Excellent performance and a great user experience are possible when you use a powerful web server that has ample resources. This is why you should estimate the size you’ll need from your web server – it helps keep your website running smoothly. But what size of Linux server hosting is best for your small business site? It actually depends on several factors.
Your hosting server’s load depends on how many databases and files are present, the operating system, installed software, server functions, and applications. There are several other factors to consider too, like security tools, access frequency, webpage size, number of users, whether the site is dynamic or static, and so on. Ideally, it is best to have a little more resources than the actual usage. This will allow the web server to efficiently handle high peak traffic, as well as accommodate any unusual spikes in traffic.
With the abundant options available across storage, RAM, CPU, and networking, it is time-consuming to choose the right server hosting for your use case. Let’s discuss what size server is best for you or your small business.
Table of Contents
Basic Aspects of a Web Server:
There are three main things you need to consider while choosing your web server hosting package. They are as follows:
Processors (CPU)
The CPU serves as the “brain” of the server you are hosting your website on. It handles all calculations, logic, and processing. For efficient and reliable performance, you need a server with one or more processors that has the ability to perform and handle multiple tasks. The more processors you have, the more workload it can handle.
The same processor is shared by individual servers in shared hosting. In dedicated hosting, however, you get the benefit of the full power of the processors, whether single or multiple, in the physical server. Most servers have multi-processors that allow them to act within hundredths of seconds.
It is ideal to have a multi-core processor as the higher the thread and core count, the better. This allows for performing all computing tasks with higher efficiency and speed. The usage of the processor should not be more than 80 percent, or the server will start getting slower as most of the tasks will get queued, taking a long time to respond.
RAM (Memory)
RAM (short for Random Access Memory) provides temporary storage of data processed by CPU. Its read/write operations are dozens of times faster than a typical storage device/hard drive. Your server can access your storage less often if you have enough RAM for your use case, which speeds up your server.
The amount of server memory (RAM) should be selected depending on your applications, operating system, security software, control panel, database systems, and any other memory-consuming feature. You can check for the suggested specifications and make sure that you have sufficient memory for each function and component of the web server.
It is ideal to have more RAM than what is required to cater the needs of the peak demand. Always leave about 10% of the memory free so that it doesn’t get exhausted during normal operation.
Disk Space
The recommended disk size of your web server depends on factors such as the type and size of the website, the number of users, and if your user’s website data needs to be saved. This also determines the number of files that you can actually store in your server, from HTML files to images.
A normal website comprises of various types of files of different numbers and sizes. Most of the websites have a mix of HTML (text), images and various other static elements, along with dynamic content like emails, chats, databases, comments, and more.
Much bigger disk space is required by a dynamic website that includes eCommerce sites with thousands of products, forum, or a website with huge amount of videos, images and any other type of large files. Whereas, a static website that comprises of text and few images will require less disk space as compared to a dynamic site.
While calculating the total disk space required, take into consideration the operating system, databases, applications, email, security, control panel, and other tools.
How to determine what size server hosting is best for your small business:
- Scalability: You need to be sure that your web server hosting allows you to scale your business at any point in time. Scalability is very important to smoothly handle the operations without any interruptions, in case of a spike in requests and traffic.
- Peak Traffic: The web server you choose for your small business website should be able to handle all traffic during a high peak time. This high peak time can be anywhere from a sale season on an eCommerce website, to a newsletter being released on a company’s website. Sudden traffic might come in at an alarming rate and your web server must be well-equipped to handle it.
Select a Host to Handle High Peak Time and Scalability
CDN – Content Delivery Networks – can help keep your website up at a time when your server is under significant load. However, a powerful and reliable web server will be able to efficiently handle the traffic coming to your website without the need for a CDN.
Web server hosting must always deal with two things—the power of the server and the ability to deal with that power (also referred as ‘scalability’).
While selecting a web server hosting for your small business, you want the hosting to handle the peak traffic and bear the maximum load. But sometimes, there are unforeseeable changes and your small business has to adjust to them. In these situations, scalability option will let you adapt and grow with all the changes that come in the future.
Final Thoughts
Insufficient storage, server power, or a lack of memory slows down the operations of the server resulting in a poor user experience. This is why it’s crucial to select the right server resources that can match your website’s load. It should be able to operate without any interruptions along with handling the simultaneous connections and users.
In addition to selecting the right hardware components, make sure that the hosting provider is reliable, credible, and is able to support your website operation during both normal and peak conditions.
Regardless of what kind of server or use case you have, anyone needs their server maintained and looked after. This is why if you use our managed Linux VPS hosting, we can give you a hosting experience that gives you the freedom to focus on your business. We handle everything, from maintenance to any requests that you have. We are always available and can help you get the most of your VPS.
If this guide helped you understand what to focus on when deciding the size of server hosting that’s best for your small business, feel free to share this on social media by using the share shortcuts, or leave a comment if you have any additional tips. Thank you.