You probably had opted for shared hosting when you first started your website. Now, as your website grows, you’re considering upgrading to something more substantial. There are plenty of options to choose from, and one is a dedicated server.
So what is a dedicated server? Essentially, it is an entire server where only your site is hosted. Hence you get all of the resources available on that server for yourself. You get plenty of power and flexibility, but it comes at a premium price.
Now let’s see what else you can do on a dedicated server.
1. Host Websites
As mentioned above, using a dedicated server for website hosting is one of the best things it can do for you. This is especially useful when you have a tremendous intensive website where millions of visitors per week. The last thing you want is for your website to be limited, losing visitors, and losing sales.
All of the server’s resources are yours to use, meaning your site’s potential to grow is only limited to the server’s physical capabilities. However, this hosting plan comes at a much higher price compared to other hosting types.
If you’re looking for a provider that provides competitive pricing, you can visit this site to know more about the plans they offer.
2. Use It for Backup
This works hand-in-hand with using a dedicated server for hosting. It takes a while to build up a website that attracts thousands, if not millions of visitors each week, and you wouldn’t want your site to go down because of technical failure or human error or, even worse, be hacked.
Thus, you can also use a dedicated server to backup all of your website data and files, so in case of worst-case scenarios, your website is safe, and you can get back up and running in no time.
3. Use It for Data Synchronizing
Dedicated servers can also be used to store files and documents. Here, every device connected to the server can access the files and data with ease. This means that you can share any essential documents easily with your workforce.
The data is stored in a virtual filing cabinet, and any changes made are automatically synchronized. Hence, everyone is always up-to-date with the latest changes in any documents and files.
4. Game Server Hosting
People who love playing multiplayer games and are located far away from each other will usually use a dedicated server as a server for their game. Yes, it does cost more, but you can share the cost with your friends. People playing games like Minecraft or other online world-building games do this the most.
The benefits of using it as a game server are 24/7 uptime, minimal downtime, and always optimal speed.
5. Use It as Your Personal Cloud Space
If your website has plenty of files, you can store every kind of files on your dedicated server, which includes:
- Documents
- Photographs
- Emails
- Videos
- Chat transcripts
- Presentations
- Spreadsheets
A great benefit is that you can access the cloud space from any device as long as it has access to the server. So your business can also benefit by giving your employees access to it and doing project management through the cloud.
6. Make a Test Server
Another use of a dedicated server is to try out any new software, applications, or operating systems that you are creating or considering to use.
When testing them on a dedicated server, you’re not putting your existing server or operating system at risk because it is always risky trying out something new, mostly untested.
By installing them on a new test server first, you can make sure that the latest software, apps, or operating systems run well with what you’re using right now. If it does not, there is no worry of the primary server going down because of it.
7. Nagios Server
Another useful thing to use your dedicated server is as a Nagios Server. It’s a powerful tool that gives you real-time information about your IT infrastructure, which you can download and install on a dedicated server.
Nagios monitor host resources, network issues, and network probes like moisture and temperature. It will inform you if something goes wrong with your host server, tries to fix it automatically, and lets you know how long it will take to fix it.
8. Use It for Company Analytics
Big data is big business, and any company that can analyze and understand itself on the deepest level can gain a tremendous competitive advantage.
A dedicated server can be used as an analytics platform to analyze massive data at once on a company level. You can choose Google Analytics, or if you prefer more control, use any open-source analytics platform like Matomo and tweak it as you see fit.
Conclusion
Now you know the eight useful things you can do with a dedicated server. Hopefully, this gives a general overview of what a dedicated server is capable of. All that’s left to do is for you to compare this with other types of hosting and choose the right one that meets your needs.