When should you go dedicated?

[motowebmaster]

Obtain a quote on the most-basic server available (from the respective provider). If it is a multi-core CPU, use at least 2 Gig of RAM. Include an external firewall device. Two providers to check with are Cari.Net and Softlayer.Com

Obtain a quote from Spam/Virus filtering service provider that has the capability to provide you specific gateway servers (so that you can allow them in your firewall). Check with SpamStopsHere.Com.

Decide how you will be doing your backups. While it is encouraged to backup locally on your server's hardrive, you want to be doing an additional backup to an external destination. There are a lot of opinions on the best process, but if you would like some guidance obtain a quote from VertexHost.Com if you use a provider like Cari.Net. If you use a provider like Softlayer.Com, they can support at least two different backup processes in-house.

Doing these steps will give you the financial target to budget for, and engage you in several technical discussions with the respective providers. It will also help you gauge how comfortable you are with either learning server administration, or outsourcing the task.

Hope this helps,