Website Hosting with a Dedicated IP
IP, or Internet Protocol, is the primary network protocol used on the Internet. IP supports unique addressing for computers on a network. Most networks use the IP version 4 (IPv4) standard that features IP addresses four bytes (32 bits) in length. The newer IP version 6 (IPv6) standard features addresses 16 bytes (128 bits) in length.
Data on an IP network is organized into packets. Each IP packet includes both a header, which specifies the source, destination, and other information about the data being translated, and the message data itself.
What is the difference between shared and dedicated IP addresses in regards to hosting a website? Some websites don't need a dedicated IP address and can function just fine on a shared IP. Many times though a dedicated IP is preferred over shared IP addresses.
What is a Shared IP?
Every website domain name has an IP address assigned to it. An IP address is the real numerical address of a website or server. Domain names were adopted because people can remember names much easier than long IP numbers like 234.123.66.7. In a shared hosting environment, all of the websites that share the same server will also share one single IP address.
For the hosting company this simplifies the technical aspects of hosting your website. Instead of having a unique IP address for every domain, they can all share one IP address. This makes it easier for them to manage and maintain the servers and allows them to charge very inexpensive fees for monthly website hosting. Godaddy, for example, can offer extremely cheap website hosting because thousands of websites share the same server and IP address.
The downside to shared IP's is that if a domain sharing your IP gets banned or blacklisted for spamming, scamming or posting illegall or unethical content, your IP can get banned or blacklisted right along with them. You may not even know that your website has been banned until your site disappears from the search engines or your emails start getting blocked by Internet Service Providers. In a shared hosting environment the actions of others sharing the server can effect your site and cause problems.
What is a Dedicated IP?
Larger websites and ecommerce enabled websites have dedicated IP addresses. This means that the website is the only one on the internet using that unique IP number. For example, if you typed 209.131.36.158 into your web browser's address bar you will see Yahoo's website. This is Yahoo's dedicated IP address and no other website uses it. This is the unique address on the Internet that has been attached to the domain name yahoo.com.
If you have a business website that grows over time, you will eventually want to upgrade to a dedicated IP address for your website. If you have a merchant account and want to accept credit card payments on your website, you must have a dedicated IP. To accept credit cards on your website, an SSL certificate is required. To install an SSL certificate on your website, a dedicated IP address is required. You can get around this by using a PayPal or Google Checkout, which process payment for you on their servers. However, the bounce rate for PayPal and Google Checkout is statistcally higher than for shopping carts that process payment directly on the their website.
There are also search engine optimization issues to consider. Many website owners have found that websites with a dedicated IP address do much better in the search engine results than those hosted on shared IPs. Increased security is another reason to upgrade budget web hosting to a dedicated IP address.
The bottom line is that both shared and dedicated IPs can be useful depending on what you want from your website. Most of Razworks website hosting customers find shared IP hosting to be more than satisfactory. However, Razworks shared IP hosting is contracted from national web hosting specialists, whose managed servers are typically superior to local web hosting companies. The shared IP hosting servers are also monitored 24/7 to insure a maximum resource threshold is not exceeded, which translates to better performance for your website.
Website Hosting - The Best in the Country!
Razworks uses the best website hosting companies in the United States. The best web hosting hardware that money can buy, plugged into some of the nation's primary Internet Fiber Optic Hubs. Such high end server hardware and Internet connections are simply too expensive for small, local web hosting providers. Razworks believes that performance should not be compromised for cost.
A registered affiliate for Authorize.net, the #1 Internet payment processor, Razworks can offer eCommerce website clients discounted rates on Internet payment processing.
Razworks website hosting exclusively uses Linux \ Apache web servers, the industry standard for speed, reliability and compatibility.
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