Compare to shared web hosting, dedicated servers may seem to be a little bit costly, but the advantages of hosting your website on a dedicated server are much significantly worth it. Dedicated server hosting or a dedicated server is a type of Internet Hosting in which the customer or a client leases a whole server. In dedicated server hosting you have a total freedom over the server to select your choice of operating system, hardware, etc as well as the server hardware is owned by the provider, so they may provide support for your applications and server issues.

However, in shared web hosting though the server is managed properly, but it cannot be completely stable and reliable. Most of the time, clients using shared web hosting has to face most of the variables like overload, bad coding and scripts which affects the reliability and stability of a server. Using a dedicated server you can avoid these type of variables as it allows you to install only those applications and softwares which you really need. As well as, to keep your clients happy and satisfied an instant support is very much important. With a dedicated web server hosting you are able to provide quick support to your own clients whenever required, which is impossible when you are on a shared server.

As far as security is concern, the entire server is dedicated to you, so no one else will have access to your server. Most of the dedicated hosting plans comes with the option of an external firewall so you can better enforce your specified access rights. Also, website hosting on a dedicated server permits you to upgrade your specific server requirements anytime such as RAM, bandwidth and increase your processor speed. As I said earlier, you often will get your choice of operating system (windows & Linux). Also, you can select your own control panel through which you are able to host multiple domains and websites. Cpanel and Plesk are majorly used control panel in the hosting market. Whereas, on shared web hosting you are not able to upgrade specific requirements, you will have to upgrade the whole package.

The shared server user actually realises the need of a dedicated server when their website stats tell that how earlier a visitor left the site due to the slow loading times. This is because, on a shared hosting, you have no idea who is uploading and what to the same shared server. Also, shared hosting plans assign a single IP address to each and every domain and website hosted on that particular server. Due to that the speed is affected at which your web applications runs. Using a dedicated server you can avoid all this by affording exclusive bandwidth and your own unique IP address so the IP address of your domain points only to your website or your web applications. As well as having a dedicated IP Address also helps you to rank better in search engines. If you are on a dedicated server your website will always be up and quickly downloadble which will encourage your existing clients to refer your service to others.

If you are really serious about getting maximum exposure for less promotion then you must get a Dedicated Server now.



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Servers differ in the services they provide to the client machines. Servers are classified based on application as wells as the physical structure and size. Application servers run certain specified software applications. It can be a software framework which hosts the services or a hardware platform on which the services are deployed. The database server provides access to the primary locations of data. The entire data is stored at a single location which then makes it easy to access them from multiple client locations that can then also run concurrently.

A communication server provides the platform for the communication network. The fax server and the file server differ in the service they provide. A common type of server is the game server which acts as a common point for online gamers. Proxy servers act as a bridge between the client machine and the server. The proxy server filters the requests from the client based on the service and server demands and connects to the required server. Proxy servers are capable of editing the client requests.

Software’s that control the access to sound devices come under sound servers. Web servers accept the client HTTP requests and provide them the HTTP responses along with some optional data. Web servers are generally rack-mount servers. A home network which contains multiple machines like fax machine, printer, media devices etc can be controlled from a single machine called the home server. Home servers run on a variety of operating systems including Windows, Linux and Solaris.

Linux servers come with fully functional media service support and hence they are widely used as home servers. A common and free Linux home server is Amahi. Blade servers and rack-mount servers differ in the physical space they occupy. Blade servers also come with a blade enclosure capable of including multiple blade servers of various functionalities. Blade servers are commonly used for web hosting and cluster computing as they are ideal for these types of uses.

Blade servers are capable of handling large workloads. Rack-mount servers are those in which servers are arranged in industrial rack. A single standard rack is capable of holding 10 to 20 servers. Rack-mount servers come with rails or slides to ease inserting and removing the components. The rack mount server which comes with locking pins helps in easy server installation and removal which helps to make it both accessible and secure.

Multiple machines in a single rack are controlled using a single keyboard or mouse through a KVM switch. AMD has launched many server systems as well as chassis for rack mount environment. The Opteron server blades from AMD offer many benefits. The rack mount communication servers from Intel are widely used for data network application because of its rugged design and long life. The Intel rack mount servers come with the latest dual core and quad core CPU technology. Intel blade servers are suitable for small-to-medium as well as large data centre customers which makes them ideal for large offices and so on.



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What is LDAP server?

Directory service (LDAP server) is a software system that stores, organizes and provides access to information in a directory; a shared information infrastructure for locating, managing, administering, and organizing common items and network resources, which can include volumes, folders, files, printers, users, groups, devices, telephone numbers and other objects. To access directories servers and clients interact in the model of client/server communication. The process of directory access happens in the following way: a directory client calls API (application programming interface) to access a directory for reading or writing the information. The client call accesses the information in the directory on behalf of the requesting client via TCP/IP (the default LDAP TCP/IP ports – 636 for secure communications, 389 for unencrypted communications). The results of the action are returned to the client then. Servers provide a specific service to LDAP clients. Sometimes directory servers may become the clients of other servers to collect the necessary information for request processing.

LDAP server performs the following basic operations:



Search entries;

Compare entries;

Add entries;

Delete entries;

Modify entries;

Move entries;

Rename entries;

Extended operation;

Authentication.



According to X.500 standard, servers can be connected into a hierarchical structure. That is why users can proceed from one server to another while searching the necessary information. Web interface is widely used for server administration including remote administration.

Directory services can be used for:



Locating and providing information about people (address books, yellow pages, white pages) and distributed resources like printers;

User authentication and authorization for Web servers or other LDAP-enabled applications;

Policies that are shared by multiple applications or application instances.



Directory server main components are:



A front-end (handles LDAP client operations coming into the server over TCP/IP connection);

A database back-end (handles stores and retrieves directory objects from relational database).



Some researchers and professionals highlight the best LDAP servers from the number of open source and commercial ones:

Open source LDAP servers include:



Red Hat Directory Server/Fedora Directory Server. Red Hat Directory Server was initially bought from Netscape Security Solutions as a commercial product for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Nowadays it is produced by Red Hat with name Red Hat Directory Server. Following its policy Red Hat produced version for Fedora Core also. It is called Fedora Directory Server that is perfect for distributives on the basis of RedHat. Codes of these servers coincide greatly because of the common root. Unlike OpenLDAP Fedora/Red Hat directory servers have good documentation.

OpenLDAP. OpenLDAP is the further development of the original slapd. It is widely distributed and used on many platforms like Linux, FreeBSD, Windows and MacOS X. Documentation containing on the website is quite obsolete, but there are many useful step-by-step instructions. OpenLDAP is time-tested. Its functionality is practically identical to RedHat directory server.



Commercial LDAP Servers are:



Novell eDirectory. All products are free for higher educational establishments. It works with the help of the following operational systems: Novell Netware, Windows (NT), Linux (SUSE Enterprise, or RedHat), Solaris, AIX, HP-UX. You have everything in one product – all the necessary programs are given at once. Installation and customization are easy. Advantages - exclusive documentation and affordable price, technical support for registered users and cross-platform function. Disadvantage – closed source files.

Microsoft Active Directory. It is a part of Windows Server family. It’s a perfect solution for MS networks. Advantages – perfect integration into the system, highly qualified documentation.

Sun Java System Directory Server. Sun merged with IPlanet Company and created its new product – Sun ONE, renamed afterwards to Sun Java System Directory Server. It is not a standalone product, but just a part of Java Enterprise System. System requirements: Solaris 10, Solaris 9, Solaris 8 (only for SPARC), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and 3.1, HP-UX 11i, Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003. You can not buy it apart from Java Enterprise System. But if you decide to use complex solution from Sun, you won’t have any problems. Sun engineers will help you to install and configure it according to your requirements.

IBM Tivoli Directory Server. LDAP-solution from IBM. It is supported by the following operational systems: AIX, Solaris, Microsoft Windows 2000, HP-UX, and also Linux for Intel and IBM eServer iSeries, pSeries and zSeries. Advantage – qualified, open and free for all documentation.



LDAP servers cannot access directories without LDAP clients. Some of them are presented below:

Microsoft Windows:



Softerra LDAP Administrator/LDAP Browser;

LDAPSoft LDAP Browser/LDAP Admin Tool;

LDAPAdmin;

MaXware Directory Explorer;

Active Directory Explorer



Linux/UNIX



Evolution;

KAddressBook;

LDAPSoft LDAP Browser/Administrator.



Mac OS X



Address Book;

Directory Access;

Workgroup Manager.



Cross-platform:



Apache Directory Studio;

Ekiga (formerly GnomeMeeting);

Mozilla Thunderbird;

Novell Evolution;

phpLDAPadmin.



Storing data in a directory and sharing it amongst applications saves you time and money by keeping administration effort and system resources down.



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