UKC

What is a dedicated server?

If your site becomes too busy for shared hosting or VPS, you may need your own dedicated server.

A dedicated server is a server whose resources are entirely dedicated to your site. None of the server resources are shared with any third parties.

Usually the maintenance of a dedicated server is your responsibility however some hosts offer managed dedicated server solutions – at a price.

You will need a dedicated server if your site becomes very busy and the resource requirements are greater than that provided by a shared hosting service.

What is shared hosting?

All cheap hosting plans that you purchase from a company are shared hosting plans.

A shared hosting plan means that you have purchased/leased webspace and resources from a server that is also offering webspace and resources to other non-related clients.

Shared hosting is the cheapest way to get web space and email facilities. Server maintenance and function is the responsibility of the web host.

Alternatives to shared hosting include VPS hosting and Dedicated Server hosting.

When do you perform server maintenance?

We perform weekly maintenance to all servers on a Sunday evening between 2200 and 0400. This time has shown to be the least active period for the servers and so any maintenance will have minimal effect.

Whose job is it to backup my data?

It is your job to backup your data. We provide comprehensive backup tools with all web hosting accounts to enable you to easily backup your data including:

  • emails – all inboxes and folders
  • data – all files and data within your hosting account
  • mysql – all databases on your account
  • files – all files within your webspace

In the even of a server failure we endeavour to restore your data using our own disaster recovery backups. If you lose your own data or your account gets hacked you need to perform a restore from your own backup set.

What is the INODES limit on my hosting account?

The use of more than 50,000 inodes on any shared account may potentially result in suspension. Accounts found to be exceeding the 50,000 inode limit will automatically be removed from our backup system to avoid overusage.

Every file (a webpage, image file, email, etc) on your account uses up 1 inode. Sites that slightly exceed our inode limits are unlikely to be suspended; however, accounts that constantly create and delete large numbers of files on a regular basis, have hundreds of thousands of files, or cause file system damage may be flagged for review and/or suspension.