When you have decided that you need a dedicated environment which would be non-shared, you look for either Dedicated Server Hosting or Colocation. It is really an important decision to be made. There are many comapnies offering Managed Dedicated Servers and Colocation. Let us see if you really need to colocate a server or leasing a dedicated server is the fine solution for your hosting needs.

To understand what actually colocation is, I would say it as: The service where customer’s resources or hardware are hosted in hosting provider’s data center. The hosting provider is only responsible for offering Power and Connectivity. If you are looking for colocation then you are responsible to provide hardware, hard drives, wires and all other resources required.

Colocating a server gets expensive when you pay for the resources, hardware and the hosting provider asks you for an amount that equals to the cost of dedicated server. Be notified that this charges are only for the power and connectivity that a hosting provider offers to you. Also, there you will be responsible for any kind of hardware failure. Thus, making the service more expensive. If you need more resources in future then upgrade also needs to be done by you. Hosting provider may also charge you an additional cost if you need high connectivity speed.

So far, I believe that leasing a Dedicated Server is only the solution for you. If so, when shall you opt for Colocation of a server? Yes, there is a time when you shall colocate a server rather than leasing a dedicated server. If you have more boxes or hard drives, you have multiple dedicated servers then you shall opt for Colocation Server.

If you decide to purchase a control panel for your Dedicated Server, you might think of the options available for you and the one that you shall buy. In general, most of the web hosting companies offer cPanel and Plesk control panels. These are the two most popular control panels offered so far. The basic purpose for providing such control panel is to enable users to create and modify their website easily. Their functionality is designed in such a way that even if a user does not consume high technical knowledge, he/she can use it easily, following the tabs and options available within the panel.

cPanel is commonly used with Linux Dedicated Servers. Plesk is compatible with both Linux and Windows though it is commonly preferred for Windows Dedicated Servers. Comparing reviews for both, Plesk and cPanel, it is concluded that cPanel is mostly preferred amongst the users. Many of us who use Windows were eager to see a cPanel version compatible with Windows OS. Since 2006, it was said that it was supposed to be launched soon, however, no one was aware of how and when would it happen. Finally, cPanel has released the beta of its first Microsoft Windows Server® 2008-based product. cPanel has renamed this newly launched control panel from “cPanel Server Suite” to “Enkompass”. Though Enkompass has been launched, it is currently in BETA TESTING. So, the hosting providers are still providing Plesk control panel with Windows Dedicated Server. We still have to wait to see Enkompass control panel to pass the Beta Testing and get popular amongst the website owners and Windows Server owners.

While choosing a control panel, you must think of few aspects and then make a decision about which control panel you must select. The most important factor is to consider a control panel that is easiest and has better in-built web utilities. Now, we have two options to select from, cPanel and Plesk. There are other control panels also; however, as mentioned earlier, these two are the most popular ones. What all they can manage? What are their features?

The basic features offered by both cPanel as well as Plesk are similar. Creating, editing, deleting and managing your email accounts, managing your primary domain, add-on domains, sub-domains are the main features of both these control panels. Thus, providing the access to users for creating and modifying their websites is the initial aim of these panels. In addition, there are various add-ons available under these control panels using which one can install/uninstall the software like billing software, to say. Hence, to conclude we can say the compatibility and capabilities of both are sufficient for them to be the best control panels of all.

When you are ready to buy a Dedicated Server, let us first think over the configuration of the server. Many hosting companies offer Control Panel free on shared hosting plans, however, they charge for it, on VPS or Dedicated Servers.  Thus, before investing any amount you shall know that if you really need the control panel.

Basically, control panel is used to manage your domains, your email accounts, your FTP accounts and install the one-click applications etc. There are many other advanced features of control panel. However, it is not the topic what I want to discuss. Coming to the point, if control panel has these features, can you manage the server without control panel? The answer is, yes! You get complete RDP Access or full root SSH Access to the server. That helps you to manage your server. If it is so then why shall one look for the control panel option?

To answer this, if you do have much technical knowledge, you are not much familiar with the concept of Dedicated server, you cannot manage it without anyone’s help, you need a control panel to help you when you are in need.

Hence, if you know the working of Dedicated Servers, you can play with it using the remote access then it is always better to consider it without a control panel. Control Panel is resource consuming; sometimes, it may require more resources than what your site consumes. To keep yourself released with the frustration of unwanted resource usage, it is better to consider a server without control panel. The point here is, you must be a tech-person.

Now, when you have decided the server-side Operating System, there is one more thing that needs to be decided. There are both Managed and Unmanaged Servers available in the market.

There are many hosting providers that offer Unmanaged Dedicated Servers. So, what actually is Unmanaged Dedicated Server? Unmanaged Servers are all your responsibility. The hosting provider will only be responsible for the hardware, network and reboots that you may require. There might be restriction on number of reboots per day or month. You will to take care of all the software that you may install or even if server gets infected or compromised. However, if you want the provider to help you then they will charge you the administration fees.

Thus, if you are familiar with how dedicated servers work, you can simply opt for Unmanaged Dedicated Server. However, in case if you get stuck and you really need them to help you, the cost is so high that can’t be affordable. Hence, the best solution is to start with Managed Dedicated Server only.

So, how does it work?

We have briefly seen the way Managed Dedicated Server work in an article “Do I need a Dedicated Server?” in this blog. Just to be specific, if you consider Managed Dedicated Server, you are free of the unwanted headache that you might have with Unmanaged Dedicated Servers. This is because; everything related to the server is cared by the hosting provider. You are just responsible for the application that you may use. In short, Managed Dedicated Servers worth the cost.