Deciding Whether You Need Managed Server Hosting

Any company that is going to exist on the Internet needs to have some kind of access to a server. This does not mean, however, that they necessarily have to set it up and run it for themselves. In some cases, it makes more sense to hire another company to house the server and even to handle the basic tasks of managing and securing it. Before signing a contract to lease a server, you should be sure that you understand whether managed server hosting is the best choice in your set of circumstances.

A contract for managed server hosting basically means that a company will provide a server for your company's use, and they will also do all of the work of making sure that it operates properly and is secured.

Some advantages to this include:

• Easier - Particularly For Small Companies: Properly administering a dedicated server can require a great deal of expertise, especially if you need to store sensitive information on it. If you do not already have someone on your staff with the skills required to do this well, it can be costly and time-consuming to either hire someone or retrain a member of your existing staff to do it.
• Security: The people who professionally manage servers have this task as the entire focus of their job. This means that they are likely to stay on top of security updates and threats in a way that someone who does more general information technology work generally will not have the time to do.

There are also some disadvantages to this arrangement, which are the reasons that businesses will sometimes prefer to choose an unmanaged hosting option.

Disadvantages may include:

• Increased Cost: Since the hosting company needs to handle managing the servers in addition to physically hosting them, they will naturally charge more for this type of hosting plan.
• Reduced Control: Some businesses, either due to their preferences or due to the regulatory requirements of their industry, want to have complete control over their servers and what happens to the software on them. In addition, it is sometimes easier to operate when you have full control over decisions like exactly when patches will be applied.
• Limited Software Options: In many cases, a hosting company will have a specific range of software that they will support. Anyone who wants to use software that is not on the list may either not have the option of doing so, or may have to pay additional fees.

The core issue of deciding whether you want managed server hosting comes down to whether you want to do the work of managing a server within your own company, or if you would rather pay the host to do it for you. If someone else is going to be doing the work, you will be paying more and giving up some control over the situation but receiving a lot of convenience in return. On the other hand, you can save some money but have to figure out how to handle the additional workload if you choose to manage the server yourself.