Even with websites making up an important part of over 80% of businesses, there is still no standard server size. However, to some degree, someone who is considering web hosting for their business site can compare different features in each available server and determine which is the perfect size for it. When it comes to web hosting, no amount of time and attention to detail is too much considering it is the foundation of your website. Therefore, in this guide, we will be looking at how to arrive at which package is perfect for your small business. The method would be to consider the different factors that are relevant to the issue and the capabilities/components of the hardware available to you.
Factors to Consider
Before getting down to look at the components of the servers available, first, consider these factors to help make your decision easier and more informed. Those elements include:
Server Use
Knowing what you would be using your server for is essential in determining the ideal size for your small business. Therefore, you would be asking such questions as “will my visitors be uploading lots of videos”, “do I need this server mostly for backups”, and so on. In fact, once you are done choosing a domain name, the next decision you will make will be this. But a good understanding of the functionality of your server will make it easier.
If your reason for looking for a server has a lot to do with computer power, then you would be emphasising processors in your choice. While some uses rely significantly on hard drive space, others will focus more on RAM.
Number of Users
For big companies and servers used for website hosting, it is critical to determine the number of persons who would be using it. Also, you will have to go further to calculate the volume of users at particular times. There is a formula for calculating what the processing power and memory each request made to such a server will be.
However, since you are measuring for a small business server, the number of users would be obvious and hence, the demand on your service will be easy to calculate especially when it is basically for email handling. However, you should also be able to consider the number of users you expect to have in the future.
Redundancy
Assuming you have been able to narrow down these factors and have an idea of the size of server you need, there is also something else to factor in. Because of the need for backup (even when you have taken all security and hardware measures to ensure you need to), you will need a server you can depend on. This is why the good ones are fitted with multiple redundancies that are designed to kick in in the event that any component begins malfunctioning.
However, these extra components increase both the cost and power that a server consumes which generally affects the size you will ideally be going for.
Set-up
When setting up a server for your small business, you will have to also consider whether it will be done in your office or hosted in the cloud. Whichever you decide to go for may have a bearing on the size that is ideal for you. For instance, with cloud-hosted servers, you won’t have any physical access to it and the charges will be recurrent. This will have you re-evaluating your needs for size in each component.
Components
The kind of hardware component of any server you come to choose will be determined by your specific needs. So when you are choosing a server, you have to check out the component of each.
RAM
When you are running a business, you will need to pull up information and most times as quickly as possible. It is the RAM of your server that helps in that. It serves as the memory of the computer where you hold some data but are not really stored permanently as you do in your hard drive. When more information is needed, the hard drive is accessed. Therefore, if you need faster access to information, then you would need a server size with a slightly large RAM.
Processors
If you are more interested in speed, then you should focus on the processors of each server available to you. If the RAM is the memory of your server, the processor is the brain and today, you will find a lot of servers that run on multiple core processors. These are the ones you should be checking out for more efficient communication
Hard Drive
While RAM is the short term memory of your server, your hard drive is the long term memory. This is where you store all your data. Therefore, the size will be dependent on the amount of data your business will be storing. However, hard drive consideration should come after you have been able to measure and factor in everything else your server will be doing. This way, you will easily check off each server package for those that meet your specifications.
Final Thoughts
Now you have determined your needs, server type and size, and your budget, you can then go ahead to make the purchase. That is assuming you have decided to go for the one you can set up in your office, however. Just make sure you have enough of a server so that your resources don’t run slowly – which can be frustrating and produce poor results. Domains4less.co.nz offers more information on the ideal server size and web host for your small business.
