Do you prefer to have root access or not? Why? I still don't know too much about it, but I would think it'd be preferable to have root access, to have full control and ability to customize.

Root access can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands.
People who don't know how to use the commands would be better off with fully managed.

If you have a non production server to practice on then root is a great thing to have.

With full control and the ability to customize comes FULL responsibility.

You could learn by buying a VPS account for, $30 a year to tweak on! Until you find out its your thing or not.

You will surely learn what is not under your control as a managed VPS. That's for sure. There's all kind of things that a person could screw up in the root. (LOL)

Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!(smile)

ROOT access is necessarily if you want to tweak out a server and lock it down tighter than a web hosting company normally would (which often times is not even hardened), however as mentioned, the moment you get root access, all the power is in your hands and a simple "rm -rf /" rather than "rm -rf ./" mistake deletes everything on the machine.

I'm all for diving in and trying to figure things out (it's partially where Hands-on got it's name) however if you don't know if you need it, you probably don't.

Root Access is only preferred if you have good knowledge of commands. Otherwise, it is better to use the hosting control panel only.

LOL! Yes, that's what I'm afraid of! In my personal case, it's better to avoid root access for now. I wish I had a non-production server for practice; that'd be awesome.

Its not all a loss rocketgirl, should you get the test server as I suggested, so you mess it up really bad! So what! Its a learning tool, so re-install the system and move forward. Besides, did you know how to use your current computer and App's right from the start,,,, hum, I think not! Over 35 years of IT work and I still learn new skills every day! Thank goodness I remember my more serious mistakes and don't repeat them anymore. (LOL)

So take a leap, its the only way you will know if your cut out to manage your own destiny. In my 1st semester of college I took pascal,,, WOW!! even though I'm some what of a geek, I learned real fast I was not that kind of geek. So I went to work for Apple then Microsoft for 12 years.

Regards.

Thanks for the encouragement technut! I really appreciate it. It would be a lot of fun to mess around with a test server so I just need to look around and get one.

Root access of course, but if you are beginner you should use it wisely

Root access has its advantages to have it , when you have a server it is mandatory to grant the right to use it only to someone you really know cause once someone access the server they can do pretty much anything they want on it. If there is not enough knowledge of its functioning then perhaps a good start is a VPSwhich provides root access for it then you learn a lot from it and get more familiarized.

I find that root access on your own dedicated or VPS is excellent - no waiting for technical tickets from your provider.

A good rule of thumb is 'if you don't know what it is - don't touch it'.

There are people who use VPS or Dedicated server and they don't have enough technical knowledge which finally results in their business loss. Better to hire a professional System Admin to gain a huge profit with the server

I prefer no root access. It is more safe.