Welcome to our Dedicated Server FAQ page. Here you will find answers to questions commonly asked by prospective customers about our server products. Simply look at the list of questions below and click the link for the answer.

1. What are the advantages of a dedicated server?

Compared to shared hosting (that is, a website located on a server shared between lots of other websites) the main advantage is that you get complete access to all the resources of the hardware. No other website can cause your server to run slowly or run out of memory because you get exclusive access to the physical machine. You also get complete control of all the software installed, including the Operating System. In addition, dedicated servers are usually much more secure than shared hosting because there are no other customers on the same physical hardware.

2. Why should I choose to install Plesk on my server?

Plesk provides an intuitive and user-friendly graphical interface to help you manage your server, that will have you setting up websites and e-mail accounts in no time at all. Even if you are completely confident using Windows admin tools, or the Linux command-line, using Plesk for most administrative tasks is much quicker.

3. After I purchase a server, can I upgrade it to a better server later?

Yes. We allow you to upgrade to a better server at any point. For more details about upgrading, please contact our Dedicated Server Support Team at dedicated@raven-hosting.com.

4. Which Operating System should I choose to install on my server?

This depends on your requirements. If you use PHP, Perl or mySQL with your website, then a Linux distribution would be the most suitable. If you use ASP and/or MS SQL, then Windows is the obvious choice. These constraints aside, Linux has the advantage that (except for Red Hat Enterprise) it is free, where as Windows comes with a monthly license fee. If you decide that you'd prefer to have a GUI to administer your sites with, then a Linux server with Plesk is still the cheaper (and more popular) option.

5. What are the license restrictions of Windows Server 2003 Standard (un-authenticated/anonymous)?

Using the anonymous (previously known as unauthenticated) version of Windows 2003 Standard edition means that you cannot install and run any service that requires Micrsoft Authentication Services. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Active Directory
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server
• Microsoft Provisioning Services

If you would like to run these services on one of our servers, the Authenticated version of Windows Server 2003 is available for pre-installation, for a monthly fee of £135.

6. Can I have an Operating System not listed on your site pre-installed on my server?

Please contact us to discuss your options.

7. What happens if my server breaks in the night? Do you offer 24 hour support?

There are engineers at our data-centre 24 hours a day 7 days a week to deal with any system outages. These engineers also man an out-of-hours phone line and will be able to help you if you cannot connect to your server. These engineers are unable to help with general support issues however, so these will have to wait until regular office hours.

8. Which data centre do you use?

All of our customer servers are located in Global Switch 2 in London Docklands. For more information on the features of our Data Centre, please see our fact sheet here.

9. Is there a contract for the Dedicated Servers?

No