Dedicated vs. Shared IP

Webmasters need to know the difference between a shared and a dedicated IP address. Most hosts will charge a nominal fee and offer you a dedicated IP address. Below we have outlined information for you on both shared and dedicated IP addresses so you can make the correct choice for your website.

What is a Shared IP Address?
Every hosting company assigns at least one dedicated IP address per server. An IP address might look something like 12.2.3.1. In a shared hosting environment the IP address almost never changes and the hosting company will put hundreds of customers on this IP address.

It used to be that every domain name had a different IP address, but with the rapid increase of domains needed and the finite number of IP addresses they began to share IPs. Now servers are able to determine by the domain entered in a user's browser which domain is being requested, even though it may send a request for an IP with hundreds of domains.

What is a Dedicated IP Address?
A dedicated IP address is set aside specifically for one domain only. This means that if someone types in the numeric form of the IP address the same domain will always appear in the browser. Dedicated IP addresses are no longer the norm and it usually costs more to get one.

Who Needs a Dedicated IP Address?
Dedicated IP addresses are used for large web sites, secure e-commerce web sites or customers who don't want their site to be affected is the web hosting companies main IP address is being DoS attacked, this is becoming every more popular.

Benefits of Having a Dedicated IP Address
Although, shared IP is usually easier and cheaper, there are a few advantages to having a dedicated IP address. A dedicated IP is needed for three specific reasons
Using your own Private SSL Certificate. This applies only if you need to have your own SSL certificate. SSL certificates are needed for accepting credit cards online. Web hosts that offer SSL usually offer a shared SSL certificate where users can share the web host's SSL. If you are using your web host's SSL you don't need a dedicated IP.

Anonymous FTP for some web hosts. Anonymous FTP is a method of sharing files on the Internet. Anonymous FTP means a computer will allow anyone using the FTP software access a special directory for files on its disk drive. This service is called Anonymous FTP because the user name used to sign in is "anonymous." To enable anonymous FTP certain web hosts require dedicated IP for the anonymous FTP function to work properly. Check with your web host if this is an issue for you.

Setting up your own Domain Name Server. A name server looks like this: ex. NS1.yoursite.com, NS2.yoursite.com. Since all web hosts provide you with their DNS servers, you don't need to have your own. But if you choose to have your own name server you will need to have a dedicated IP address to do so.

The bottom line is if you can get a dedicated IP address from your host go for it, if not and you don't need any of the features mentioned above you'll be just fine with a shared IP address.