At Hosting.com, we offer both managed and unmanaged Bare Metal Dedicated servers. But when should you use unmanaged dedicated servers? If you’re asking this question, you might already have the answer. That is to say if you don’t know what unmanaged hosting is, chances are you probably shouldn’t have it. In this article, we’re going to examine when and why you should have an unmanaged dedicated server.
What is an Unmanaged Dedicated Server?
Unmanaged Bare Metal Dedicated servers are dedicated servers with full root access. They’re designed to grant a user complete root access control for custom server configurations. They aren’t for the faint at heart though as they require Linux expertise and server administration experience. We only pre-install software on your server after you make your selection upon checkout. Otherwise, the server upkeep relies on you and your team.
When Should You Use Unmanaged Dedicated Servers?
The easy answer is when you need the power of a dedicated server and the flexibility of an unmanaged plan.
Unmanaged dedicated servers are less expensive than their managed peers because you aren’t paying for the additional resources. You and your team manage the operating system, security, configuration, and every aspect of the server. This requires great skill to deploy updates, perform regular server backups and take necessary measures to keep your server up-to-date and secure. If you are not knowledgeable about server maintenance or don't have someone or your team who is, an unmanaged dedicated server may be hard to maintain. If you do have the expertise there are great benefits to unmanaged hosting:
Unmanaged dedicated servers give you total control.
We give you full administrative access to configure the server to your needs. You and your team decide which control panel to use, which operating system you’d like, and which applications and servers you deploy on the server.
Unmanaged dedicated servers are cheaper.
Again, these plans are cheaper because we don’t offer the level of support guaranteed with a managed plan. You or your team must have the requisite server skills to manage your server and troubleshoot any arising problems.
Unfortunately, unmanaged dedicated servers require a lot of work.
All aspects of server maintenance are up to you. You need to constantly protect your server from potential threats like malware, viruses, and other attacks. If you aren’t technically savvy, this proves difficult.
There’s no single answer to when you should use an unmanaged dedicated server. If you’re on an unmanaged VPS plan and need the extra power and flexibility, upgrade to an unmanaged dedicated server. But, if you’re currently on a managed plan, weigh out all your options and make sure you have access to the right resources before you commit to an unmanaged plan.
