Silicon House

Powering Top Blue Chip Companies and Successful Hot Start Ups around the World
Ranked TOP Performer among the registrars by NIXI
Serving over 750000 clients in 90+ countries

Phone: +91-7667-200-300 / 044-24412448 / 24412748 / 24405807

Enquiry: http://enquiry.siliconhouse.net
Visit: www.siliconhouse.net

Dedicated Servers - Ebook

1. What is a Dedicated Server ?
2. How to choose a Dedicated Server ?
3. Key Features of a Good Dedicated Server
4. About Silicon House

Aim: This Ebook provides useful insights on what is a dedicated server, how to choose a dedicated
server, shared web hosting vs dedicated servers, key features of a Good Dedicated Server.

Author: Dolphin Thoughts [ Silicon House – Rapid Action Force ]

What is a Dedicated Server ?

Dedicated Server is a bare metal server which is allotted for a single client. This way the
entire server configuration, software, settings can be customized according to the customer's
requirement. Unlike shared reseller hosting, Dedicated Servers come with complete root or
administrator access.

In a dedicated server customer can install, tweak any software or settings in their server. Also
Dedicated Servers provide the highest level of security when compared to shared hosting
environment as only one customer's websites or applications are hosted in the server and
also server can be hardened for a better security.

Shared Hosting Vs Dedicated Servers – A Comparison

Shared Hosting Dedicated Servers

Deployment Instant Setup: Shared Build Lead Time: Dedicated Servers

Time Hosting runs as a part of a require a server build lead time to go
monster server. Since the live. This is partly due to customizations
server is already set up and in hardware or software requirement.
running, to create an account But with recent automation
takes little time. developments, a bare metal server can
be built, tested and deployed in few
 hours time.

Hardware A single customer or site Dedicated server allows a single

Scaling cannot monopolise the entire customer to utilize all its resources.
hardware resources. Key Need for upgrade does not arise
parameters such disk space, frequently. When it occurs, upgrade can
bandwidth can be scaled up be done in few min to few hours based
instantly. But RAM on the nature of upgrade.
[ memory ] and port speed
cannot be scaled up
immediately without
downtime.

Privileges Only account level access. Full root privilege available.

Network 100 / 1000 Mbps 1 Gbps port speed

Software Standard Components and Allows complete customization of

Customization OS settings are available. software present in the server. Can also
allow installation of new software.

Resource Shared Accounts are usually The entire resource allotted can be
Usage Limits set up in Dual Hexa Core utilized. 100 % resource utilization is
with 256 GB RAM servers possible.
with monster processing
capabilities. Hence the
general usage allowed would
be 17 – 25 % of total
resource for not more than
90 sec.

Recommended Small portals, applications, Best suited for large portals, ERPs,
Users ERPs, CRMs which are CRMs and can also host websites that
developed in standard php / require server side tweaking in software
mysql or asp / asp.net / level. Payment Gateways, Secure
mssql environment. Applications, PCI compliance related
Applications that does not websites, Large Media Streaming,
require any high resources or Audio Streaming can be hosted in
customization in server side. dedicated servers.

Operational Shared Hosting servers host Best for running running highly secure,
Concerns multiple domains in the same business applications, large portals,
environment for different high end high db usage websites.
customers. Hence the However the hardware upgrade or
hosting environment is change requires downtime. Scalability
standard and customization within short notice is difficult. Backup is
cannot be done to settings in easy using a secondary drive and
the server side. For example remote backup also. Requires good co-
php or asp configurations, ordination with developers, systems
memory limits, CPU usage admins for complete utilization of the
etc. Also certain activities server resources.
such as bulk mailing,
newsletter sending in bulk,
type of content hosted will be
restricted or not allowed.

How To Choose The Right Dedicated Server ?

Dedicated Servers Design Considerations

While choosing a Dedicated Server the following factors have to be considered;

User Base: This refers to users who will access the system online, like customers, vendors
and partners. A system that is open to public will have to be designed to take unexpected
spike in usage. Whereas a system that is closed within and organization such as vendors and
partners must consider more about features and computing than user spikes as the number
of users are known to greater extent. Scalability mainly depends on the type of application
that is being run, either closed or open to public users.

Type of content that is delivered using the dedicated servers: This refers to the media in
which the user receives the content. For example, html or other web pages, audio, video etc.
If the content is delivered in rich media, then enough consideration must be given for past
usage spikes, processing capability, network availability and capacity. For example a rich
media delivery would require a minimum of 1000 mbps port speed for good performance
where as html or webpage deliver would require only 100mbps port speed in a dedicated
server.

Past Usage Spikes and Forecasts: Any dedicated server configuration design must be done
based on data rather than intuition. This will help in designing the most optimum dedicated
server configuration at the lowest possible cost. Each feature added must be authenticated by
quality data and reasonable logic.

Security & Compliance: Certain industries such as finance, medical require data retention
and security as per federal laws. In such cases extra care must be taken to meet those
compliance procedures. For example HIPAAC and Sorbs – Oxley requires data to be
transmitted and stored in a secured environment. It also requires retention of all data archival
for specific duration which can be achieved by designing proper firewall, intrusion detection
and backup systems.

Type of Application and its Limitations: This is generally neglected while designing a
dedicated server configuration. But it plays a vital role in performance as well as availability.
Important factors such as application platform, back end database, connection methods, web
services must be taken into consideration while designing a delivery system. Also the
application has to be designed in such a way that it is multi-layered and highly portable. It is
always advisable to at least have an application layer, data access layer and data layer.

Software, Hardware and Technology Scalability: This involves good level of interaction
between the developers as well as dedicated server system architects. Any application must
be developed in a highly scalable and robust environment. Be it the OS, scripting language,
web server, database server or hardware, it must be selected with future in mind. A very good
technology with less scope of development in future should be a lesser choice than a stable
technology with a promising future.

Key Features of a Good Dedicated Server

The features of a dedicated server depends on what type of dedicated server is chosen.
Choice of a dedicated server configuration is based on what stage of scaling a customer is in.
It varies from a start up to an already established business. The following points prioritizes the
features which are considered very very essential in choosing a dedicated server.

CPU: CPU is the computing power that you require in order to run your web applications or
portal. Usually decided on number of cores that is required to run the applications or to handle
any spikes in usage by customers. In a dedicated environment, it is better to start at least with
a single quad core [ 4 cores ] as many of the current applications, operating systems and
software require good amount of computing power. While choosing for stability during load
spikes a dual processor with 8 cores or 12 cores is much preferred. The CPU speed and
scalability for future expansion must be kept in mind. Because there are few instances where
upgrade cannot be done when the type cpu itself has limitations.

MEMORY: Memory is one of the most important feature which determines how your
application or portal behaves when large number of users or heavy application runs in your
server. In linux servers, memory also plays an important role in disk caching thus making it
work faster. Heavy database servers, media streaming applications, large portals require very
good amount of memory and free memory also. The basic would be to start with 8 GB and
can be upgraded upto 512 GB RAM in latest devices. Like CPU, care must be to taken while
choosing the type of server [ cpu, mother board ] as few have limitations in adding more RAM
slots.

HARD DISKS: Disks play a vital role in speed with which your application runs when it comes
to heavy disk I/O such as database servers, streaming servers, large portals. If disk writes are
going to be very high, then it is better to go for a SAS or a SSD drive. SSD drive has one
more advantage where in reads will be much faster than normal SATA drives. However in few
cases writes are comparatively slower than few enterprise SATA. A combination of SSD for
disk caching, read writes and SATA for back up can reduce the cost considerably.

Disks are continuously used and hence failure is something which is expected. However,
RAID mirroring of disks will save to a large extent from such failures. RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID
10 are available options in a dedicated server environment.

NETWORK: The over all backbone to which the dedicated server is connected determines
the speed with users can access the server. However more important is the port speed at
which data travels out of the server first. 100Mbps, 1 Gbps , 10 Gbps are the available
options. Higher the users, higher should be the port speed. In case of rich media content like
videos, it is better to start with atleast 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps is preferred. 100 Mbps is
something which can only be used in case of a Sandbox Environment.

SOFTWARE: Dedicated Servers come with various operating systems installed like Centos,
Red Hat, Ubuntu, Oracle Linux, Windows. The choice of operating systems depends on what
scripting language is used and what are the scaling options. For example, .net and asp pages
work in windows where as php, mysql can work both in linux and windows dedicated servers.
While open source operating systems and software allows scaling at a much cheaper cost,
proprietary software selection should consider future licensing cost too.

Also application servers like tomcat, jboss would work in sync with web servers. These has to
be considered carefully as scaling of dedicated servers to a high availability platform would
require these components to work with Load Balancers, Active Failovers etc.
CONTROL PANEL: Control Panels like cPanel and Plesk can considerably reduce the work
load of system admins. Hence it is widely preferred by System Admins to have a control panel
installed in the dedicated servers. They also provide a consolidated view of the servers,
allows key functions like http, ftp, database, email, DNS setup quickly. They also provide a
way where in dedicated server owners can resell the space in the server as hosting provider.

About Silicon House

Silicon House is one of the largest Dedicated Servers and Cloud Server provider in
India. Silicon House is highly specialized building and running Fully Automated
Virtual Data Center spanning across three continents. The key difference is our
expertise and experience in cutting edge technology to provide a practical and
working solution for thousands of customers in more than 90+ countries.

Business Focus

Silicon House is a complete solution provider for dedicated servers, cloud servers,
reseller hosting and domain registration. Our expertise is in implementing high
availability, high performance and hybrid cloud / dedicated servers. The solutions
that we offer are Fully Managed and hence we take care of the server side
infrastructure while you can concentrate on your core businesses.

Innovate & Expertise

Innovation has allowed us to convert every problem presented to us into products

such as Arrow Global Load Balancing, Arrow Apps Layer Syncing, Arrow Tomcat
Plugin, Arrow DB Sync a multi-zone Database Layer Syncing, XMAIL Trac a mail
tracking and archiving solution, Arrow Shield an intrusion detection system, Arrow
Media Streaming Servers, Biz Intel Reporting. With over Two Decades of hosting
expertise, we have converted these innovations into working solutions and keep
building expertise in them.

Stats

Silicon House runs hundreds of servers serving customers in more than 90+
countries.

1. We handle more than 70 million emails per day

2. Our Fully Automated Virtual Data Center network spans over three continents,
four countries
3. Our servers power more than 750,000+ websites
4. We are pioneers in building Fully Automated Virtual Data Centers integrated
with multi-location cloud servers
5. Innovation is our base and we consistently do that. Our innovative
development has resulted in products and services such as Arrow Global Load
Balancer, Arrow Apps Sync, Arrow Tomcat Plugin, Arrow Multi-Zone DB Sync,
XMAIL Trac, Super Reseller Suite, Arrow Shield, Arrow Media Streaming Servers,
Biz Intel Reporting etc.

Accreditation

Silicon House is a pioneer in introducing many services in web hosting industry in

India. We are the pioneers in introducing Fully Managed Dedicated Server Hosting
in India. We are the pioneers to introduce pre-hardened elastic cloud server
hosting in India.

1. Silicon House is a fully accredited .IN registrar

2. Silicon House is ranked as a TOP PERFORMING REGISTRAR by NIXI

On High Availability Solutions side, we have been building bare metal servers or
dedicated servers, clusters, cloud servers, hybrid servers, global load balancers
for more than Two Decades in India. We are the first company in India to build
Fully Automated Virtual Data Center spanning three Continents.

Our High Availability Configurations with Global Load Balancing are time tested
and has been used by many of the very successful start ups around the world

© Copyright Silicon House

All logos and trademarks are owned by the respective owners.