I normally don’t deal with this kind of problems but I’m doing a favour and I haven’t found a good answer to this.
My sister has contracted a dedicated server that comes with Plesk 10.0.1 and one exclusive public IP address plus another shared one. Since it is dedicated, they have to take care of the administration themselves, and at the moment her company doesn’t have an IT staff member.
I have to create the domain in the server but I’m not sure if I should create it using the shared IP and leave the dedicated one free or create the domain using the dedicated IP address.
It is likely that they will use it with a SSL certificate in the future.
Thanks
PS: I always said that you should never work with your family or friends… and this is how I listened to my own advice!
I dont think a shared or dedicated IP address has anything to do with SEO these days. The search engines are smarter than that and most websites reside on a shared server with a shared ip address.
I know that. But my question was if I should put the regular files which need no SSL certificate using the shared IP (and therefore, assigning the shared IP to the domain when I create it) and leave the dedicated IP unused unless I had to install a certificate or if I should put everything under the dedicated IP
Given Stephen’s (CORRECT) advice, I’ll say that I share the directory (http and https files) and have mod_rewrite ASSIST in sorting the security-required scripts from the no security-required (strictly enforced at the top of security-required scripts). Each can then request their support files (css, js, images, etc) via the requested (or corrected) protocol. Doing that, of course, means that I’m hosting all the site’s files on the dedicated IP address. To do otherwise would require double the maintenance.
As for when to use a shared IP: Avoid that if you can as someone else on the shared IP can poison your website by spamming. I “share” my client websites on my IP addresses but keep a close eye on their e-mail limits (restricted by the WHM - cPanel’s big brother) to avoid their site getting hacked and starts spamming.
Given that it is a dedicated server - you will have complete control over what goes on the server and so it is up to you what you want using the shared IP.
While the site is the only thing on the server it isn’t going to make any difference which of the IPs you use. It will make a difference once you install a second site on the server and that’s when you will need to decide whether they will share or not.
The directory structure does come with a httpdocs and httpsdocs folders and I think that if I install a SSL certificate I will use the httpsdocs and not mix it with the non-secure files.
I think that I will stick to the dedicated.
but then, if someone keys the shared IP address in the address bar, the will see the regular Plesk welcome page … I guess I should redirect it to the dedicated.
