Choosing The Right Server For Your Business

Choosing The Right Server For Your Business

The use of the server is transforming small businesses.  The cost of acquisition and maintenance continues to go down with efficiency improving by the day. When choosing the right server for your business, you will be presented with a plethora of server varieties to choose from and this poses the challenge; which is the most appropriate for your kind of business? The big brands like IBM, HP, the Apple and such have server platforms, which are small- business user -friendly.  The server type you need will depend on your business needs, the objectives and of course, the much you’re willing to spend.  Many businesses would go over budget to invest in a server that the company doesn’t need at all, or even skimp on a model that would have been useful a few years in the future.

To ensure that you are making the right choices in acquiring a server for your business, here are some of the things to consider.

Do you need a physical or a cloud-based server?

Whether to purchase a physical server for your business or an offsite one accessed via the cloud would be determined predominantly by the much you are willing to spend on that parameter. You’ll need space, which is costly, and there is the security risk. Therefore, the cloud-based servers would be a better option.  The cloud servers could also cost a lot more on monthly basis compared to the physical and therefore you should give priority to that which is tenable for your business.

Being in control of the hardware also gives you an opportunity to customize and in case you need to reconfigure, it would be easy to access. You are also in control of the system uptime and in case there is a problem – you can easily engage the technical team for a quick fix.

Although industry giants like Cisco predict a high preference of cloud data in the near future, an understanding of your company’s specific needs will guide your choice.

The server’s physical shape

There are three main types of physical servers that you can get from dedicated servers UK whose choice should be determined by the size of your business: tower, rack and blade. Tower servers do not need any kind of specialized cooling and therefore the best option for a small company with approximately 15 employees.  Again, they are also scalable and thus, they can last for long with a small business. Rack servers are an upgrade of the tower- they occupy less space but require their own cooling area. These are best fitted for a larger business. Top in the tier are the blade servers, which require more space compared to the two and an advanced cooling system- corporate need such to support their systems.

Consider Virtualization

This is where a single server is used as a hypervisor to create several other virtual machines; it splits the processor power, the memory and the storage capacity of the server in-between. With this, IT departments find it more flexible when assigning server resources. With the set-up, new virtual servers are created within minutes by cloning on the existing one.  Thus, this saves on the cost of having to purchase and install a new server.

Do you purchase a pre-made server or built it yourself?

The benefits of making the servers yourself outweigh the demerits. Here, you are at liberty to manage the cost. The only challenge is that in case it develops issues, there is no warranty but the ultimate decision depends on the business’ preferences.

The above factors will help any business in determining the kind of a server that would be appropriate for them. Do not despise the advice of the experts in the industry; they will save you a fortune.