While I was shopping for a dedicated server to use in Ex-designz.net, I did a thorough planning and evaluation as to why I need a dedicated server and what are the specifications I want for the server. Luckily for me, I was able to do all the testing in my home computer prior to renting the server. I performed (load testing or server stress performance analysis) to find out how will the server perform under heavy loads when there are hundreds or thousands of users connected, and then I evaluate the server scalability. Is the server upgradeable? Will my site grow this large and get this much traffic in a year or month? These are just a few factors to consider when renting a dedicated server.

Save money by managing your own server
Equip with basic Server Administration, Database Administration and networking knowledge saves you a lot of money. When I received the server for Ex-designz, I told the person who probation the server not to include Cpanel because I like to work straight to the IIS, like setting up user account, FTP account, securing IIS, configuring worker process and file/folder permission. I also did Windows 2003 configuration and hardening and configuring SQL 2005 such as setting database user account and permission. All of these required technical knowledge, but don’t worry, there are hundreds of tutorials and guides on the web.

Don’t become one of them
I have read a lot of posts in one of the popular web hosting message board asking a question like (what type of server and specs I need). It makes me laugh because these are the things they should already knew before you they got hired. These IT workers are wasting their bosses money and time by spending most of their time posting questions in the message board, and hoping and praying that somehow someone will answer their question.