There is a lot of discussion online about the difference between shared hosting and an ecommerce dedicated server. With a dedicated server, you get a single machine for your website, and yours only. With shared hosting, your account sits on a server used by hundreds or thousands of other sites, which means you are sharing resources, thinner walls, and more limited security. A dedicated server gives you the resources to yourself, along with better performance and reliability, plus root-level access to install added security layers or make other changes.
For an ecommerce site, that difference matters even more. Business sites store sensitive information, including customer credit card numbers, passwords, and transaction history, which makes security and storage space fundamental to running smoothly and protecting your customers. Here are five more reasons to consider an ecommerce dedicated server.
1. Administrative Access
Shared hosting does not give you administrative access to the server, which limits what you can actually do with your site. An ecommerce dedicated server gives you full administrator or root access, so you decide which programs to install and which custom configurations to make. Root access also lets you monitor how resources are being used, so you can identify and fix issues affecting your site’s performance.
2. Privacy and Security
Most shared hosting plans promise your data is secure, and many providers genuinely do a good job. Even so, that promise does not match physically segregating your data the way an ecommerce dedicated server does, since your server has no other account on it but yours.
Security matters even more for an ecommerce site. If your data is compromised and customer information is stolen, it can damage client relationships and create a real PR problem. On a shared server, a hacker infiltrating one site with malware can spread it to every other site sharing that machine.
3. Host Multiple Domains
With your own managed server, you can run as many websites as the server can handle without paying additional fees, including subdomains and additional email accounts.
4. Speed
A shared server divides its processing power across every site it hosts. A traffic spike on one site can slow the entire server, and every site it supports, sometimes badly enough to cause a crash. An ecommerce dedicated server gives you the memory, bandwidth, and processing space to yourself, so someone else’s traffic never becomes your problem.
5. Fully Managed Services
Most hosting companies manage dedicated servers through cPanel or WHM, a fully automated control panel that handles maintenance, security updates, and script support. You also get full 24/7 access to technical support if something goes wrong.
Even small ecommerce startups benefit from an ecommerce dedicated server, and as the company grows, having a server of your own only becomes more important. With Vault Networks, businesses get a dedicated server backed by responsive customer service, strong internet networking options, and 99.99% uptime in a highly secure data center. If you are getting your ecommerce site started, reach out to us to find the right package for your business.