Advantages and disadvantages of having your own local server

Having a server in your home or company is always an option, it all depends on several factors but the first thing we must determine is its final purpose. Remember that not only do you need a server, you also need a fast Internet connection and you will be solely responsible for its operation—Technical support—24/7.

However, the question that arises is  What is better? A cloud solution or having your own private cloud, below I will help you make a better decision taking into account the pros and cons:

ADVANTAGES

Cost

Having a “personal cloud”, that is, your own server in the office or at home, is quite economical. The only detail is the substantial expense of purchasing the server and its initial configuration, of course, taking into account that you use Open Source operating systems such as Ubuntu Server you will have no problems and thus you will be able to avoid falling into licenses.. *cough* Microsoft *cough*

Privacy

The most important thing is to be the absolute owner of your data. The benefits of having your own server is that you and only you can manage their security (as long as you know how to protect it) and one of them is using some data encryption algorithm for the entire disk and/or sensitive resources. in the same.

Scalable

If you need more disk space, you just need to buy an additional one, add it and that’s it! If you want to do the same on an external hosting provider that is not under your control, you can imagine that you need to pay additionally for that upgrade for the rest of the contract.

Data Backup

Are you sure that you can really recover your data in the cloud if something goes wrong? If, on the other hand, the server is at home, you know that you can always make your backup copies whenever you want and physically have access to them.

DISADVANTAGES

Maintenance

Maintenance is a time-consuming task. This entails having the security patches of the operating system, software, libraries, etc. up to date. and many of these tasks cannot be automated and require a fairly broad level of knowledge on the subject, such as configuring fire walls, experience in cybersecurity, among others.

Downtime

Hardware or physical devices can fail during peak hours and tend—while the situation is resolved—to have your server out of service for a long time. For example, if the power supply, hard drive fails and/or worse… failures with the motherboard could leave your customers without service.

Connectivity

One of the most common conflicts is first getting a static IP (Internet providers don’t love the idea of their clients having servers and consuming bandwidth resources) and second having an Internet connection fast enough for users to can access, download and/or upload files to the server at the same time without problems.

Security

You must have the necessary knowledge to keep your server secure and prevent hackers from stealing sensitive data and ending it in the hands of third parties. Remember that you must install security patches and “bug fixes” as soon as possible, you must be attentive to the lists of vulnerabilities of your OS and the installed modules.

There are many more reasons to have your own In-House server, here I have just listed the most important ones but at the end of the day everything will depend on whether your knowledge or that of your technical team has the necessary skills to manage a private cloud and not be one more victim of hackers. However, a mission-critical business Web application requires and deserves a professional hosting service, a dedicated server in the cloud. By doing so, you will achieve guaranteed redundancy, 24/7 monitoring and technical support at any time. If this is not an “issue” for you, and what you are going to serve is a static Website, where perhaps performance or downtime is a problem, then In-House hosting may be the best option for you. Luck

Source: https://onflabs.com/blog/2015/07/02/ventajas-y-desventajas-de-tener-tu-propio-servidor-in-house/