Managed Hosting - What is it, and things to look for in a host
Article by Douglas De’ Neill
There are many managed hosting services available for you to choose from when looking for a service provider.
Managed hosting services are a dedicated hosting service, with one website only being hosted on that web server. Companies selling this service also manage the server, so you get all the benefits of using shared server packages, in terms of services and add-on’s available, but having the space and security of maintaining your own dedicated server.
So what should you look for in your managed hosting service provider? Here are the most important items to look for:
Supreme Customer Services - You need to be able to contact your host when you need them! You need 24/7 access to these customer services, by email or by phone (or both). Make sure your host knows about the features that are offered in their packages, as you never know when you might need some help.
State of the Art Facilities - Make sure that your managed hosting provider actually owns their own data centre(s). Seek assurances about the security, uptime, performance and availability of the server you will be using.
Server Location - It may be worth double checking the location of company’s servers - many companies advertising themselves as hosts are resellers, and some big hosting providers don’t even host their sites in the same country as they are marketing their business. If you are targeting the UK market, make sure that your site is going to be hosted in the UK!
There are plenty of other items to consider too - make sure that your potential hosts have all the technologies in place, or can add them to run the website as you need it. Check all the marketing material and the terms and conditions to ensure that you know exactly what you are getting in your managed web hosting provider.
About the Author
Douglas De’ Neill is an online researcher and contributing author at CWCS - a managed hosting service provider in UK. For more information on dedicated server and web hosting, visit CWCS website.
