Ask CF (CyberFundu) is a new series in which we answer your queries! You may mail us your queries here.

Shared, Cloud or Dedicated – How to Choose Your Server? – This is a question asked my many people who start a new website or a blog of their own. It really depends on the traffic that your website would get. In this post, we will discuss the circumstances which would help you to choose your server type. You should choose a:

Shared Hosting when:

1. You are a new blogger and have less money to start with.
2. You are not a techie.
3. You wish to use WordPress, Joomla or Drupal based website. You can install the same in minutes using simple scripts or fantastico.
4. You don’t intend to offer downloadable files of large size (eg. music, videos, pictures, softwares etc.)
5. A good shared hosting account can handle traffic upto 10,000 to 20-000 visitors daily (depends on your application too). You can further increase the traffic-handing capacity by using CDN like Amazon for your images.
6. You will experience high loading time (which is bad!) only at high traffic levels above (10,000-20,000 daily). That’s the time to say goodbye to your shared hosting.

Cloud Hosting when:

1. You are a Web 2.0 techie, as most of the cloud hosting sites do not give a cPanel.
2. You expect your traffic levels to increase rapidly.
3. You expect surges in traffic due to Digg, Stumble Upon and other websites.

Dedicated Hosting when:

1. When you know that the website would get a huge traffic.
2. You have appropiate money to buy the hosting as it is costly.