Complete Guide: Dedicated Servers

This guide will attempt to be the definitive guide on choosing a dedicated hosting plan.
If you feel I have missed something, please feel free to post a reply at the bottom.

1. Operating System: Assuming your organization has no restrictions on which operating systems it uses (and some companies do), here’s how to figure this out.
To begin, I will assume that you will be hosting a website on your dedicated website server. Do you know which programming languages your developers will be using to create the website? If, for example, it is ASP, you will need to stick with a Microsoft platform, such as Windows Server. That’s because asp is meant to be run on Windows Internet servers. If your site will be designed in php or most other languages, you will probably want a Unix/Linux server, such as CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora etc.
One of the main benefits of a Linux dedicated hosting server is that you are not required to pay licensing fees on the operating system. Whereas the license for Windows alone can raise your hosting service fees by as much as $200/month, Linux is free to use and you can choose from a variety of versions.
When it comes to maintaining the server, you should confer with the person that will be administering it to be sure that they either know Windows or Linux before making a final decision on which to choose for your dedicated website host.
3. The Web Server: Here, when I say web server, I’m referring to the application that powers your websites, not the actual physical dedicated server. With that said, there’s a great number of web servers available to use. For Windows, the primary options are IIS by Microsoft or Apache, a freely available open source web server application. Microsoft offers support for IIS, but like Windows you’re paying extra in licensing fees.
For Linux, Apache is available as are many others. If you’re using the dedicated webserver for business, I would recommend sticking with Apache simply because finding documentation and help with is is quite easily found on the Internet.
4. Database Application: If your dedicated website host will be using a database, there are 3 common options. MySQL, which is primarily for Linux, is free and is pretty much the industry standard. PostgreSQL is also available for Linux. Microsoft has it’s MSSQL database server. As to be expected, licensing fees will apply.
5. Speed and Performance: Internet users can be quite impatient and will often abandon a website if it takes more than just a few seconds to load. Knowing this is important because your dedicated webserver will need to respond to visitor page requests in the fastest available way in order to maximize visitor traffic and visitor returns.
The primary performance enhancing factors for your internet servers are processor speed, server memory and network speeds. Disk drives can also play a roll for servers using large databases or extremely high traffic volumes. Server programs, such as Apache or MySQL, rely on processor speeds and server memory, whereas the network speeds are mostly dependent on the size of the webpages being sent to visitors. If they’re graphic-heavy or have audio or video, that effects your network speeds so the faster the better.
It’s all really a balancing act and it’s usually better to be safe than sorry.
6. Bandwidth & Data Transfer: Most dedicated Internet server providers give you a pre-specified amount of monthly traffic that you can use. For example, 750GB. This is the amount of traffic received by your dedicated server and sent to your server over a one-month period. Most providers will allow you to exceed that amount and bill you a price per-GB thereafter. This is good because it means that if you exceed your monthly amount your dedicated web server won’t drop off the Internet. On the other hand, bandwidth overages are charged at a premium so it can get a bit expensive.
If you find that you’re consistently exceeding the monthly allotment and you prefer to pay a consistent monthly rate for your dedicated hosting, there’s the option for unmetered bandwidth. You receive a set bandwidth speed for data transfers to and from your dedicated host as apposed to a limited number of gigabytes you can transfer. The amount of data you can transfer is ‘unlimited’. That’s in quotes because it is still limited to what the speed of the connection allows you. But with unmetered bandwidth you’ll never receive an unexpected charge on your bill for bandwidth usages. Unmetered plans are typically 5Mbps, 10Mbps or 100Mbps.