Since a dedicated server provides large number of resources, users can host more than one domain name on it. But is the number of domains restricted, and how it affects performance?
Sometimes hosting companies allow having some certain amount of domains, while others offer “unlimited” plan. Having as many domains as you want sounds like a good idea, but is that really so? Adding a domain is not a big deal, it just creation of a new folder and a few configuration files. That won’t get you resources, but the site itself:
- Needs hard drive space, CPU and RAM;
- Consumes bandwidth for sending and receiving information;
- Increases the use of RAM and CPU as the site becomes popular;
- Requires more processing power to run in the course of site development.
The thing is that even dedicated hosting presupposes sharing resources between domains. In other words, if you have five domain names on your server, its resources will be divided in 5 parts and shared.
Of course, you can try to estimate the impact of requests on bandwidth and processing power, but it is not as simple as it seems. Why? There are different variables affecting server and site functioning. For instance, you may not know your server’s specifications, if you prefer shared server hosting, you won’t know how many people use the server, and how the resources are shared. Sometimes the complexity of site is difficult to measure, and in other cases, you can’t predict how many customers and traffic spikes you will have. It is impossible to predict the exact number of resources you will need, and will the resources of dedicated host server be enough to meet your demands.
How to use resources wisely?
If you consider having many domains, probably, you have chosen the wrong path. The main reason for overload is traffic spike and poor site optimization which slows your site. To avoid these problems, you should try to build up an effective hosting account.
1. Start developing the biggest site, and do it slowly. Examine the statistics and analyze spikes.
2. Apply such plugins as W3 Total Cache to make sure that your sites are quick, and do not require too many resources.
3. Suggest using a CDN, because it is an affordable way to offload your server.
Finally, opt not for a huge number of domains, but for the quality of websites. This way, you will be able to create a cost-effective hosting account.
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