Hard Disks for Web Servers Explained

A web server's hard disk drives are vital because they are where your website data is actually stored. There are several important technical terms to describe hard disk performance. They sound complicated at first, but they are actually very simple. Knowing what these terms mean can help you to choose a hard disk drive, or understand whether a web hosting company is giving you a good deal on a server. Here are the main terms used to describe hard disk drives.

Capacity-- How much data can be stored on the drive. This is measured in Gigabytes (GB). Note that hard disk manufacturers use what is known as a decimal Gigabyte, which is 10 to the power 9 or 1,000,000,000 bytes. Computers use what is known as a binary Gigabyte, which is 2 to the power 30 or 1,073,741,824 bytes. Therefore the hard disk capacity in GB claimed by the manufacturer is smaller than the number your computer will report. This has been standard practise for many years, but it can catch out beginners. You will need to choose a disk with several times more capacity than your website takes up, in order to leave space for future growth.

Spindle Speed-- This is simply how fast the platters (the hard metal disks that store the data) rotate. It is usually between 5,400 and 15,000 rpm. In a low to mid range web server you should be looking for a 7,200 rpm drive. A high end server would have 10,000 or 15,000 rpm drives. The faster the spindle speed, the faster the drive can read and write data, so faster is better.

Seek time-- A measure of how long it takes for a hard disk drive to move its heads to the correct part of the platters to find the data that it is looking for. This is measured in milliseconds (ms). This will be somewhere around 10 ms, give or take 5 ms. The lower the figure, the faster the drive finds the data.

Cache-- The drive stores some data in Random Access Memory known as the cache buffer. It is much faster to access the buffer than it is to find data on the drive. The drive controller keeps data that you have recently used in the cache in case you need it again, and it also reads data from the disk that it thinks you might ask for next. This makes it faster to access data, so long as the data you asked for is in the cache. Otherwise the drive will have to find it on disk. Cache memory is especially important for accessing small, frequently used files. Cache sizes start from around 8 Megabytes, the more the better.

Sustained Transfer Rate-- How fast the drive can transfer large files that do not fit into the cache buffer, or small files that were not in the cache. In other words, this is the maximum rate that the drive can read files from the disk itself. The greater the rate, the better, especially if most of your data is stored in large files.

Interface-- This is the connection between the drive and the computer's processor. Older servers use PATA, also known as Parallel ATA or IDE. Newer servers use SATA, also known as Serial ATA. High-end, expensive servers use SCSI, and very high-end servers use Fibre Channel. If you are just starting out with your first dedicated web server, you will probably want a SATA hard drive.

RAID-- This is where two or more hard disks are connected together, which gives improved speed and/or reliability compared to a single hard disk drive. You should consider RAID hard disks for your web server to improve reliability.

Now you know the vocabulary, you will be better able to choose hard disk drives when you rent or buy a web server.

Jimmy Martin is a writer and webmaster. You can read more of his guides at www.eejitsguides.com

Virtual Dedicated Server-When Dedicated is Still Too Much for Your Wallet

A virtual dedicated or private server is a pseudo server running on a dedicated server. Virtual servers typically have their own dedicated operating system that can sometimes vary from the operating system of the server they are on. To a virtual server the rest of the server does not exist. Ten virtual servers on one dedicated server cannot see each other or the server they're on.

Because of this encapsulation or insulation from other hosting accounts on the server, virtual accounts offer a great deal of flexibility where configuration is concerned. A typical VPS or VDS account might come with a certain control panel for example. If you wish to use a different control panel you can simply install one through root access. If PHP, MySQL or other modules are behind the times then you simply upgrade them.

Note also that you are the server admin. With a shared hosting account the server is upgraded by the company and security is maintained by them as well. The same can be said about the server that your virtual dedicated server runs on but not about your virtual dedicated server. Software and security are all your responsibilities making you a miniature server admin.

One way of looking at this is that there are things you just have to learn some times. A good virtual server account does usually come with software installed and a certain level of stock security. As long as you do not need to upgrade many times you will be just fine working from a control panel to create new web sites.

One can easily pay $120 to $300 a month USD for a dedicated server. If your site is just starting out many times you won't even come close to using those resources for a bit. If you have the budget for a dedicated server than it's the way to go but if you need a price break then consider virtual server hosting. You can find a decent virtual server account for just under $35 a month USD. If your coming from a typical shared hosting account you will appreciate the difference in performance and flexibility

Dedicated Web Server Hosting

Web hosting is one of the revolutionary breakthroughs brought to us by the advent of cyber technology. Now you can learn, play, interact, make friends, draw, or compose music on the Net. Dedicated hosting means creating a site and making it available on the internet. Nonetheless, Websites with multiple numbers of pages, or Websites which are commercial and business oriented, are hosted at various prices. Obviously, for that there has to be a registered domain name to run the related Website. Dedicated servers are meant for faster processing and more disk space and RAM than shared hosting. A dedicated server not only allows an individual to customize and individualize server settings for his unique requirements, but also augments all kinds of Web-based works with faster delivery and maximum performance. Service Level Agreements (SLA's) are another important part of the dedicated Web hosting server requirement systems.

A combination of highly technical characteristics contributes a lot to the optimal performance of a dedicated Web hosting server, to exercise total control over the Web and its other affiliated programs and other things.

A few of the most desirable features for the ideal dedicated Web-hosting server are:

a) High availability of data processing units

b) High performance data centers for maximum output in minimum time

c) Multiple backup generators along with battery backup

d) Fiber entry on two sides of the facilities

e) Superfluous path fiber to upstream providers through multiple transport providers

f) Total of more than twenty-five gigabyte Internet connections

g) Redundant network cores and total of 30 backbone routers for optimal output mode

h) Two network operations centers staffed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Dedicated Hosting provides detailed information on Dedicated Hosting, Dedicated Web Hosting, Dedicated Hosting Servers, Dedicated Web Server Hosting and more. Dedicated Hosting is affiliated with FTP Site Hosting.

Cheap Dedicated Server: The Ins and Outs Of Hosting Service Selection

In this article I will go over the ins and outs of shared packages (supervised and unmanaged), reseller hosting, virtual private server accounts, personalized hosting, and even arrangements your own sites on your own individual-only servers. Stick on by!

Finding a cheap dedicated server web hosting purchase can be a harrowing session especially if you are a beginner to this topic. Essentially, hundreds of posts across the internet are being passed back and forth debating the merits of various exclusive server hosting offerings.

The bottomline is this, Finding a cheap dedicated packages server solution is not difficult. Here is the rule of thumb for beginners:

1. shared web hosting mostly gives you less performance as you are Basically sharing your web hosting with many other hosting subscribers, sometimes countless or even hundreds of thousands of them. Also, you will get less access to the technical aspects of the arrangements. Clearly this is a good answer for beginners. 2. reseller hosting gives you a bit more flexibility, but ultimately all the shared accounts will be sharing resources such as CPU and Ram. You get a bit more control in that you can setup accounts and your own domain names. This is an attractive packages alternative for those with lower to medium trafficked sites. 3. vps web hosting is pretty much the same as the previous options in terms of it still being a 'shared' answer, but it gives you far more control over your own hosting environment, and giving you greater resources allocated solely for your needs. This is normally the step individuals pursue who do not need a full-blown personalized server package off the bat. 4. individual-only server hosting is what it sounds like, you get the whole shebang, total access to your web hosting machine and you are free to alter the server requirements to whatever you desire. You get better performance and flexibility.

Those previously mentioned opportunities are mainly what's found to website owners all over. It's not persistently cut and dry in terms of how to decide on the best setups solution. I.e. you should never base it solely on price. Reputation and years of operation of the firm are crucial points. Do not entrust your internet existence to unstable operations!

Magnificent windows dedicated server items can be downloaded from my web page.

http://www.24hrdedicatedhosting.com/windows-dedicated-server/

Dedicated Servers ? Backup And Recovery Strategies For Web Hosting Companies

What kind of backup recovery strategy should a company have for its dedicated server? Web hosting companies have been debating this architecture since their existence began. It is really a question pondered by the whole IT community. There are many right solutions, dependent on your company?s ability to handle downtime. The correct solution for you will factor in the amount of redundant protection you need against the overall cost.

Before we discuss the different options for backing up and recovering your dedicated server, we should mention that the server hardware, data center, and fiber connection are all critical to reliability. This article is specifically focused on strategies to backup and recover your server?s data.

At a minimum, you can create a partition in your hard drive and backup your server weekly or monthly. There is no cost to this kind of solution, but the downsides are obvious. If your hard drive crashes, you will lose your backup as well. This kind of solution is only recommended if you can afford to lose all of your data, which most web hosting companies cannot.

Next, you can contract a remote backup service to set up offsite backups. These backups can be run daily, weekly, or monthly. The cost of this solution is around $30-$50/month depending on the web hosting provider. This option gives you a solid backup in case your hard drive crashes. The downside is that recovery time will take 6-12 hours or more depending on how much data you have. The data has to be manually copied over, and this is a slow process. If you can afford the cost, this solution is part of an overall backup system, but it is not recommended as your only solution.

The next backup option is to have a second hard drive installed on your server and have it set up to do daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Most web hosting companies that provide dedicated servers will charge between $15-$30 for a second hard drive. This is a nice compliment to the previous solution if you have the budget for both. The recovery time is faster then a remote backup. But unlike a remote backup, if your dedicated server or the datacenter are down, then you cannot access the backup. For most small web hosting companies this is not a problem. If their entire server or datacenter are down, they have larger issues to worry about. We recommend this as a complimentary option with a remote backup.

Next, a web hosting company can use mirrored RAID drives. This option will cost $50-$80/month more, but it provides the fastest possible recovery in case of a hard drive crash. You can just reboot using the mirrored drive, and you are back in business. The cost is a little higher, but this is a nice luxury. The downside of this option is that if your server is unavailable, then you still cannot reach your data. Additionally, if the hard drive becomes corrupted it will also corrupt your backup. This is why we recommend mirrored drives as part of a larger solution that includes other backup systems.

Finally, there are mirrored servers. This entails the largest cost and is really not necessary, except for those web hosting companies that can tolerate no downtime at all. In this scenario, if the server itself dies you can have another server ready to take the load. In fact, if your company is large enough, you might already need this kind of solution for performance. Some websites require multiple servers to handle the performance, and it is load balanced across them. In this case, if a server dies the system still runs. This is the best solution but it is not always necessary. And, of course it is costly.

We recommend a weekly remote backup to provide you with a fail safe version. Even if the datacenter burns down, you will have a copy of your data. To this we would add either mirrored RAID drives or a second hard drive, depending on your hosting company?s needs. If you are more worried about recovery time from hard drive crashes, which is the most frequent hardware problem with dedicated servers, then go with the RAID drives. If you are more worried about the hard drive getting corrupted, go with the second hard drive.

We hope this article provides you with the information you need to adequately back up your dedicated server!

Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including http://HostChart.com, http://ResellerConnection.com, http://FoundHost.com, http://ResellerForums.com, and http://HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.