Having a dedicated server means having a single computer all to yourself to run your Web site and any program you may wish to install on your Web site. The entire computer's, or server's, resources are all reserved solely for your Web site. Now, that's called power!

So, that's what makes a dedicated server so much different from a Virtual Private Server (VPS) sharing a computer's resources with some 50 or so Web sites or a shared hosting plan sharing a computer's resources with hundreds or even a thousand Web sites.

Yes, the idea appeals to everyone. But, let's come down to earth. First of all, a dedicated server costs much more than a VPS or a shared hosting plan. That's because you have a single machine dedicated to your use only, and no one else's. Because it's costly - prices can range from less than USD100 to over USD2,000 a month - many would rather make do with a VPS than fork out hard cash for the power of the dedicated server.

Next, a dedicated server is not easy to handle or maintain. Newbies and those with less than two years' experience running Web sites should keep away from such servers. The learning curve is steep and there's every chance that something may go wrong if you type a wrong command or delete something you shouldn't have. And it's costly to hire your Web host to repair the damage. If it's not the host's network fault, but yours, you have to pay USD100 an hour for your host to rectify the fault(s) for you. That is, if you get a self-managed dedicated server.

A managed dedicated server may be much more costly, but in the long run, it is cheaper than a self-managed server where you have to do everything yourself. In self-managed servers, you have to do all the monitoring, maintenance and upgrades. So, unless you are a computer geek or have a strong base in Apache and Linux, you will be better off choosing a managed server plan.

Managed servers invariably mean that root access is not given to you. The host looks after everything. This is a good thing as the server is kept out of your prying hands which could do some nasty damage to it if you are not careful.

Never telnet into your dedicated server as the transaction process is not encrypted and can be read by anyone eavesdropping on the Internet. Use a secure process, such as SSH, instead. Even if you are careful, there's every chance that someone may have hacked into your server and placed some root kits in your server. There are so many programs out there to help you keep track of your server but it takes an experienced chap to know what programs to look for and which ports on the server to monitor. There's always someone out there who's better than you are, and that person might just be able to hack into your server without you knowing.

You will be given a control panel with which to monitor your server and the Web sites on the server. The control panel can be PLESK, ENSIM or CPANEL.
PLESK, ENSIM or CPANEL provides a graphical front for you to manage all the functions of the server so you most likely will not need to SSH into the server and type commands. You just click the buttons on the control panel. With the control panel, you can be thousands of miles away from the host's server and yet you can control all its functions with a few clicks. You just need to go on the Internet and access the Web site where the control panel resides. These buttons control DNS, e-mail, FTP, files, databases, logs, directories, apache - the works!

Read up the control panel's manuals and familiarise yourself with the operations of the various buttons. Even as you click these buttons, you will find there are help pages along the way to guide you through.

Which control panel is right for you - PLESK or CPANEL? PLESK is straightforward and easy to use. There are only a few screens to click through but if you want more control and reliability, go for CPANEL. It's got to be the best control panel around. You can activate your scripts quickly, look up your service status, monitor your bandwidth usage and do many many more things. The layout of the panel is so effective that one look is all you need to know how many domains you have, how many databases you have, how much diskspace, etc. They are all listed on the control panel itself. By the way, forget about ENSIM.

With a dedicated server and your own control panel, you can create domains and Web sites easily. You can create FTP user IDs for the different Web sites you set up on the server. And you can let others set up Web sites on your server. Just give them individual access to their own control panel which is a branch off your main control panel. This means you can access their control panels to make changes there too. But, be forewarned of the legal consequences of intruding into private territory. You may own the server, but that doesn't give you the right to go into your friend's or client's control panel.

Every dedicated server comes with at least two IP numbers. These numbers are for you to use for your Web sites. You see, every Web site you create on the server is referenced by the domain name, such as singaporeforums.net. If you create more than one Web site, all these Web sites created are referenced by their own domain names on your server. However, all of them can share the same IP number. It is this IP number (like telephone number) that help visitors to your Web sites find your Web site. This number is located on your server so when the Web site visitor's Internet Explorer browser wants to look up your Web site, it merely asks other computers on the Internet for the IP number and uses that IP number to find your Web site.

You can assign different IP numbers for different Web sites on your server but that is not necessary. The additional IP numbers given by your host are meant for those Web sites needing secure access - that is, their address has a letter 's', eg. https://www.singhosts.com instead of http://www.singhosts.com. Secure access is for those Web sites which have payment facilities, i.e. using credit card transactions online. The transactions are encrypted so the information processed remains confidential. You know whether a Web page or Web site has secure access by looking at the bottom right-hand of the Internet Explorer browser for the LOCKED PADLOCK symbol. LOCKED means secure or SSL access.

By the way, this process is not that simple. You can have SSL access, but you also need to purchase an online certificate, costing more than a hundred American dollars, to go with it. When a Web site visitor sees the LOCKED PADLOCK symbol and clicks on it, a certificate issued by the proper authority and containing your Web site's name will appear in a separate window. But, that is beyond the scope of the average Web site owner who can do away with the need for the certificate even though SSL access is provided for the CPANEL or PLESK control panel. When someone clicks on the LOCKED PADLOCk, a certificate will still show, but it will be an unauthenticated one.

Always keep track of the data transfer amount and never exceed the allotted amount. Additional bandwidth charges, which can be costly, will be incurred and there's no way you can dispute the charges. You can use your Web statistics but that's of little use as some statistics only track HTTP and e-mail access, but may miss FTP and other ports. Try to get a server which offers at least 1000 GB of data transfer so that you have plenty of leeway. There's the remotest of chances that the few Web sites you have on the server will ever exceed the amount given.

Anyway, it is quite normal for hosts to give 1000 GB to 2000 GB data transfer a month nowadays. Recently, some are even giving 1 Terabyte! The intense competition makes this sort of thing possible.

In recent months, dedicated servers have been offered for as low as USD59 a month! Take your time to choose your host. It's a buyer's market now. Look for free set-up. Dedicated servers are usually let out on a monthly payment basis. However, you may need to give one month's notice to cancel the server so think ahead and plan carefully when you decide to switch hosts.

One last thing - if you switch host, make sure you have transferred everything to the new host's server before giving the present host your notice of termination. You never know what some hosts may do when they find out you are leaving them. You certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to your precious files, would you?

If you are using your domain name for the nameservers, eg. ns1.singhosts.com & ns2.singhosts.com, you do not need to update the nameservers when you move house. But you need to do this next thing - once you have closed your dedicated server account, make sure you delete the IP numbers in the DNS system (found on your control panel) or you may find that you can't use your domain name as the new nameservers. What happens is, the Internet's phone books will find the IP numbers of the present host and send your Web site's visitors to the IP numbers.
As these IP numbers are no longer linked to your Web site, the Web site visitor will be led to a blank page and your Web site cannot be found by anyone.

When that happens, you will need to begin a long tedious process of contacting the present (that is now your ex-host) to remove the IP numbers. In the meantime, your Web site remains 'lost'. Of course, there's a way out - just use another domain name as the nameservers for the new server. That domain name becomes the new server name and you only need to link your Web site to the new nameservers.