Remember when your computer technician dropped the bombshell that your system’s RAM was damaged? Instead of decoding what RAM actually is, you were focused on how much it’s going to cost you.
But don’t worry; it is never too late to learn, and now that you are browsing for Australian web hosts, it is more important now than it was then, as this acronym is directly going to affect your website operation.
So before getting yourself a domain and web hosting, let’s understand what RAM is in web hosting and its significance.
What is RAM?
The term RAM in web hosting stands for Random Access Memory, and it plays an essential role in the smooth function of a website by temporarily storing and allowing quick access to data when needed, for instance, for handling user requests, running applications, and managing the overall performance of your web hosting server.
Your RAM allocation decides how efficiently the server can handle concurrent tasks and traffic, which means your server’s speed and ability to handle multiple applications simultaneously.
How does RAM function?
Random Access Memory or RAM works the same as a temporary space wherein the space stores and quickly provides all the information that the program or application asks for to make it run, as accessing information in RAM is much faster compared to getting it from a hard drive.
But the thing is, the information that is stored and accessed is temporary, and whenever the system is turned off or closed, everything the RAM carries is wiped like a clean slate.
This means RAM can store your data and retrieve it from any location in the memory, i.e.HD, but can’t access your last stored information.
Therefore, if you want to keep data permanently, like your files or the programs, then you have to store them on a hard drive, which retains information even when the power is off.
To sum up, RAM provides quick-access, provisional storage that supports your system to run programs smoothly, but it’s not for long-term storage – that job is carried by the hard drive.
Significance of RAM with regards to Australian web hosting
So we know that we can’t keep everything on our quick access shelf, i.e., RAM. We need storage memory for it, i.e., Hard Disk.
And when someone accesses your website through their browser, the web hosting service makes use of their server (like an assistant) that pushes into the memory and retrieves the information and puts all the information into quick asses shelf, i.e., RAM, which further reflects all the information in the person browser.
But this is one person browsing your website data. What when there is heavy traffic?
So, think of your RAM as quick-access storage space. That gives you clarity on one thing: the bigger the RAM, the more data the server can handle at once.
And when you have a server with a lot of RAM space, it’s like having a big shelf to keep a ton of stuff, which will effectively handle the movement of data from HD to RAM to the visitor’s browser at the same time, even during busy periods.
And in case your server has limited RAM space for all the visitors, your site might slow down or even stop working.
Conclusion
Therefore, having more memory in your server is like having a bigger shelf – it helps your server handle lots of tasks at the same time, specifically when many people are checking out your website at the same time.
So, if you are looking for web hosting in Australia, make sure you get yourself a bigger RAM space based on your requirements and scalability.