By Daniel D Dwase

Today it would seem that businesses are desperate for a high quality, high bandwidth dedicated server with all the features they'd demand, but with none of the price tags that quality performance is attributed with.

As a result, many are not choosing the best dedicated servers thanks to the fact that they spend little time researching what they truly need.

When it comes to buying or renting a dedicated server, then one of the most essential things to do is to map out your individual requirements.

Why?...

The reasons are simple – most dedicated servers, whether to buy or rent needs to be chosen not by brand or model, but by the individual components that make a server ‘tick’.

Knowing exactly what you need means that you don't waste money on components that are unnecessary, ensuring that you only get the best dedicated servers for your budget.

Typically, there are three main uses for dedicated servers and that's web hosting, e-mail hosting and media streaming / application streaming.

As you might not initially be aware, each of these has drastically different requirements meaning that if you're smart, you spend your budget on the components that matter, leaving out the unnecessary upgrades until it's only profitable to upgrade.

Looking at web hosting, many will tell you that it's the main role of every dedicated server, and while this may be for the most part true, many 'web hosts' act as hybrid machines serving media, e-mail as well as countless server-side scripts.

This means that while you may very well get away with a slower CPU, your dedicated server will need more RAM (memory) and bandwidth to ensure that your server has enough resources available to handle many concurrent users.

Web hosting is as diverse a role as it comes, so a server should be well balanced enough to ensure that your business has the flexibility to use the server in multiple roles, yet streamlined enough as according to your budget.

Typically, if your business is hosting web content, you should already have some sort of web analytics software which can show you your sites growth trend which will give you a relatively accurate growth curve.

While this is a good way to plan your server requirements in the future, it's also important to compensate for spikes.

Bandwidth is usually the most important factor for many when it comes to choosing a server, and they often think of only two things – bandwidth and disk space.

This is a great way to buy a shared hosting package, but when it comes to buying a dedicated machine, it's important to realize that server-side scripts have both a load on the CPU and they also take memory.

As a result, if you want to have one of the best dedicated servers, don't forget to neglect these important components.

While for many, a dedicated server becomes a jack-of-all-trades, it's not always the ideal solution because for larger websites, focusing all your content in one place both creates vulnerabilities and it also means that you are possibly creating a bottleneck.

As a result, many organizations with large websites like to take advantage of multiple servers for each specific role, which lightens the load and also ensures that everything performs at its best. Sometimes, one of the best servers isn't just one server, but multiple servers.

For many however, renting or purchasing multiple servers isn't an option. This may mean that your server is forced to multi-task, and as result, when looking for the best dedicated server deals, you should ensure that you find one that includes sufficient backup and management so that if you ever do encounter a problem, your files are safe thanks to a robust backup policy.

Without one, you may very well be risking your entire website. In the event of a server failure, it could cost more than you could ever imagine.

Dedicated servers have gotten increasingly affordable recently, and many of the best dedicated servers are now affordable.

However when it comes to buying a server, there are hidden costs involved which are for the most part necessary. Backup costs, management costs and licensing costs all add up, and let's face it, a server is only the best if it actually works.

Finding the best dedicated server for many is a case of trial and error, and today many people are finding out the hard way just how many bad dedicated hosting companies are out there.

There is a difference between advertising the best servers and actually having them! Today, there are many unscrupulous hosts out there acting as resellers which can lead to problems if you need support, and more importantly there are also those who tend to oversell.

Just like overselling is a problem for shared hosting, it's also an issue for dedicated hosting, because it affects the level of support you will receive, the quality of service and it may mean that your servers do not get the management they require.

As a result, it's important to ensure that any hosting company you choose is just as professional as you are.

The best dedicated servers are the ones that are well specified, affordable and which also have everything you need.

In today's financially aware markets, the best is not necessarily the cheapest, and on the other hand, it's not necessarily the most expensive either.

When you're sourcing a dedicated server, don't just go on the price point of the machine as an indicator of quality. Ensure you check everything from the company's reputation to finding out information about the data center the servers are located in.

Today, the sad truth is that if you want one of the best dedicated servers, you will need to do more than a quick Google search.

Ultimately, while there are many 'average' quality hosts offering the best servers, dedicated servers are generally highly available.

There are plenty of high quality hosting providers out there which can provide you with a highly reliable server which managed correctly, will most likely be the best tool for the job.

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