![\"Inside](\"http:\/\/blog.webhostingbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/4452320513_28b5509b00_o.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHardware quality<\/h2>\n
Since you\u2019ll be renting a whole physical server, it\u2019s important that you\u2019re paying for good quality hardware, and not a bunch of old components which have been thrown together in an old metal chassis. Instead, look out for dedicated servers with enterprise-grade HDDs, or even SSDs.<\/p>\n
Look out for a mention of a branded server, such as Supermicro, HP, or Dell. All of these are good quality brands of server.<\/p>\n
Support options<\/h2>\n
Almost every single dedicated server hosting provider will offer \u2018support\u2019 to some level, but the actual level of support will vary from host to host. Here are a few considerations to make when comparing support:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What happens if you have a problem? Is their support team easy to access via support ticket, phone, or live chat?<\/li>\n
- Does the hosting provider you\u2019re looking at offer 24\/7 support?<\/li>\n
- What are their response times like on each support channel?<\/li>\n
- Can their support team actually help with your issue, or do they act like robots, simply linking you to a Wiki or F.A.Q. article rather than solving your problem?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
To evaluate points 3 & 4, it might be a good idea to send a few pre-sales questions to their support team to find out how long it takes for you to get an answer to your questions \u2013 and also if the answers are helpful!<\/p>\n
Whatever your reason for choosing dedicated server hosting, support should be a key factor.<\/p>\n
Hardware replacement guarantees (SLAs etc)<\/h2>\n
These are offered by datacenters to hosting providers, and then from hosting providers to the end client. The meaning behind these guarantees is that if you have a problem, the hosting provider or datacenter which houses your server will offer to replaced the failed (or failing) hardware within a certain timeframe.<\/p>\n
If you look around comparing dedicated server hosting providers, you\u2019ll start to notice that the cheaper providers have longer SLAs (Service Level Agreements) in place for replacing hardware such as failed HDDs. So it\u2019s always a good idea to find out this information, otherwise you might only find out that your host has a poor SLA when you\u2019re in a situation where you need an urgent replacement.<\/p>\n
There are also other SLAs, such as network uptime and power availability. You should look for a host offering 99.9%+ on each of these.<\/p>\n
![\"Supermicro](\"http:\/\/blog.webhostingbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/8533890844_d70b385769_k.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSoftware Options<\/h2>\n
Operating System<\/h3>\n
Do they offer all of the main Windows & Linux distributions? If they only offer Linux, it\u2019s likely the support team will be unable to help with any Windows-related problems even if you can install a custom operating system. Look for a hosting provider which offers all of the main operating systems, though you should expect to pay an additional monthly fee for Windows-based OSs since these require a paid licence.<\/p>\n
Control Panel<\/h3>\n
Which different control panels are offered?
![\"cPanel](\"http:\/\/blog.webhostingbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/cPanel.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhilst a hosting provider might have built their own control panel, it\u2019s usually best to opt for one of the well-known panels such as cPanel\/WHM (WebHost Manager), or Plesk. This way, if you ever need to migrate your websites away, it\u2019ll be much more straightforward.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t used a control panel before to manage your server and associated websites, you should definitely try one out. We\u2019d recommend cPanel\/WHM, since this is the industry-leading control panel and offers a large range of features such as account creation\/management, email management, server-wide backups (to a remote FTP server, Amazon S3 etc.), and security management. A full feature list can be found on the official cPanel website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Additional software<\/h3>\n
Can your hosting provider install additional software such as Softaculous (1-click software installer), WHMCS (billing software) etc. if needed? Although you could buy software licences and install the software yourself, it\u2019s good to know your host can do this for you if needed.<\/p>\n
Migrating from an existing dedicated server<\/h2>\n
Can the hosting provider help you with the migration process? If you ask, many will be more than happy to this for you. As mentioned above, if you\u2019re using one of the well-known control panels, this process will be much quicker and easier.<\/p>\n
If the web host completely refuses to help you in any way, it\u2019s probably best to stay away since they might have this attitude to any problems you come across.<\/p>\n
Network Quality & Uptime<\/h2>\n