When you run a website using a platform like Magento, you need hosting to make it publicly available. A web host is a machine, whether real or virtual, or a set of linked cloud containers, on which your website, its plug-ins, and supporting data can be deployed. Your ‘host’ is what a user connects to through their web browser when they access your site URL.
What Are My Hosting Options?
To run a platform like Magento for your ecommerce business, you have two main options, managed hosting or unmanaged/independent hosting.
Unmanaged hosting is the simplest and cheapest option and in fact, most cloud hosting platforms are unmanaged. What this means is that you rent a virtual (or, rarely these days, real) server on which to host your Magento website, with your choice of operating system installed. With unmanaged hosting, you’ll have to upload, manage, and edit your website files yourself, and resolve any issues independently.
Managed Magento ecommerce hosting with a provider like MDOQ is another story. Here, your service provider handles all the tricky and time-consuming admin tasks related to running the underlying hosting infrastructure itself. This leaves you free to concentrate on setting up and maintaining your actual business service. Each option has its benefits and disadvantages, but we hope to show you that using MDOQ for your Magento hosting is the best and most cost-effective option in most cases. So, let's look further at some of the disadvantages of going unmanaged.
No Software Support
With unmanaged hosting, typically all you start with is the operating system. You will then have to set up and configure the runtime environment for your applications yourself, including web server software, scripting languages, frameworks, databases and more. On top of that, vital ongoing server maintenance will be entirely your responsibility. Security updates, software patches and check-ups will be required on a regular basis, possibly even daily.
Your hosting company will not normally help you with any of these tasks as part of its standard offering. If you need help or guidance, you'll have to seek it out independently, and if you run into any errors or problems with your configuration, again, it will be down to you to fix them. The only support you're guaranteed from an unmanaged hosting company is the maintenance of the underlying hardware.
Fixes And Updates Cost Extra
If you need help with Magento fixes and updates with unmanaged hosting, it comes at a cost. In some cases, you may be able to pay extra to get your unmanaged hosting provider to carry out software maintenance jobs or updates themselves. Failing that, you can hire an external contractor. Of course, in the latter case, you'll need to trust them with your security credentials as well as rely on them to be up to the job. And you will typically pay by the hour for this kind of support, so costs can soon rack up.
Magento Management With MDOQ
The best way to avoid these kinds of problems with your Magento hosting is to choose MDOQ's managed hosting platform. Our service can guard against configuration problems and faults, and we'll help you handle security updates and fixes with full support. If you want to learn more, please get in touch to claim a free 30-day trial of our managed hosting system.
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