What Is Managed Hosting & How To Know If You Need It?

Companies deciding whether they should move their IT structure to the cloud are overwhelmed with a wide range of options. One of those options is managed hosting.

What Is Managed Hosting?

With managed hosting, the managed hosting services provider is responsible for maintaining and operating not only the physical equipment in which the servers are kept, but offers a wider support capability. This includes the responsibility of monitoring, security, patching, and software upgrades.

With managed hosting, your site will be taken care of by a team of professionals.

How Managed Hosting Works?

Managed hosting is a combination of support and technology. The managed hosting provider takes care of the management, support, and administration of your site’s infrastructure.

The managed hosting providers make sure that your site is always protected, backed up, and optimized.

Managed Hosting Is a Great Choice for…

Online stores with high traffic

Websites with heavy back-end needs

Online enterprises that require up-to-date security features

Small businesses that have limited IT staff

What Services Are Included in Managed Hosting?

The type of managed hosting you choose will determine the features included in managed hosting. However, there are some features that are applicable to all types of managed hosting.

1. Migrations

The managed hosting provider manages the whole migration process when transferring data to a new host.

2. Backups

With managed hosting, all of your data is secured and automatically backed up.

3. Load balancing

For improved reliability and performance, load balancing allocates the amount of work according to traffic across two or more servers.

4. Monitoring on security alert

Common functions related to security include: operating system upgrades, virus scans, spam filtering, and firewall configuration.

5. Server configuration and maintenance

You’ll free up the time of your IT staff since the hosting provider will be taking care of server maintenance.

6. cPanel

You can easily manage your website with an easy-to-use control panel offered by your hosting provider.

7. Resource Management

A managed hosting provider manages the resources on the plan so the site will work in the best way.

8. 24/7 support

One of the most comforting features is being able to get 24/7 support via phone, chat, mail, or a tickets system.

What Types of Hosting Services Can Be Managed?

Your hosting provider can manage virtually every type of hosting. However, since the managed hosting provider maintains your website and keeps it running smoothly, it costs more than unmanaged hosting.

With unmanaged hosting, you need to put more effort into performing tasks like optimizing your loading times, running backups, and much more.

Shared hosting

With shared hosting, your website shares resources with a number of websites on a single web server. The main advantage of this service in comparison to others is that it is available at a very affordable rate.

Reseller hosting

Managed reseller hosting frees up your time so you can run your business properly. Reseller hosting is a type of hosting where businesses sell website space to individuals or other businesses. You can rent out services to your customers and earn a profit in turn.

Managed WordPress

Managed hosting servers are now offering managed hosting for WordPress , thanks to the increasing popularity of WordPress as a web-building platform. With managed hosting for WordPress, your hosting provider will keep your WordPress installation updated and protect your site from any threats.

Managed Cloud Servers

With a managed Cloud server, you can avoid the complexity and learning curve that is typically involved in public cloud hosting. The hosting provider makes it easy for you by helping you manage the entire infrastructure and configure and deploy your solution.

Managed Magento

A managed Magento handles traffic spikes with the best possible security, and it offers agility and speed. A do-it-yourself Magento solution will consume investments, effort, and time. On the other hand, a managed hosting provider will secure your website, do daily backups and updates, and manage your server.

The Benefits of Managed Hosting

1. Reduced exposure to online risks

Constant oversight and maintenance on the back end ensure that cybersecurity threats are identified and remediated and that the OS is updated and the security patches are completed.

2. No need for a strong in-house IT department

There will be no need for a strong in-house IT department or experts if you outsource the management of your hosting.

3. Adjusted resources

Your hosting resources will be adjusted by the managed hosting provider to ensure that your IT scales with your business.

4. Access to the latest technologies

A solid managed hosting provider will give you access to the latest technology without you needing to invest a lot of money in it.

5. Stay Compliant

Your managed hosting provider will make sure that the highly regulated and sensitive data you manage complies with the requirements you need to meet on an ongoing basis.

6. Reduced operating costs

If you decide to go for an unmanaged hosting service, you need to hire developers, data admins, system admins, and other staff. With managed hosting, there are no hidden costs.

7. Focus

Outsourcing IT functions will help your company focus on innovation instead of spending valuable IT resources to manage everyday duties.

What to Look for in a Managed Hosting Provider?

• Reviews and reputation – One of the best measures of a managed hosting provider is their reputation in the industry. Look for evidence from third-party sources and reviews from tech publications and users.

• Choice of hosting products – You should carefully read the terms of the hosting plan to see specifications about storage, space, bandwidth, and choose your hosting product.

• Flexibility – Choose a managed hosting provider that will address performance requirements and the flexibility to scale your application when needed.

• Innovations – What will be critical for the success of the website of your business is ensuring your infrastructure is in line with the latest technological innovations.

• Up-to-date – To save your time, make sure you look for a managed hosting provider that will proactively manage and install updates and keep your website up-to-date.

• Customer support – Good hosting providers are available 24/7 if something goes wrong with your site and you need to get your business back online.

• Security – A solid managed hosting provider will make sure that your website is equipped with adequate security features to protect it from potential cyber-attacks.

Managed vs. Unmanaged Hosting

When getting a new hosting plan, the main choice you’ll have to make is between managed and unmanaged hosting.

With unmanaged hosting, your hosting provider will replace failed parts, maintain the network, and reboot servers. What it won’t do is install any functionalities for you or support your software. You will be the one that has to install new features, fix error messages, and install SSL certificates.

In contrast, a managed hosting provider does all the work for you. Whether you need to install updates or have issues with security, you will get support from the hosting provider for every emergency or problem.

Make sure you read more if you’re interested in the differences between managed and unmanaged hosting.

Summary

Many businesses can vouch that managed hosting is the best type of hosting. Even though it is more expensive than unmanaged hosting, it does come with a lot of benefits.

Not all providers delivered the same level of support or the same managed hosting services. Research and figure out which managed hosting provides the most robust and reliable hosting plan and will be your pro-active partner in the success of your company.

At Verpex, we provide you with free SSL certificates software auto installers, malware protection, twice-daily backups, and an easy to use cPanel. We monitor your websites every minute of the day, so if anything goes wrong, we will be the first to know it.

Frequently Asked Questions