Fully Managed vs Self Managed Server - Make The Right Choice

In today's world-wide-web market, Customer Service is of the utmost importance. And what is better than a smooth and easy website to lift a customer's mood.

However, it is not easy to run a website smoothly without certain things in the backend like a proper server. Due to financial constraints, many companies go for shared server hosting plans but it hampers the performance of the website due to shared resources.

The best option here would be to go for a Dedicated Web Hosting Server that meets all the requirements of the company like speed, reliability.

The Physical server would become available to the client company with a host of benefits such as customized settings, the ability to install applications or software, increase memory, up-gradation as per the need, and a dedicated technical support team on a 24×7 basis to maintain the server.

There are two types of services that the service provider gives to the client companies i.e. Fully Managed Dedicated Server Hosting and Self Managed Dedicated Server Hosting.

Now that the fact is established that a dedicated server is good for companies with bigger databases, the main question is which type of service is better for customers. Let's compare both scenarios and see which would be beneficial.

Fully-Managed Server or Self-Managed Server - Which is Better?

The choice always comes down to the requirements of the customers. But both have their own pros and cons.

Fully Managed Server

A fully managed server is assigned to a client to fulfill all their requirements. But in this case, the technical support team is provided by the service provider who supplied the server.

The client does not have to manage the day-to-day management, monitoring, and maintenance of the server on their own. All these will be performed by experts from the service provider's end.

Since a managed web hosting server comes with its own technical team there is no need to have an in-house team on the client-side. Plus the technical support team takes care of the security part of the server too.

This means a hassle-free daily operation for the client without any maintenance task to be performed by them.

That being said, a fully-managed web hosting server usually puts a bit of restraint on the client's operation due to its flexibility. This is the only downside apart from the money that the client has to spend on the server and the support team.

All in all, it is only recommended for the clients to go for a fully managed server, if they have no prior experience in handling server maintenance or if they have no time to do it.

Here are a few things about Managed Servers that people should know;

• It provides the highest level of security as there's no other website sharing the resources.
• Administrative changes are performed with lots of flexibility.
• Dedicated hosting provides the best performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Bandwidth and Disk Space Flexibility on the server.
• Fewer chances of a server breakdown.
• Bug fixes are easy with a dedicated technical support team.
• Increased Storage Space.

Self Managed Server

A self-managed server comes with all the perks and advantages of a fully managed server. However, the only missing piece is the lack of a technical support team from the service provider's side to handle the day-to-day activities on the server.

However, it's not as big a con as people might think. The lack of a technical support team from the service provider's side means the client has full control of all admin tools of the server leading to even a higher security level than that is provided by a fully managed server.

The only thing required is a team of in-house experts to handle the work related to the server.

It is recommended to clients to have their own team of experts to maintain, monitor, and fix servers if they want to go for a self-managed server hosting as it will cost less due to in-house teams and provide better security.

Given the flexibility of a self-managed server in terms of customized panels, software and security it is recommended when someone knows how to handle it.

It is better to go for a self-managed server in case there's a need for higher security or if the client doesn't want to pay extra money to the service provider for extra tech support guys.

However, this poses a problem as the in-house team will have to check every issue that occurs on the server which takes them away from their daily activities reducing their capabilities.

Unlike a fully managed server, the self-managed server will not provide a smooth experience in terms of performance and stability as the in-house technical support team might not be as experienced as the team the service provider would have provided. This somewhat reduces the flexibility of the self-managed server.

When compared to fully managed servers, here are a few things people should know about self-managed servers;

• The key is to have a Special in-house team of experts to handle the server.
• Lack of experience could result in server breakdown and impact the overall performance.
• It gives additional security though and gives full access to the administration of the server.
• It costs a lot less than the fully-managed server due to the lack of a technical support team from the service provider.

Final Thoughts !!!

After all the comparisons above, it is safe to say that both types of dedicated servers have their own merits and the lack of them based on the requirements from the clients. So yes, a fully managed server gives an overall smoother experience than its counterpart and is recommended for clients with more money and less experience about how to handle servers.

At the same time, a self-managed server provides better security and control over the server but requires an in-house expert team to deal with server-related issues.