Once you have started you way to acquire a Dedicated Server, the next thing popping up in your mind is the selection of managed or unmanaged services associated to your server because most providers offers both plans as well as co-location services but, what is exactly the difference among managed Dedicated Servers and unmanaged Dedicated Servers?

A Managed Dedicated Server is the best option for the in-experienced webmasters moving their websites from a shared hosting service to the total control of their own Dedicated Server. Why? Because you will get always the necessary support to learn what are you doing, and even get all the procedures and installations done, as well as the upgrades and maintenance of the server, being aware of the necessary critical kernel update for the operating system.

With a managed service plan, you are worry-free to dedicate your time exclusively to the development of your website, but this is not free and costs sometimes prohibitive if you are just starting your internet business. An unmanaged Dedicated Server requires your attention and some degree of knowledge for running scripts, configuring and compiling software packages among other related administrative tasks.

You may name your own server admin to do such things, a friend with the required knowledge or someone else helping you free, but in any case, you are solely responsible for keeping track of any patch or server updates required to keep it running and safe. Sometimes unmanaged Dedicated Servers come with one or two free support tickets a month to help you out in an emergency.

Because a Dedicated Server is your remote computer, if you have a problem running or configuring the server we can say it is your problem so that way many companies will not give you any support if you do not have a managed Dedicated Server or if you do not upgrade your unmanaged server to a managed plan. This is good to save in costs because you can acquire an unmanaged Dedicated Server to “test waters” and later upgrade it hiring the complementary managed services, but make sure the chosen server provider offers this facility.

Managed services involve the attention of technical problems and many cheap Dedicated Servers, do not offer a managed dedicated server plan but in both cases, managed Dedicated Servers and unmanaged Dedicated Servers mean the rent or lease of the equipment and rarely the total purchase of the server ownership.