I run a few websites and I was thinking of paying for a dedicated Windows web server from GoDaddy instead of paying for each site's hosting individually. I know enough about IIS to configure the Host Header and stuff like that, but I'm a little fuzzy about the email portion of the hosting. I have a few questions:
- Do I need to install an SMTP server on the web server to allow for emails to be sent/received to a website email address? Or is there another approach that I'm unaware of?
- Are there tools that monitor the amount of bandwidth used by the server? GoDaddy charges for bandwidth and I want to make sure I don't go over.
- Am I opening a can of worms that I don't really want to open by going the dedicated server route? Things like server updates, security, etc?
Thanks!
This really depends on your business goals. One of the main reasons Platform as a Service models are so popular because it leaves the mundane server management details to the platform provider, freeing you up to do whatever you do best, be it software development, business development, etc.
The opportunity cost of managing your own server is that you may not have as much time to invest in your business goals.