Before we get to the tutorial on how to set up a dedicated server, you must first understand what a dedicated server is. Here’s a short definition with a link to a blog on dedicated servers versus VPS (virtual private servers): Dedicated Servers vs. Virtual Private Servers.
A dedicated server is defined as a server that is completely owned or rented by you. Unlike shared servers which is just one server that is isolated into parts and allocated to many webmasters. You get extremely powerful, reliable and dedicated resources with a dedicated server.
Who uses dedicated servers?
- Popular websites that generate a lot of traffic use them to secure stability
- Media related sites that need a lot of resources to timely deliver streaming content
- Gamers use dedicated servers to avoid lag or any other kind of problems that might come up with online game servers. This is especially important for those that play popular games with millions of people going online at the same time.
- Large companies with many employees and loads of important data use dedicated servers in order to secure the safety of their information and avoid server crashes that might put their business to a halt for any period.
The dedicated servers do mostly run on Linux but there is still a small percentage of servers using Windows or other operating systems. Why Linux is so dominant? We will surely write more about that in another post. For now just let’s continue with our server setup topic.
For Linux based servers you can find many different OS distributions (distros) to choose from. Most likely, the main 3 distros you’ll be choosing from will be Debian, CentOS, or Ubuntu. All of them fully support various hosting panels like cPanel, Direct Admin, or Plesk. cPanel with its WHM (Web Hosting Manager) console takes the biggest share of the market.
Hosting companies offer various types of packages when it comes to hosting a dedicated server. Depending on what you intend to use your dedicated server for, there are various bandwidth, operating system (OS), RAM size, and disk space options to choose.
Once you decide which package is best suited for you, and which hosting company you wish to use, it is time to set up your dedicated server.
How to Set up a Dedicated Server – Step-by-Step
Step 1: Log in to server account
In order to setup your server you need to login to the WebHost Manager or WHM, a simple interface that allows you to administrate your dedicated server.
Step 2: Set up networking
Get notified of any problems with your server by signing up for email notifications. Go to the “Server Contact Email Address” and enter your email address.
Your email address is required for set up, and you also have the option of adding your SMS and instant messaging addresses.
On this page, you will also see a Hostname field. Your server hostname is generated automatically, but you can change it. However, be careful, because you need to keep the valid domain name.
Common forms are host.yourdomain.com or server.yourdomain.net, usually expanded by numbers if you have more servers. More sophisticated host names are logically structured. For instance: 171.109.206.35.bc.googleusercontent.com uses the IP address, location abbreviation and the base hostname.
The next stop in this step is to set up resolvers. Resolvers are DNS servers that your server uses to resolve domain names. They are also generated automatically, and you should be wise to leave them as they are. That is unless you want a specific DNS for your server.
Scroll further down and you will have the option to select your default network device. It should be labeled as “eth0” on most systems.
Step 3: Set up IP Address
In order to add sites with dedicated IP addresses or nameservers, you need to bind some IP addresses to your server. You can do that by clicking the Add IP(s) button. You will then enter IP address and Subnet Mask. This is a step that you want to take only if you have the need to add more IP addresses.
Current IP addresses show you the list of IPs that are already available on your dedicated server by default.
Step 4: Configure Nameservers
Nameservers are essentially programs that keep the list of your domain names and their IP addresses. This allows visitors to find specific domains on your dedicated server.
The default option is BIND, as it provides the most advantages. On the other side, if you don’t plan to use your server as a nameserver, you should check DISABLED option.
Once you decide which nameserver you want to use, scroll down to choose which domains the nameservers will use. This is crucial if you want visitors to find your server on the internet.
Finally, you want to check the boxes in Add A entries and provide IP addresses for each nameserver that you previously assigned.
Step 5: Set up Services
This step allows you to choose from different types of services and configure them. As most essential services (FTP configuration, Mail Server, etc.) are good to use with default settings, we shall mention the one that really makes a difference – cPHulk.
cPHulk is a service that prevents hackers to use scripts that generate random usernames and passwords to access your server. cPHulk prevents this problem, and that’s why you should make sure that it’s ON and configured.
Note that numbers on this image and all other images are not the same as everyone, so don’t just copy/paste, but use the data that works for you.
Step 6: Set up Quotas
This last step is where you decide if you wish to track the bandwidth of each user that visits your server. This is a great feature in case you want to later restrict the amount of bandwidth per user so your server can run smoothly and uninterrupted.
Having a dedicated server allows you to have full control of your content. It prevents interruptions, unwanted visitors, bandwidth overuse, and improves the experience of anyone who visits your server for any purpose. The benefits of dedicated servers are countless, as people use them for all sorts of enterprises, they run on different OS, and almost never go down.
We hope this tutorial was helpful and that you’ll enjoy setting up your dedicated server.
Dedicated server is mostly required for a large organization. where required multiple domain at a time and monitors the server as always uptime. Really good Article for new users, who just required for apply a setup of Dedicated server.
Thank you, Richard!