Essential Hosting Features Developers Must Prioritize
If you’re a developer, you already know that hosting isn’t just a part of building a site or launching a project. It’s the backbone of everything that runs behind the scenes and in front. And if it malfunctions, everything else will too.
Let’s talk about the essential hosting features that developers should always keep in mind.
Reliable Performance
If you’ve ever hit a random traffic spike and watched your site barely keep up with everything or even give up halfway, you already know that all hosting is not the same.
For good performance, you need:
- Dedicated resources like CPU, RAM, and storage that’s yours only.
- SSD storage for quick loading.
- Optimized server configurations.
A good VPS hosting plan should provide all of these features and more. And if you want to scale up, you could go with a dedicated server plan.
For most businesses, the former is ideal. Some providers like Liquid Web offer multiple plans that can be customized to your preference and needs. So, next time your site suddenly goes viral, you won’t have to stress over it.
Scalability
Let’s say your side project gains a lot of popularity overnight with a well-delivered post. You start getting users faster than you expected. But how will your current setup scale with it?
Look for a host that offers easy scalability, where you can increase the RAM, CPU, and storage with minimal disruptions and downtime. Private or dedicated plans are much more flexible than shared or fixed ones.
Automatic Backups
Backups are essential for any and every site. You don’t want to be that developer who accidentally deletes the database and doesn’t have a backup.
Make sure that your hosting provider is offering:
- Automatic, regular backups
- Manual backup options
- Easy restores
Some hosts give you more control over how often and where your backups are stored. Look for them and stick with them.
Strong Security Tools
Developers can be great at writing code that is secure, but if the hosting environment isn’t, it won’t help much.
Prioritize hosts that offer:
- Firewalls
- DDoS protection
- SSL certificates
Even better if your hosting provider lets you fully customize your firewall rules, security patches, and monitoring tools. You should feel safe deploying the next release with them.
Uptime Scores
An uptime score that is below 99.9% is generally considered below average. Now that most providers are offering even 99.99% uptime, expecting the same score is reasonable, especially if your site is going to be part of someone’s daily workflow.
Also, the stress that comes with unplanned downtime hits developers differently. They’re left wondering if it was a mistake in their code or on the hosting side of things. Not only that, but frequent downtimes also build an image of unreliability.
Final Thoughts
As a developer, it’s important to choose a hosting setup that prioritizes control, performance, and flexibility. You get to focus on what actually matters – building things.
So, if you’re looking for a hosting provider for your site or project, or want to switch to a new one, keep these essential features in mind so you don’t make the wrong choice and regret it later.