“Dedicated” describes how a server is allocated; “managed” describes how tasks are divided between your team and the provider. These are separate decisions. When comparing services, examine both the resources available to you and the responsibilities defined in the agreement.
What Is Managed Web Hosting?
With a managed service, the provider handles agreed tasks for the environment concerned. The scope may include selected updates, monitoring or technical assistance, but it needs to be specified: applications, backups and interventions are not automatically all included.
A dedicated server may be managed by the customer, by the provider or through an agreed division of responsibilities. A virtual environment can also receive management services. Hardware allocation alone therefore does not determine who installs patches or responds to an incident.
List the components that need administration: operating system, control panel, applications, databases, DNS and email. For each, record who has access, who authorizes changes and who verifies the result. This helps prevent missed tasks and conflicting interventions.
What Does "Managed" Mean?
The word “managed” should come with a written scope. Check recurring tasks, support hours and channels, intervention arrangements, backup retention and exclusions. Also identify operations that require your approval or a maintenance window.
Important Considerations
Compare the total cost of resources and administration work rather than the server price alone. Management services do not automatically guarantee human support around the clock; confirm the support hours, response targets and commitments in the selected offer.
Your IT department will be a major factor to consider in the decision about whether to use managed web hosting. Server management is a never-ending job that involves many different areas of expertise, including architecture, configuration management, monitoring, backup technology, security, and more. Because it's a huge reason server management is a 24/7 task, it's worth emphasizing the need for security twice. Is your IT staff sufficient enough to safeguard your server at all times?
Even if they do have the expertise to manage a server, it's also essential to consider their capacity. Is your team big enough to do their regular jobs with round-the-clock server management added to their requirements?
The Takeaway
Choose according to your team’s skills and capacity, application requirements and expected intervention scope. No hosting model eliminates outages. Availability objectives, monitoring and recovery procedures must be defined and assessed separately.
To prepare your decision, explore our IT management services or describe your environment to Nuagerie. We can clarify responsibilities and suitable options before developing a proposal.
