When you begin an online venture, it is relatively hard for you to predict whether it will be a success or a failure, so it is common to start with a shared hosting deal. It may be that you experienced no hitches with a shared hosting service for some time. Downtime may have been the reason of annoyance to you for some time, however, during your usage of the shared hosting service. Unauthorized access to your account may also have been a subject of concern to you, which kept you worried, as you were not happy with the security on your shared web hosting account. All that may have been acceptable for some time, when you were not that serious to see your project become a real success, however it seems to be no longer true. Moreover, as your hosting requirements enlarge with the passage of time because of either an increase in the number of visitors or a need for improved functionality, it becomes critical for you to consider other hosting alternatives.nA VPS web hosting solution may be regarded as suitable at such a time. The increased traffic may be sustained by a VPS hosting solution for a certain length of time. However, as the size of your online enterprise grows with the rise in demand for your products, even this may seem to be insufficient. At this stage of the life of your online venture, a dedicated hosting package may appear to be the only long-term solution to sustain the growth of the project. Consequently, you begin considering the purchase of a dedicated hosting plan, which can give your website the kind of reliability, functionality, ruggedness and top-notch performance that only gigantic businesses can have.nIn order to find out what to expect from a dedicated web hosting service, entrepreneurs are strongly advised to read this article, in view of the fact that it can give them an idea of the offerings of such a package. A dedicated server is superior to a shared server with respect to the following criteria.n 1. Full Access to ResourcesnA dedicated web hosting package, in contrast to a shared one, gives you an entire server with full control over it, instead of splitting the server into virtual partitions which are subsequently allocated to each client. This gives you the peace of mind that your server resources will not be shared with anyone else, be it the CPU, the hard disk drives, or the RAM.n 2. Customized ProgramsnThe installation of software according to your precise needs is another benefit of a dedicated server.n 3. Changeable Access Rights nIt is also possible to grant access rights to certain individuals, so that the installed applications may be used by them as well.n 4. Uncapped Bandwidth QuotanAny website that has a large customer base is expected to profit immensely from a dedicated web hosting service. This is because dedicated hosting companies do not generally limit the total data transfer, thereby allowing your site to keep functioning even at peak loads.n 5. Option to Customize As per RequirementsnAside from the ability to set up almost any type of software on the machine, what adds the maximum worth to such a plan is the degree of possible customization. The ability to customize the server is usually unlimited in the case of many dedicated server hosting companies.n 6. Add Extra Functionality As RequirednWith a dedicated hosting deal, you may select any of the available features so as to achieve the required configuration.n 7. A Broad Range of Operating Systems to Choose fromnOne of the main advantages of a dedicated server is that it gives you the ability to select the right Operating System on which your programs can be run. Two of the most widely used OSs offered by dedicated server web hosts include Windows and Red Hat Linux.n 8. Installation of Control Panel In Accordance With RequirementsnOn the control panel side, CPanel and Plesk are two of the most popular control panels, consequently these are usually offered by dedicated hosting providers. Of these, CPanel seems to be more popular than Plesk, although the latter also has a huge customer base because of a variety of functionality offered by it in contrast with the former one.n 9. Reliable ServicenStability is another major factor behind the popularity of dedicated hosting in contrast with a shared hosting server. Since your website will be the only site residing on the dedicated server, the response time of your applications will be minimal since you are the exclusive user of the server.n 10. Uncapped Bandwidth Ensures Lightning SpeednWith a dedicated server, the total bandwidth that your website is receiving will remain unaffected in view of the fact that there is no other site asking for any bandwidth from the server. A direct consequence of this will be that visitors requesting access to your site through their browsers will be able to view your site almost instantly with the minimum possible delay.n 11. Tightened SecuritynAnother significant benefit of a dedicated hosting server is that you can evade any security risks which may negatively affect your website if it is hosted on a shared server. In the case of a shared hosting server, the accounts of other users may easily get infected if another user purposely uploads a new virus into its account in order to overthrow the web host. This is because the new virus may go undiscovered by the server antivirus software, with the result that the whole system may become compromised. In order to prevent this, a big majority of dedicated servers come installed with an external hardware firewall which can tighten your security defenses along with offering you the option of modifying any access rights you may want. This frees you up from any worries regarding unauthorized access to the server, consequently, you can focus more on the business issues.n 12. Unique IP AddressnAnother major advantage of a dedicated hosting package is that your site is allocated a unique IP address, which can be identified as soon as a visitor tries to access the site URL. The availability of a unique IP address with companies offering shared hosting services is quite limited. Even those who do offer this functionality usually charge more than those who do not. The disadvantage of a single shared IP address is that the site URL address cannot be recognized immediately, instead there is a standalone piece of software hosted on the shared server which directs the URL request to the correct partition holding the website. Under normal circumstances, the URL translation operation with a shared IP address takes only a bit more time in contrast with a dedicated IP address, though it can increase significantly under peak loads. This does not happen in the case of a dedicated server since it does not require any translation software, with the result that the site loads at lightning speed.n 13. Availability of Extra Hard DisksnDedicated server hosting is also distinguished from shared server hosting in that it also offers you the option to set up extra hard disks on the server. Having an extra hard disk is pretty advantageous, given that it can be used for performing scheduled backups, apart from the primary hard disk which has the operating system and applications installed on it. This adds a great deal of safety to your essential business data and is available only with a dedicated server. An online business can greatly benefit from such redundancy by regularly backing up sensitive client data, the loss of which cannot be afforded in any case. Besides, a secondary backup FTP account may also be offered by the dedicated hosting company, which may be used to reproduce the crucial content on the regular FTP account.n ConclusionnGiven all the information presented in this article, it becomes quite easy for you to choose a dedicated hosting provider which not only satisfies your needs but is also affordable. At first, it may seem to be a bit hard, however it becomes straightforward once the user is well-acquainted with the above mentioned points. To be very frank, there is no hard and fast formula for locating the right dedicated hosting company in accordance with the user needs, and there are more than one ways to reach the correct conclusion. Nevertheless, the important qualities and advantages of dedicated server hosting outlined in this article can go a long way towards the selection of the right company.n SummarynThe purpose of this article is to identify when it becomes essential to switch from a shared to a dedicated server. This is followed by a description of the essential attributes of a dedicated server. The offered information is expected to be useful to the prospective customer so as to make a well thought-out decision.n About the AuthornMichael Smith has been reviewing and rating the leading hosting companies since 2005. His site Dedicated Hosting Company Reviews is a highly helpful resource for webmasters and entrepreneurs looking for quality hosting services for their sites.