Windows Dedicated Server Hosting for FB Apps
Dedicated Windows Hosting: Server Solution for Facebook Applications
Sep 13, 2009
Every Facebook application developer should be aware of the importance of scalable hosting. The top Facebook applications can boast millions of users daily, and the viral nature of successful FB apps spreading swiftly through the Facebook community often means that the expected number of users for a newly developed application can be massively underestimated.
The application developer using traditional shared hosting services, such as Servage, or GoDaddy, might only become aware of the problem when their hosting service demands that the application be removed due to the large amount of bandwidth generated by the app. This has happened to even experienced developers, such as Scrabulous (now Wordscraper) designer, Rajat Agarwalla, who, in the Facebook Cookbook, suggests that Facebook app creators should build their applications to sustain at least 3 times more load than initially expected.
Windows Dedicated Server Hosting
However, scalability can be planned for. One of the options for scaling bandwidth within a server structure that will allow continued expansion while supporting all aspects of the application growth is Windows dedicated server hosting.
Windows dedicated server hosting offers a flexibility that is not available with shared hosting plans. Since the dedicated Windows server client has all the server resources available, hardware configurations such as dedicating an entire server to the application database is possible: a particularly desirable option for Facebook application hosting, since the design is inevitably database driven.
Dedicated Windows Server Options
Windows dedicated server hosting is available in 2 forms:
- Managed hosting
- Unmanaged hosting
Managed hosting allows the dedicated server provider to handle all of the server handling issues on behalf of the client. This includes securing the private servers, monitoring the load and maintaining the hardware. A good Windows dedicated server managed hosting plan allows the Facebook application developer to concentrate wholly on the application without concerning themselves with the mechanics of the actual dedicated server solution. The experience is not unlike managing a website through the control panel of a shared hosting plan: the server maintenance occurs unseen in the background.
Unmanaged dedicated server hosting leaves the entire responsibility for maintaining the servers in the hands of the client. This is usually handled remotely, and is not advisable for the uninitiated, as the learning curve can be steep, and errors can be expensive, both in downtime for the Facebook application, potential data loss and in terms of paying to have the mistakes rectified.
Advantages of Windows Dedicated Server Hosting
Perhaps the most important advantage of Windows dedicated server hosting after scalability is its flexibility. With the entire resources of the server environment available, Facebook application development can be tailored to exacting needs. Windows dedicated servers can handle all modern technologies, such as Ajax, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Silverlight, SQL and MS SQL and all flavors of PHP.
By fine tuning the application code, the very most can be made of the server resources, reducing the server load and thus saving the Facebook application developer money.
Disadvantages of Dedicated Windows Server Hosting
The most significant disadvantage of Windows dedicated server hosting is its cost. Compared to shared hosting plans, which have become remarkably inexpensive, hosting in a dedicated server environment is not cheap. However, as with shared hosting, it pays to shop around, as competition amongst dedicated hosting providers is high, and rates vary from provider to provider.
Dedicated Hosting on Windows a Facebook Application Server Solution
Regardless of whether Windows dedicated server hosting appeals to a Facebook application developer or not, any successful developer will, sooner rather than later, have to consider the problem of server scalability, which will eventually overwhelm the servers of any shared hosting provider.
Windows dedicated hosting provides one solution. Flexible, robust and ideally suited to supporting growing Facebook applications, such hosting may be more expensive than shared server space. But with an application that is properly monetized, such costs are worth paying for guaranteed expansion capabilities in a secure, feature-rich hosting environment.
 |
