Dedicated web hosting is one of three primary web hosting methods. Other types of hosting include virtual hosting, sometimes called shared hosting, which is the most common web hosting method; and clustered web hosting which uses a group of servers that are integrated in order to increase performance and redundancy for a web hosting customer who has unique needs. There are definite advantages and disadvantages to the various web hosting methods. Dedicated web hosting is a hosting method that many internet-based businesses find to be extremely advantageous.

Ownership of a dedicated server can b compared to owning a piece of property. You can put around a little fence and decide how much furniture and equipment you need.

As its name indicates, the client will have complete control over the website with the dedicated hosting service. The client can choose the software, operating system, settings, and multi-media requirements for its website. Dedicated hosting is also practical for clients that want better control of their servers but do not have the money to purchase their own servers.

Aside from flexibility and control, there are other advantages of having dedicated web hosting. Because you are the only customer using the server, you don’t share resources such as hard drive space, processing speed, bandwidth and applications, so dedicated web hosting can be a lot more efficient and can provide a lot more space and speed of processing for your website, database and email applications. The disadvantage of dedicated web hosting as compared to virtual web hosting is that the cost of dedicated web hosting is higher than that of shared hosting.

For most internet-based businesses, dedicated web hosting is sufficient; however, for businesses with advanced needs custom engineering and server design using clustered hosting may be necessary. However, clustered hosting is really pretty rare. For businesses that need custom applications and more space than what is available in a shared environment, dedicated web hosting is usually the answer.

Conversely, a server providing shared web hosting contains multiple websites on the same computer but they all have the same IP address. If you were to type in an IP address associated with a shared server, you’d get an error message or possibly would be redirected to the hosting company’s main web site. So domain names are mandatory for websites hosted on shared servers as they are the only way to access those web sites - they cannot be accessed by an IP address alone as they can be with dedicated web hosting.