What exactly is Semi-Dedicated
Hosting? - Semi-Dedicated Hosting is basically dedicated
hosting, except the server is shared between a very limited
number of users. This may sound like virtual hosting at first,
but there are quite a few differences and benefits. Firstly,
the number of users per server is kept to a bare minimum, between
2-6 depending on traffic and resource usage. Secondly, each
user on a semi-dedicated server has the same tech support as
he would on a dedicated server. This means that our technical
support staff will tweak everything exactly to your liking,
including installing libraries, additional software, tweaking
settings on Apache, PHP, or on other system daemons. Basically
removing the limitations that are imposed by the virtual hosting
control panel when it comes to making the server run exactly
how you want it.
Who is Semi-Dedicated Hosting
for? - Semi-Dedicated Hosting is for users that want more
power than virtual accounts often offer, but aren't quite ready
to make the leap to a dedicated server. By going with a semi-dedicated
server they will be on a machine where they have access to a
large portion of the resources, allowing them to run more traffic
intensive websites as well as more complex scripts and software.
Additionally they get fine grained control over their servers
because they are no longer limited by the virtual hosting control
panel and are free to have the server tweaked exactly to their
likings. It is the perfect intermediary step between migrating
from virtual to dedicated.
How is Semi-Dedicated Hosting
different from Virtual Hosting? - There are two main differences
between Semi-Dedicated Hosting and Virtual Hosting. The first
major difference is the number of users per server. With less
people to use the server resources you can push more amounts
of traffic or run more intensive scripts without CPU latency
becoming an issue. The second major difference is that Semi-Dedicated
Hosting doesn't use the virtual hosting control panel. The reason
behind this is that the virtual hosting control panel is distributed
over several servers and limits the technical support staff
in what they can do on each server. As the support staff must
first see if the changes a user is asking for are supported
by the control panel, and then if they may adversely affect
any of the other users on the system. By not using the virtual
hosting control panel users are free to make any kind of request
of the technical support staff, exactly as they would be able
to with a dedicated server.
Server Specification:
Dual Quad Core Intel Xeon servers with 12-16MB RAM with
high speed SCSI/SAS drives with RAID, on 100mps ports of multi-homed
USA datacenters. Each server runs LAMP with cPanel/WHM ready
for migration.