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Earlier servers were so expensive that most people couldn't afford it. So the idea of sharing the costs and hence the "Shared hosting" was born.
It's 2017 now. Technology has advanced and computers have become super powerful and cheap. If you're just starting now, I would suggest you to at least go for VPS.
Having said that it's not neccessary that Shared hosting is bad or useless in 2017. It has its own benefits. But if you're opting for shared hosting just because you don't know linux is just like not exercising just because you're fat.
With so much online tutorials available online (DigitalOcean itself has its own community filled with all sorts of tutorials), it's easy to learn it.
So my personal suggesting is that you go for VPS in 2017.
Shared Server (for hosting) = a web server which is shared to multiple users... each client has an account on that server (like having an account on the same computer). All these users are using the same server, same processors, same memory, same operating system etc. This type of hosting is recommended for new users, and websites which are not high resource consuming (because when you use lot of resources you do affect the other users on the same server with you - like multiple people living in the same house).
Dedicated Server = a physical server which is yours. You can use it as you want... you can install any operating system, any software, you can use the resources at full etc exactly as your personal computer but with some advantages (like flood protection, stable network, high uptime, diesel generators etc) if the server is hosted in a data center (a magical place dedicated for running servers). It is like having your own personal house.
VPS Server = virtual private server. If you tried to install multiple operating systems on the same computer, you probably saw they are independent systems, each of them being managed by you when is selected from the bootloader. Something like that is happening here but these systems are running all in parallel, splitting the resources of the computer. A VPS server, depending on its type, could be like a dedicated server, because you are able to choose for an operating system, to install the software you want an to configure the system as you want. Basically the server is divided into multiple "virtual" servers. It's like having an apartment in a block of flats.
Shared hosting (little websites, low resources, cheap), VPS (big websites, high resources, price ok), Dedicated (flexible to your requirements, a lot of resources, really heavy websites, expensive)
You should start with a shared hosting and upgrade later to a larger plan, if your website will have a high number of visitors.
You should note that the most website owners which are upgrading to vps or dedicated are doing this not because the website got popular, but necause the website is poor coded, having:
many database queries per page (many cmss makes around 100 db queries only for default template )
high page load times
high page generation times (hard coded, heavy functions)
high memory consuming scripts
too many requests per page
not using caching methods
too many unuseful plugins
high database size (unuseful tables, rows - not optimised)
A lot of resources (cpus, ram etc) are used with no purpose, a lot of electricity and money are being consumed because of poor coded softwares. So if your website will bneed a vps or dedicated please remember to check all of that and optimise the software before buying anything larger.
If you don’t have any experience running servers and maintaining them, it’s probably best to go with a shared host. If you’re wanting to eventually be able to sell to your clients as well, it might be worth looking into a reseller plan.
The thing you’ll want to be careful of is where you get your shared or reseller hosting from. These are plans that live on a server with many other customers and can run into performance issues depending on a number of factors.
The sidebar should have a couple good choices for that. I also could set you up with a deal on one of my hosting accounts. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you’d like.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not trying to advertise, just offering direct help, if needed, to OP.
I've personally done things like that on Shared Hosting, in fact, I still have shared hosting, though my needs have... "evolved." The biggest drawback for shared hosting is that if another user abuses the server, your site will suffer. The benefit... cost.
**Is this something I should learn as a prospective web developer? **
It is probably not necessary, however, if you want to have a leg up over your competitors, the more you know about it, the better.
Samuel L Dotson
If you need simplicity but a little more power than typical site builders, go for shared hosting with cPanel ( or similar panels ).
You instantly get a file manager, emails working, FTP, DNS hosting etc bundled into one. You don't have to worry much about security and so.
If you need full control ( like your site has VERY specific php settings etc ), probably go for a VPS, but remember if your site needs to have specific settings that are not normal in shared hosts, it might be vulnerable, and you need to fix your shit yourself.
So for you, I'd suggest getting shared/reseller hosting for clients, and get a cheap small droplet on DO to play around and learn about hosting stuff on it
Considering you are still a beginner, even though you work in web development, you should start out with a shared hosting provider. Choose a provider that has cPanel and a good set of tools to get you started. Of course, you should jump to the next, better hosting plan as soon as possible, after all, you will have to master them all. VPS, cloud hosting, managed hosting, they all work great and your clients will notice your experience. Here's an article that can help you out, for starters: https://medium.com/@flammircea/types-of-cloud-hosting-78d34aa6084d
Earlier servers were so expensive that most people couldn't afford it. So the idea of sharing the costs and hence the "Shared hosting" was born.
It's 2017 now. Technology has advanced and computers have become super powerful and cheap. If you're just starting now, I would suggest you to at least go for VPS.
Having said that it's not neccessary that Shared hosting is bad or useless in 2017. It has its own benefits. But if you're opting for shared hosting just because you don't know linux is just like not exercising just because you're fat.
With so much online tutorials available online (DigitalOcean itself has its own community filled with all sorts of tutorials), it's easy to learn it.
So my personal suggesting is that you go for VPS in 2017.
More replies
Shared Server (for hosting) = a web server which is shared to multiple users... each client has an account on that server (like having an account on the same computer). All these users are using the same server, same processors, same memory, same operating system etc. This type of hosting is recommended for new users, and websites which are not high resource consuming (because when you use lot of resources you do affect the other users on the same server with you - like multiple people living in the same house).
Dedicated Server = a physical server which is yours. You can use it as you want... you can install any operating system, any software, you can use the resources at full etc exactly as your personal computer but with some advantages (like flood protection, stable network, high uptime, diesel generators etc) if the server is hosted in a data center (a magical place dedicated for running servers). It is like having your own personal house.
VPS Server = virtual private server. If you tried to install multiple operating systems on the same computer, you probably saw they are independent systems, each of them being managed by you when is selected from the bootloader. Something like that is happening here but these systems are running all in parallel, splitting the resources of the computer. A VPS server, depending on its type, could be like a dedicated server, because you are able to choose for an operating system, to install the software you want an to configure the system as you want. Basically the server is divided into multiple "virtual" servers. It's like having an apartment in a block of flats.
Shared hosting (little websites, low resources, cheap), VPS (big websites, high resources, price ok), Dedicated (flexible to your requirements, a lot of resources, really heavy websites, expensive)
You should start with a shared hosting and upgrade later to a larger plan, if your website will have a high number of visitors.
You should note that the most website owners which are upgrading to vps or dedicated are doing this not because the website got popular, but necause the website is poor coded, having:
many database queries per page (many cmss makes around 100 db queries only for default template )
high page load times
high page generation times (hard coded, heavy functions)
high memory consuming scripts
too many requests per page
not using caching methods
too many unuseful plugins
high database size (unuseful tables, rows - not optimised)
A lot of resources (cpus, ram etc) are used with no purpose, a lot of electricity and money are being consumed because of poor coded softwares. So if your website will bneed a vps or dedicated please remember to check all of that and optimise the software before buying anything larger.
If you don’t have any experience running servers and maintaining them, it’s probably best to go with a shared host. If you’re wanting to eventually be able to sell to your clients as well, it might be worth looking into a reseller plan.
The thing you’ll want to be careful of is where you get your shared or reseller hosting from. These are plans that live on a server with many other customers and can run into performance issues depending on a number of factors.
The sidebar should have a couple good choices for that. I also could set you up with a deal on one of my hosting accounts. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you’d like.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not trying to advertise, just offering direct help, if needed, to OP.
More replies
I've personally done things like that on Shared Hosting, in fact, I still have shared hosting, though my needs have... "evolved." The biggest drawback for shared hosting is that if another user abuses the server, your site will suffer. The benefit... cost.
**Is this something I should learn as a prospective web developer? **
It is probably not necessary, however, if you want to have a leg up over your competitors, the more you know about it, the better.
Samuel L Dotson
If you need simplicity but a little more power than typical site builders, go for shared hosting with cPanel ( or similar panels ).
You instantly get a file manager, emails working, FTP, DNS hosting etc bundled into one. You don't have to worry much about security and so.
If you need full control ( like your site has VERY specific php settings etc ), probably go for a VPS, but remember if your site needs to have specific settings that are not normal in shared hosts, it might be vulnerable, and you need to fix your shit yourself.
So for you, I'd suggest getting shared/reseller hosting for clients, and get a cheap small droplet on DO to play around and learn about hosting stuff on it
More replies
I was going to use a VPS for hosting my site, but it would have been more of a PITA than it's worth (for me) to configure, keep updated, etc.
For hosting static sites, you could use something free like Gitlab pages or Github pages. That also gives you the advantage of git's version control.
More replies
Considering you are still a beginner, even though you work in web development, you should start out with a shared hosting provider. Choose a provider that has cPanel and a good set of tools to get you started. Of course, you should jump to the next, better hosting plan as soon as possible, after all, you will have to master them all. VPS, cloud hosting, managed hosting, they all work great and your clients will notice your experience. Here's an article that can help you out, for starters: https://medium.com/@flammircea/types-of-cloud-hosting-78d34aa6084d
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