variable traffic loads that have to be prepared for a spike with little advanced notice.
By having a couple of dedicated server working in concert, the positioning would have more stable uptime and high performance in comparison with using a single dedicated server or VPS. This kind of hosting environment gives businesses more power and suppleness than other hosting configurations. This enables businesses to customize their server environment to satisfy their specific needs.
The normal hosting path for a lot of web sites and applications starts with an easy environment like a shared hosting plan. As site traffic grows or as more users flock to an application, hosting needs change.
First, the positioning will likely upgrade to a bigger shared plan with more resources before graduating to a virtual private server (VPS). Once a VPS is not any longer sufficient, more needed resources will ultimately drive the positioning to a dedicated server or cloud environment. At this size and scale, needs often grow to be more complex than simply adding more RAM or storage. That’s where a multi-dedicated server setup is available in. With a multi-dedicated server configuration, an application or site shall be far less constrained when adding additional resources.
Moreover, a multi-dedicated server setup brings with it several customizable components that should not available with other server configurations. For instance, you may get your personal IP address, control panel, and operating system. You may also give you the chance to customize your server environment to satisfy the precise needs of your online business.
A multi-dedicated setup can be sure that your website can have the resources it must run easily and efficiently.
Should Your Business Use a Multi-dedicated Server Setup?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this query. Whether or not to make use of a multi-dedicated server setup will depend on various aspects, including the dimensions of your online business, budget, and technical expertise.
Your resource needs will factor into deciding whether to make use of a multi-dedicated server setup. In case you need extra storage or compute power, or for those who experience variable traffic patterns and loads, a multi-dedicated server environment is definitely value considering.
You could profit from using a multi-dedicated server setup for those who’re running a medium or large business. This is very true if you’ve got the budget to take a position in a high-quality server. A multi-dedicated server setup will provide you with more control over your website and applications and assist you to customize your server environment to raised meet your online business’s needs.
Advantages and Drawbacks of a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
The principal advantage of a multi-dedicated setup is that it provides power and suppleness without losing control. For instance, while the general public cloud can provide equal (and even superior) scalability, it isn’t great for storing certain kinds of information or running certain forms of applications. At the identical time, there are some drawbacks and downsides in the case of a multi-dedicated server setup.
Advantages of a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
There are lots of advantages to using a multi-dedicated server setup for your online business. A few of these advantages include the next:
- More power and suppleness: With a multi-dedicated server setup, businesses have more control over their server environment. This implies businesses can customize their servers to satisfy their specific needs.
- Increased uptime: When you’ve got your personal server, you are not sharing resources with other businesses. This may result in increased uptime on your website.
- Higher performance: With a multi-dedicated server setup, businesses can be sure that their website has the resources it must run easily and efficiently.
- Increased security: When you’ve got your personal server, you are not sharing resources with other businesses. Which means your website shall be more secure from attacks.
Drawbacks of a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
There are some disadvantages to using a multi-dedicated server setup for your online business. A few of these disadvantages include the next:
- Higher cost: Multi-dedicated setups are costlier than shared hosting plans. It’s because businesses are paying for their very own server (or servers).
- Requires technical knowledge: Organising and maintaining a multi-dedicated server calls for specific technical knowledge. Due to this fact, it’s essential to be sure that that you’ve got someone on staff with the mandatory skill set.
- Will be difficult to scale: As your online business grows, it’s possible you’ll have to add more servers to your setup. This may be difficult for those who’re not acquainted with the technical facets of a multi-dedicated server setup.
Use Cases for a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
There are lots of businesses that may profit from using a multi-dedicated server setup. A number of the businesses which will profit include:
E-Commerce Businesses
E-commerce businesses need a quick and reliable website. A multi-dedicated server setup can provide them the facility and suppleness they should run their website easily.
Businesses With High Traffic or Surges in Traffic
In case your website gets a variety of traffic, it’s possible you’ll need a dedicated server to handle the load. A multi-dedicated server setup may be a fantastic option for businesses with high traffic spikes from flash sale models or social media-driven traffic.
Businesses With Custom Applications
If you’ve got custom applications or software that it is advisable run in your website, a multi-dedicated server setup can offer you the pliability to run them easily. Multi-dedicated environments provide the memory and performance mandatory to handle the load from essentially the most resource-intensive applications.
Businesses With Sensitive Data
In case you’re handling sensitive information like medical data for HIPAA compliance, a multi-dedicated server setup can offer you the safety and peace of mind you would like.
How To Migrate Your Website to a Recent Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
In case you’re able to migrate your website to a brand new multi-dedicated server setup, there are a number of things it is advisable do.
- Determine the precise hosting provider for you: Once you’re selecting a hosting provider, it is important to substantiate that they provide a multi-dedicated server setup. Not all hosting providers offer any such setup, so you should definitely do your research.
- Select the precise server: Once you have found a hosting provider that provides a multi-dedicated server setup, it is advisable select the precise server for your online business. See that you concentrate on your online business’s needs when selecting a server.
- Migrate your website: Once you have chosen your latest server, it is advisable migrate your website to it. Take care to back up your website before you start the migration process.
- Rigorously test your website/application: Migrating to a multi-dedicated environment for the primary time is difficult for even seasoned IT veterans. Don’t rush it. You’ll want to include prolonged testing phases with dry runs to substantiate the functionality of your website or application before scheduling your final live migration.
- Go live: Once you have tested your website and the whole lot is working properly, you are able to go live along with your latest multi-dedicated server setup!
3 Common Problems With Migrating to a Recent Multi-Dedicated Server Setup and How To Solve Them
In case you’re planning to migrate your website to a brand new multi-dedicated server setup, there are a number of things it is advisable be careful for. Listed here are three common problems it’s possible you’ll encounter:
- Not enough resources: Having the resources mandatory on your website to handle its traffic and run its applications is a must. Make sure that select a server with sufficient bandwidth, disk space, memory, and processing power to support your website’s needs.
- Incompatibility: Your operating system, applications, database, scripts, and plugins must all be compatible with the brand new server so as to function properly. You’ll want to check compatibility before you migrate your website.
- Downtime: Before you start your migration, it’s critical that you concentrate on the effect downtime can have in your website. You could lose visitors and even customers in case your site is down for too long. Rigorous testing prior to scheduling your final migration is a necessity for correctly executing your migration with minimal downtime. Migrating during non-peak or off-hours if you’ll have the smallest amount of site traffic is good.
5 Suggestions for Optimizing Your Website for Performance on a Multi-Dedicated Server Setup
- Use a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN delivers content from a server that’s closer to the visitor’s location, which might help improve your website’s performance.
- Cache your data: Caching might help improve your website’s performance by storing continuously accessed data in memory so it will possibly be quickly obtained by visitors.
- Adopt a load balancer: A load balancer might help improve your website’s performance by distributing traffic evenly across the entire servers in your multi-dedicated setup.
- Use multiple server locations: Using multiple server locations might help improve your website’s performance by providing visitors with a server that’s closer to their location.
- Employ solid state drives (SSDs): SSDs might help improve your website’s performance by providing faster access to data.
Is a Multi-Dedicated Environment Right for You?
A multi-dedicated setup can profit each your website and your online business. You’ll be able to get the perfect of each worlds by gaining the facility of a dedicated server while keeping a few of the shared hosting features you understand and love. Multi-dedicated environments are a fantastic idea for businesses within the e-commerce space or those with complex applications and web sites.
The team at Liquid Web focuses on complex infrastructure environments. They might help design, deploy, and maintain your multi-server setup so you possibly can get essentially the most out of your online presence. For over 25 years, the Most Helpful Humans in Hosting have been helping small and mid-sized businesses reach latest heights. To learn more about how Liquid Web might help your online business with a multi-dedicated hosting environment, contact them today.