When it comes to buying a dedicated server there are several things you must keep in mind. Apart from the hardware, reasonable price and a right server provider, there is a location. The basic rule is to have a server as close as possible to your audience. However when you are not using a CDN you are mostly choosing just 1 location.
Choosing Best Location For Your Server
Here’s a comprehensive overview of server location factors, and some information to help you make the important decision about where to host your website.
Smart tools that help you
Use your Google analytics to check the structure of your audience to make the right decision. You can clearly see in Audience section where the most of your visitors are from. Even if any data center in Europe might be more affordable it is mostly a wrong choice in case 75 % of your audience is from the US.
Another tool that helps you to choose the destination is a ping test. Each server provider should have available IPs for the ping test which will help you to check the latency for your destination. The lower latency the better for your audience. In case you are knowledgeable in this field you can use a traceroute or a MTR report to know more about the route to your destination.
Don’t forget about network
When you have chosen the right location of your server, it’s time to look on the importance of a network. Having available enough bandwidth to your server is another parameter which ensures that your audience gets the content fast. How much bandwidth should be included? All streaming websites need a high bandwidth to provide great customer experience. Even if you are not streaming site make sure you have enough bandwidth to handle your peak time.
Typical offers:
- 500Mbs – 1Gbps – for beginners and bloggers with thousands of visits per day
- 1Gbps – 5Gbps – popular forums with repeating daily visitors
- 5Gbps – 10Gbps – game platforms and streaming websites
- 10Gbps – above – big enterprises and popular online channels
While making ping test is very easy, making a test on bandwidth might be little tricky. If you are trying a high speed test your internet connection might be the limit factor. Once you buy a server, your provider should allow you to see some monitoring of your server so that you have clear data about your traffic and the bandwidth you are using. The higher bandwidth you have available, the higher DDoS attack you are usually able to resist.
Hopefully this article helps you to choose the best location of your server and bring you closer to the decision of best traffic plan for you.
