If you decided to rent servers for sales or other business needs, you have to think about all the nuances. This decision should not be taken recklessly.
Specifics of companies’ needs
Some business owners go over budget to buy powerful and expensive equipment that their companies don’t need. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on techniques that won’t fit when the firm grows back in a year. It’s just an unsustainable waste of money.
The process of selecting a server or other technical equipment is easier for large enterprises than for small and medium companies. As a rule, serious business projects already have their own IT infrastructures and sets of equipment, they can realize their nearest perspectives to understand their needs and tasks. Choosing a server for small businesses can be a daunting process. With modern different types of servers, processors, hard drives, and other useful equipment (you may see them at the HOSTKEY directory), it is almost impossible to figure out where to start.
A server is a remote computer with a huge bandwidth capacity. It provides uninterruptible access to the Internet and ensures a stable website performance. Such equipment is used to maintain the smooth functioning of standard PCs or applications that run over the Internet.
How to choose a server?
1. Define the specification of your project
First of all, create a list of applications/services that will be launched through the server. Also, you should approximately calculate the number of customers interested in your goods or services. After this counting, add 20% as a buffer in order to cover the resulting bursts of activity.
2. Selecting a location
After the previous step, you should think about a place to host the server. It can be located either in your office or in a cloud. There are pros and cons to each approach.
Advantages of setting in your own office:
- This option may be cheaper in the long term.
- You pay for one piece of hardware only;
Cons:
- Huge electricity costs on the power supply and cooling;
- Expenses on replacing broken equipment;
- There is no technical support 24/7;
- Hardware becomes obsolete quickly enough.
Pluses of hosting in the cloud:
- Latest generation equipment;
- Professional technical support 24/7;
- No additional maintenance costs;
- Safe and secure data storage.
As to minuses of this technology:
- You have to pay rent regularly;
- No physical access to the equipment.
3. Calculate the budget
Before purchasing or renting a server, you should calculate all your expenses to see if it is appropriate for your business. It is best to contact a specialized company that can help you take into account everything, however, here are some basic things you should remember:
Pros of cheap equipment:
- The server can be offline as long as you need;
- A good option if you don’t really care about using an old generation server;
- You can buy a new model when you realize that the old one is outdated;
Pros of an expensive option:
- Stable functioning 24×7;
- The ability to process a sufficiently large amount of data and operate them without problems;
- Latest generation equipment.
4. Selecting the type
Before choosing options, you need to consider all types of equipment and figure out which one suits you best. So, there are three types of servers:
· Hybrid. This is a kind of server used by multiple users but each of them has its own isolated OS environment. It is suitable for those who operate with a non-large amount of information.
· Cloud. This kind of equipment combines hundreds of machines to provide customers with guaranteed performance with any load.
· Dedicated models. These physical machines are intended for individual clients that ensure high productivity. However, as a rule, it is a more expensive variant than others.
5. Buying or renting
When you have completed all the previous steps and decided what exactly you need to get, you should determine a hosting provider to contact in order to buy/rent a server. We offer you the most reliable and competitive operator. On our HOSTKEY website, it is possible to find the best small business servers with ready-made configurations that are most often used or you can write to us and get a customized one after a detailed consultation. Hurry up and get the ideal solution for your projects!
