Selecting The Right IP Address For Your Business

An internet protocol (IP) is a unique sequence of numbers that is assigned to all devices used to access the internet.  In essence, internet websites use your IP address to identify the specific device you have used to visit their site. Website technology providers and data centers offer either dedicated or shared hosting. These two work differently, making it critical to select the one that is most ideal for your business as will be explained below.

Shared versus dedicated hosting

For shared hosting, the resources from various servers are pooled together and used to host numerous sites regardless of the traffic a site attracts or its owner. In this case, numerous websites reside within the same server, meaning that they have a similar IP address. When it comes to dedicated hosting, the server resources are allocated to a specific site or application. The allocation of these resources is done at the discretion of an individual website that has rented space on the server. For dedicated hosting, everyone has their own unique IP address; although, they are sharing the same server with others. The unique dedicated IP address given by the provider is exclusively yours, and you can decide how to use it.

How do both hosting work?

The primary role of any IP address is to route internet traffic from websites to the right place. It is just like a post or Zip code that allows someone to locate your house or mailbox. For the shared approach, the host has installed a software that interprets requests from the numerous sites that use the same IP within a millisecond. This software ensures that everyone sharing the server gets the right content that is meant for their website. For dedicated hosting, the server routes specific content to your exclusive IP.

Making the right choice

 It is critical to choose the right hosting approach for your business. Shared hosting is usually suitable for websites that aim at providing general information on products or services.  However, if you are coming up with an e-commercial website that requires you to attach a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, then you should consider using a dedicated IP. For such sites, customers will be expected to enter personal and credit card information when making purchases. This means that you have to make an extra effort to protect the customers' identify using SSL. To get an SSL certificate, you must have a dedicated IP. More so, if your website attracts a high traffic, it is advisable to purchase a dedicated IP. This is because the website will operate at an optimum speed and still accommodate the high volume of visitors.

Your business needs will guide you in picking the right IP address.  Once you have decided what is right for your business, you can purchase an IP address from an ARIN broker

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